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Following the discovery of a Bronze Age log boat in Shardlow Quarry, Derbyshire in 2003, a scheme was devised to preserve this boat in situ. This included a monitoring programme to ensure that reducing conditions were maintained. This solution was agreed by the mineral planning authority Derbyshire County Council, with input and advice from English Heritage.Monitoring lasted ten years, during which time gravel deposits surrounding the boat were extracted. The boat was protected from dewatering during this time by a clay cut-off, installed around the area containing the boat before extraction begun. After extraction the adjacent areas were backfilled with on-site soils and inert waste.Data indicate that a reducing environment has been largely sustained during this period. Following careful and considered discussion, the monitoring programme ceased as there was unlikely to be further impacts to site hydrology, making additional data collection redundant.

Concern exists regarding the long-term viability of the internationally important archaeological remains of the Flag Fen site near Peterborough. This paper describes a hydrogeological numerical groundwater model which has been used to understand the groundwater situation with regard to the archaeology, including drainage impacts, and also to explore future scenarios. Observed and modelled groundwater levels have been interpreted using three zones: the ‘dry’ zone 1 above the seasonal maximum water table; zone 2 of seasonal water table fluctuation; and a deeper zone 3 of permanent saturation. Archaeological wood is best preserved in Zone 3. Much of the Bronze Age wooden structure is located within Zone 2 or above. The hydrological conditions are therefore not ideal for the long-term in situ preservation of the material. Groundwater modelling indicates that the main factor controlling groundwater levels in the area is artificial drainage. The approach would be applicable to other wet-preserved archaeological...

Over the last thirty years, over sixty separate episodes of monitoring waterlogged archaeological sites have been carried out in England. This paper lists these projects, summarizes basic information about them, and reviews what we have learnt over these last thirty years. Recommendations are given to help improve future monitoring projects. In particular, it is suggested that more work is needed on assessing the state of preservation of a site before monitoring is considered; that a proper project design needs to be developed at the outset of the work; and that more thought should go into deciding why monitoring is needed for a given site, including identifying mitigation options that can be initiated if monitoring data suggest optimum conditions for survival are no longer being maintained.