1.19. Marine Archaeology

  1. Marine archaeology refers to the physical remains of the human past that survive within the marine environment. This includes submerged prehistoric archaeology, maritime archaeology (such as shipwrecks and associated debris or cargo), and aviation archaeology which occurs on the seabed.
  2. The existing marine archaeology baseline has been characterised through an assessment of site-specific geophysical surveys alongside a review of existing data and relevant studies.
  3. The site-specific geophysical survey data corroborates existing data and relevant studies surrounding the process and pattern of marine transgression (i.e. rising sea levels which causes the coastline to shift inland) of the north-western North Sea. The data indicate that the marine archaeology study area would have been a marine environment relatively shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum (i.e. the most recent time during the last glacial period where ice sheets were at their greatest extent circa 18,000 years Before Present (BP)). This environment, changing from glacial to marine would have been hostile to human occupation and therefore the potential for submerged prehistoric archaeology is low.
  4. The area of the North Sea off the eastern coast of Scotland was an area of historically high maritime traffic, with 324 anomalies of potential archaeological interest identified during the geophysical survey of the Array. Anomalies are classified as low potential which may potentially be of anthropogenic origin but are unlikely to be of archaeological significance, examples include discarded modern debris such as rope, cable, chain, or fishing gear; medium potential, those which are believed to be of anthropogenic origin but would require further investigation to establish archaeological significance, examples may include larger unidentifiable debris or clusters of debris, unidentifiable structures, or significant magnetic anomalies; and high potential which are almost certainly of anthropogenic origin and with a high potential of being of archaeological significance with examples including remains of wrecks, the suspected remains of wrecks, or known structures of archaeological significance. Of these 324 anomalies, three have been assessed to be high potential, and 14 of medium potential. While all of the high potential anomalies relate to wrecked vessels or potential wreck sites, none of these can be positively identified as one of the four recorded losses thought to occur in the marine archaeology study area. The remaining 307 anomalies have been classified as low potential.
  5. These impacts on marine archaeology associated with the construction, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning phases of the Array include:
  • sediment disturbance and deposition leading to indirect impacts on marine archaeology;
  • direct damage to marine archaeology receptors;
  • direct damage to deeply buried marine archaeology receptors (palaeolandscapes and submerged prehistoric archaeology receptors); and
  • alteration of sediment transport regimes leading to indirect impacts to marine archaeology.
  1. With the designed in measures in place, all impacts will result in effects of minor adverse significance, which is not significant in EIA terms.
  2. Measures adopted as part of the project include the provision of an outline Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) and Protocol for Archaeological Discoveries (PAD) (volume 3, appendix 19.2) that will ensure both the operational awareness of project personnel to the presence of all known marine archaeology receptors and that provisions are place in the event of the discover of as yet unknown marine archaeology during the lifetime of the Array.
  3. Cumulative impacts arising from the Array together with other projects and plans were assessed and predicted to result in effects of minor adverse significance (not significant in EIA terms).
  4. No transboundary effects with regard to marine archaeology from the Array on the interests of EEA states were predicted.