England's Historic Seascapes: Withernsea to Skegness
Museum of London Archaeology, 2010. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000104. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Historic England unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
David
Bowsher
Director of Research
Museum of London Archaeology
Mortimer Wheeler House
46 Eagle Wharf Road
London
N1 7ED
UK
Tel: 020 7410 2285
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 935
- ALSF Project Number: 4730
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000104
- How to cite using this DOI
New Sand Hole Character Area
Present Day Form
The New Sand Hole offshore character area is situated in the north-western section of the study area to the east of Holderness and to the north of the main Humber navigation channel. The geology of the area comprises Chalk bedrock overlain by glacial till (clay, sand and gravel debris deposited from ice sheets) known as the Boulders Bank Formation. The water depth across the area varies between 10m and 15m and the maximum tidal range is 3-4 m. The seabed is gently undulating and consists of gravel and gravely sand.
Sea Use: Present
The dominant character in New Sand Hole is navigation as the area forms part of the approach to the Humber Estuary from the north. The area is a demarked modern channel into the Estuary and commercial shipping passes through. It is also an active dredging zone with licensed dredging area 448 and another inactive site managed by dredging company RMC marine. The principal fishing activity in the area is lining for white fish such as cod and whiting and flat fish such as sole and plaice.
Sea Use: Past
The modern channel in New Sand Hole is located on the route of a palaeochannel - the old route of the Humber. The channel is an eroded relic palaeochannel that once formed the channel of the ancient river course in the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods before inundation took place. The character area has, therefore, been shaped by thousands of years of dynamic sea level changes and erosion and deposition.
The area has potential for the presence of drowned land surfaces resulting from the fact that sea level has fluctuated between -120 metres and +10 metres over the past 500,000 years. From the period 500,000 BP to 22,000 BP (before present), human population levels were low, and little more than stray finds may be expected, although these may still be of considerable archaeological importance. From 22,000 BP to 2100 BP parts of the North Sea were dry land and human population levels were higher.
The fact that the area contains the New Sand Hole palaeochannel makes it a prime habitation site.
Archaeological Potential
The New Sand Hole character area has potential for the presence of drowned land surfaces resulting from the fact that sea level has fluctuated between -120 metres and +10 metres over the past 500,000 years. From the period 500,000 BP to 22,000 BP (before present), human population levels were low, and little more than stray finds may be expected, although these may still be of considerable archaeological importance.
From 22,000 BP to 2100 BP parts of the North Sea were dry land and human population levels were higher, especially in the Mesolithic age. Finds dating to the Mesolithic have been found to a depth of 40m so any area of sea bed above that has potential for habitation. Inundation of the North Sea landscapes occurred between 10,000 and 6,000 BP and the most likely evidence for human occupation would be, therefore, Mesolithic in date.
Earlier Palaeolithic occupation is less likely to be found and later Neolithic occupation is likely to have been limited to the inshore and very highest of the banks and shoals such as the Dogger Bank. The area lies in the position of the Devensian terminal morrain field and it is likely that much of the area was relatively high land but has been subject to severe coastal erosion. This makes it a possible Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and, in the east, Neolithic habitation site. Any residual artefacts, however, would have been eroded and scattered over a wide area by the tidal rip down this coast.
Over the last 6000 years (if not more), humans have used sea faring vessels and so wrecks and related material may lie on the sea floor or be buried beneath the sea floor. Marine traffic would have historically used this area because of it's proximity to the Humber approaches navigation channel to the south although it is a shallow area and numerous wrecks will be found here possibly dating from the Roman period onwards. Fishing activity would have been carried out in the area from the medieval period onwards.
Character Perceptions
The area is perceived as an important route into the Humber Estuary. It is also an important source of aggregates, attested by the presence of active dredge sites.
References
Close's Fisherman's Chart (UKHO 1953)
Fisheries Sensitivity Maps in British Waters (MAFF 1989)
