Project
Celebrating the Sea
Aug 22nd
August kicked off with Marine Week and Explore the Seafloor ran two special events at coastal Wildlife Trust centres to mark this annual celebration of the sea.
On Saturday the 7th of August Explore the Seafloor ran a hands-on workshop at the Kent Wildife Trust’s Reculver Nature Park, near Herne Bay. The centre is an excellent venue for us as it already has great information about the archaeology and history of its surrounding area, from the Ice Age to World War II. Visitors enjoyed handling some artefacts that date to the information at the centre, including a mammoth’s tooth and the remains of a World War II machine gun.
On Sunday the 8th of August we journeyed on to Colchester and Essex Wildilfe Trust’s Fingringhoe Wick Nature Reserve. It was a beautiful sunny day and so we set up outside and had lots of families stopping off to play before they took a walk around the beautiful nature reserve. Visitor’s particularly enjoyed the dressing up and we have some great photographs of the day – check out our photograph albums on our Facebook pages.
Overall the weekend was a great success and Explore the Seafloor would like to thank both centres for being so enthusiastic and welcoming.
Welcome to Explore the Seafloor
May 5th
Our scientists have spent the past 2 years exploring the seafloor – now it’s your turn!
Ecologists, archaeologists and geologists have been finding out what lies under the sea in areas that are targeted for aggregate dredging. These investigations are the largest of their kind to ever be undertaken in English waters and have looked in detail at the seafloor in the Outer Thames Estuary, the South Coast, the East Coast and the Humber regions.
The aim of these studies was to ensure that when we use the sea, we are using it sustainably, without damaging habitats or heritage. The Explore the Seafloor project team want everyone to be able to benefit from the results to understand and learn more about how we can protect our seafloor.
This summer Explore the Seafloor is hosting a series of exciting Roadshows around the country, where children and adults can get up close to artefacts from beneath the sea, explore the geology and hear directly from the projects’ scientists. To find out more about the seafloor in your area visit us at SEA LIFE centres and events around the UK.
You can also join our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter, and soon there will be underwater images on Flickr and exclusive video of the seabed on our YouTube channel
This autumn, teachers’ notes and resources will be available on this web portal so that the results of this project will be useful for years to come.
You can get in touch with the Explore the Seafloor project team at Wessex Archaeology via: splash@wessexarch.co.uk
