HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that a 500-foot-long timber fishing trap found in a tidal estuary on the southern coast of England has been radiocarbon dated to the eighth or ninth centuries. At low tide in the salt marsh, fish trapped in the weir would have been easy to catch by hand or with a net. The discovery will help scientists map changes to the shoreline over the past 1,000 years. “It has highlighted the level of erosion in Southampton Water over the last few decades,” said marine archaeologist John Cooper of the University of Exeter. “There are factors like sea level rise and dredging carried out but it shows how dynamic coastal change is.” To read about the Anglo-Saxon period in southern England, go to "The Kings of Kent."
Fishing Weir in Southern England Dated to Ninth Century A.D.
News July 19, 2017
Recommended Articles
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2024
Seahenge Sings
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2024
Location is Everything
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2024
Moving Day
-
Features May/June 2017
The Blackener’s Cave
Viking Age outlaws, taboo, and ritual in Iceland’s lava fields
(Photo: Samir S. Patel) -
Features May/June 2017
After the Battle
The defeat of a Scottish army at the 1650 Battle of Dunbar was just the beginning of an epic ordeal for the survivors
(Mary Evans Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo) -
Letter from Greenland May/June 2017
The Ghosts of Kangeq
The race to save Greenland’s Arctic coastal heritage from a shifting climate
(Photo: R. Fortuna, National Museum of Denmark 2016) -
Artifacts May/June 2017
Maya Jade Pectoral
(Courtesy Toledo Regional Archaeological Project, UCSD)