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Wessex Archaeology

Name: Wessex Archaeology
Address: Portway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury, SP46EB, GB
Telephone: +44 (0)1722 326 867
Price range: Not Applicable

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Wessex Archaeology is a trusted archaeology and heritage service provider and educational charity.

06/11/2026

Woodlands preserve a rich legacy of the past. Nearly all woodlands, ancient or modern, contain archaeological features in some form, reflecting how people have used the landscape over time.

Our NEW guidance developed with Wessex Archaeology is designed to help woodland owners and forestry workers to identify archaeological features so their protection and management can be factored into woodland plans or maintenance works.

Such features can include significant trees, such as giant pollards, or various earthworks – sometimes described as ‘lumps and bumps’ on the ground.

Read more: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/identifying-and-protecting-archaeological-features-in-woodland

Images: A large bomb crater located in the New Forest, Hampshire. An abandoned estate cottage (19th century), Wiltshire.

06/11/2026

Is that a Neolithic long barrow or a post-medieval rabbit warren? What is a bark peelers hut and is that one over there? Is that a just a big hole, or a WW2 bomb crater?

Nearly all woodlands – ancient or modern – are likely to contain archaeological features of one kind or another but the tricky thing is that they may be poorly understood or unrecognised, making them particularly vulnerable to damage during forestry works.

That's where new illustrated guidance created by our specialists in collaboration with Forestry Commission comes in. It is designed to help woodland owners, managers and forestry professionals recognise and protect these features.

🌳Have a leaf through the guide...
https://ow.ly/Byrs5104qQ5

06/11/2026

Anglo-Saxon teenager laid to rest with garnets from India, amongst other riches.

Back in 2021, our archaeologists uncovered a rare double burial in an early medieval cemetery during the construction of National Grid’s Viking Link interconnector in .

A teenage girl, aged between 14 and 16, had been buried with an exceptionally rich array of grave goods including turquoise glass beads and three pendants, one of amber and two of garnet set in gold and silver. Beside her lay a young boy aged between 5 and 7.

Further analysis confirmed that both garnets were genuine, as opposed to glass lookalikes, and originated from the Indian subcontinent. This find links the girl to a socially elevated echelon of society that had access to gemstones from India and Sri Lanka.

Ancient DNA analysis is still pending to determine the relationship between these two children. Initial results indicate they are not siblings, though they may yet prove to be related.

You can read more over on our Open Library: https://ow.ly/P3Gh5101L8G

30/10/2026

The study of ancient human remains can often tell us more about how people lived than exactly how they died.

However, our Osteoarchaeologists have identified evidence of a fatal injury whilst analysing remains from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in , giving insight into the turbulence of early medieval life.

The remains of one man suggest he died following a sharp blow to the back of the neck, likely during a brawl or skirmish. The injury was caused by a heavy blade such as a seax, a type of short sword. Our specialists were able to determine that he had been in his 30s or 40s and was struck while on his hands and knees.

Despite the nature of his death, he was buried within the cemetery and laid to rest with a knife and buckle in much the same manner as the rest of the community.

This burial and many others are covered in depth as part of two new publications of our work on National Grid’s Viking Link project.

Read for free on our Open Library: https://ow.ly/P3Gh5101L8G

25/10/2026

🪏Archaeological dig supports teenage boys’ self-esteem and wellbeing

Earlier this year, our Engagement team ran a pioneering wellbeing project at a secondary school in South Yorkshire. 'Trenchmates' was designed to support and empower Year 9 boys through direct engagement with archaeology.

Over an 8-week period, students undertook a survey of their school playing field, dug their own archaeological trenches and planted a garden of native trees and plants based on the landscape’s historic flora.

The scheme was funded by Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust as part of the Creative Health: Boys’ Mental Health Grant programme, made possible by the Arts Council England Place Partnership fund and supported by NHS Mental Health Support Team With Me In Mind Rotherham.

Read more here: https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/trenchmates

23/10/2026

Don't miss our team on Channel 5’s ✨Our Great Yorkshire Life✨ tonight at 7pm! 📺

Last year, our Historic Buildings team were called out to undertake investigative works at a Georgian icehouse at Wentworth Woodhouse, , for the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust. 🧊

Built in 1735, the icehouse was used to store ice collected from the estate’s lakes and ponds during winter, which would then have supplied the estate’s bustling kitchens to help preserving food and keep w**e cool over the summer months.

Working alongside the The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, Lucy and Ethan carried out an archaeological evaluation to determine how the icehouse had been built and help inform its restoration.

You can catch up anytime here: https://ow.ly/M4m550ZZEQj

📸 Wentworth Woodhouse by Andrew Abbott, CC BY-SA 2.0

21/10/2026

Around 500 years ago, a merchant ship sank off the coast of Dungeness in Tudor England.

It would not be seen again until 2022, when workers at CEMEX UK's Denge Quarry came across the remains of its hull, and our team were promptly called in to record this rare piece of Britain’s maritime history.

Though we don’t know what cargo it might have been carrying, or how it met its end, closer study revealed that the timbers date to the 1530s to 1540s and the ship was likely in use during a period of at least 20 years between the refit of the Mary Rose in 1536 and the Spanish Armada in 1588.

You can now view a complete digital archive of the Dungeness shipwreck from the Archaeology Data Service including photogrammetry models of the ship’s hull and 3D models of the ship’s timbers.

See here: https://ow.ly/wwJU50ZZC2t

🎥 Video description: A 3D model of the Dungeness Wreck showing the large wooden treenails used in its construction.

18/10/2026

This , we wanted to share our team’s experiences of how perimenopause and menopause have affected them in the workplace, and why it’s so important we keep talking about it.

There’s no one size fits all when it comes to the menopause, and that’s why our menopause policy encourages an open conversation about the impacts on both physical and mental wellbeing, along with guidance on putting tailored support in place.

Read their stories in their own words. 👇

14/10/2026

Archaeobotany training? Completed it, mate! 🏋

Our Environmental Laboratory Supervisor, Fiona, has been busy polishing up her plant identification skills, expanding her beautiful reference collection (featuring juniper seeds, hazel nuts and ferns!) and writing her very first report.

Thanks to support from Historic England’s Archaeology Mentoring Partnerships Programme, Fiona has spent the past 12 months working alongside our specialists Ed and Inés, gaining vital knowledge to help build a career in environmental archaeology. 🌿

Read more here: https://ow.ly/2fFk50ZX9Q6

09/10/2026

Our team have uncovered the remains of a rare 2,000-year-old lapdog!

Unearthed near Partney in , this small dog likely resembled a modern-day Maltese and was alive somewhere between the late Iron Age to the early Roman period.

Although a puppy at the time of death, it is clear from the size of the bones that these are the remains of a very small, slender animal which would have been unlikely to survive without human care. As an adult, it would only have been somewhere around 20 – 25 cm in shoulder height.

Dogs such as this were generally kept as companions by wealthy members of society living in towns and villas, and our specialists were intrigued by its discovery on a low-status agricultural site.

This discovery was made during archaeological work for National Grid's Viking Link route, a 765km electricity interconnector between Great Britain and Denmark.

📸 Photography from Lincolnshire Archives | Reconstruction by Marijane Porter, Illustrator

Address

Portway House, Old Sarum Park
Salisbury
SP46EB

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+44 (0)1722 326 867

Website

http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/

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