embedded mitigation measures serves to reduce this likelihood and to address unexpected discoveries of an archaeological nature promptly and appropriately should they be discovered throughout the construction, operation or decommissioning of the proposed East Anglia THREE project. If wrecks or aircraft that could be positively identified as being of foreign nationality are discovered during the course of the development then further advice should be sought regarding the legal status of the remains in their home country.
17.5 Existing Environment 17.5.1 Prehistory
17.5.1.1 Introduction 70.
The archaeological record of the southern North Sea basin is one of the oldest in Europe, with the earliest evidence of hominin activity from Happisburgh , Norfolk around 970,000 years ago (Parfitt et al. 2010). A series of hominins including Homo heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis and modern humans, H. sapiens have inhabited and moved through now-submerged landscapes in the North Sea and English Channel regions (Cohen et al. 2012); illustrated vividly by the intertidal discovery in East Anglia of ancient footprints of multiple individuals dating to around 800,000 years ago (Ashton et al. 2014). These submerged palaeo-landscapes are popularly referred to as ‘Doggerland’ (Coles 1998).
17.5.1.2 Known Prehistoric Receptors 71.
There are currently no known prehistoric sites within the Study Area. However, this is likely to be due to both the lack of previous investigation and the variable survival rate of prehistoric archaeological material rather than an indication that hominin populations were absent.
17.5.1.3 Potential Prehistoric Receptors 72.
The Early Prehistory of the southern North Sea basin is fundamentally linked to several phases of lower-than-now relative sea level during the last million years until the Neolithic, c 6,000 years ago. The internationally important Middle Palaeolithic archaeology (c. MIS 8 / 7; 250,000 BP) recovered from the aggregate dredging Area 240 in the palaeo-Yare catchment, which may also contain Lower or Late Middle Palaeolithic elements highlights potential for encountering submerged early prehistory in the East Anglia region from offshore contexts (Tizzard et al. 2014, Bicket et al. 2014).
Preliminary Environmental Information May 2014
East Anglia THREE Offshore Windfarm
Chapter 17 Offshore Archaeology Page 36
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