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Coracle Archaeology was commissioned by Niras on behalf of Alcatel Submarine Networks to undertake marine archaeological environmental assessments, including operational support, for the Amitie telecommunications cable system. The Amitie telecommunications cable system is a subsea, fibre-optic cable system linking Massachusetts in the USA with Gironde, France and Cornwall in the UK. The cable runs for approximately 53km through UK territorial waters from Widemouth Bay, Bude, Cornwall to the UK 12 nautical mile limit. The cable route beyond the 12 nautical mile limit and above mean high water springs were beyond the remit of the archaeological assessments. Marine archaeological assessments included a desk-based assessment of known cultural heritage assets in the vicinity of the planned cable route, the archaeological assessment of marine geophysical survey data, a marine cultural heritage chapter for the Environmental appraisal, a written scheme of investigation and a protocol for archaeological discoveries. A programme of archaeological monitoring (watching brief) was also undertaken during cable installation work on the foreshore and inter-tidal zone. During the watching brief, wood remains were encountered which appeared to confirm the presence of a submerged prehistoric forest on the beach at Widemouth. Palaeo-environmental and geoarchaeological assessment was subsequently undertaken on the recovered samples, including radiocarbon dating. As a result of the archaeological assessments, two archaeological exclusion zones were imposed over geophysical anomalies with archaeological potential within the Amitie cable corridor. The as-laid cable route did not encroach any of the archaeological exclusion zones, and no items of archaeological interest were encountered unexpectedly during works that disturbed the seabed. Wood remains were, however, encountered on the beach at Widemouth during landfall installation works, including a series of tree trunks and stumps indicative of in-situ woodland development. It is noteworthy that no peat deposits were encountered; instead the trenches contained a sequence of clay deposits, containing occasional wood remains. A series of representative trench sequences were geoarchaeologically sampled using a series of monoliths. The Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey for North Cornwall identified the importance of intertidal submerged forest deposits and the need for their further study, especially as most known sites have not been subject to palaeo-environmental investigation or scientific dating. Geoarchaeological assessment of the remains recovered from Widemouth Bay was also designed to address several key research questions identified in the South West Archaeological Research Framework, including Theme C (Aims 16c and 16h, 18a, 23a, 25b) and Theme H (Aim 3). Assessment of the recovered samples shows that the submerged forest was composed mainly of oak, willow and alder woodland, with pollen analysis of one of the monolith sequences indicating that hazel was abundant locally. Radiocarbon dating has indicated that the submerged forest dates from c. 4700-4500 calibrated years BC, making Widemouth Bay the oldest dated intertidal submerged forest in Cornwall. |
