White Hart Triangle, Thamesmead (WHT03)

Clients: L-T Archaeology

Author: Graham Spurr

Site supervisor: Roy Stephenson

The geoarchaeological section at MoLAS conducted a power auger survey at White Hart Triangle. These surveys provide clients with rapid assessments of the underlying stratigraphy to a depth unobtainable by traditional archaeological techniques. Furthermore, the augering technique allows subsampling of the stratigraphy for palaeo-ecological research, such as pollen and diatom analysis, to help reconstruct the depositional environment of the site as a whole.

Through the geoarchaeological and palaeo-environmental analysis of sediments at the site, information was obtained on the following areas. The pollen evidence showed how the vegetation had changed from thick deciduous forests around marshy ground through to grasslands and, to some degree, areas of cereal production. The inference is that the area had been cleared by prehistoric peoples for cultivation and pasture. The diatom evidence showed how the fluvial environment had changed over time in terms of openess to the estuary. The stratigraphy showed how the site changed in nature due to fluctuations in sea levels. Therefore, information gathered from the site fitted it into both a macro- and micro-environmental picture.

These power auger assessments work well in locations such as Thamesmead which is a low-lying, floodplain environment where the strata are unstable. The very nature of geoarchaeological power auger investigations make sites like this one quick and economical. Although never to replace a traditional archaeological investigation, a three-man team can be on and off site fairly rapidly, which is important in today's tight work programmes.

The aims of the project were fulfilled to provide another piece in the jigsaw of environmental change and archaeological potential along, in this case, the course of the Thames, which would have once been a rich and diverse habitat exploited both in prehistoric and historic times.

This site report is extracted from MoLAS 2003: annual review