This 137 page report (including 2 appendices) gives a summary of the nature of waterlogged anoxic deposits and their chemistry, provides details of the use of a water quality monitoring system to determine temperature, pH, Eh and conductivity of these environments and presents results of monitoring carried out in the field and in the laboratory. The 'on site' monitoring of 11 sites, including several well known archaeological sites such as Flag Fen and Sweet Track (Somerset Levels) provide the first definition of the chemical environment of the waterlogged anoxic environments which preserve archaeological organic material. Laboratory based experiments prove that there are separate acidification and oxidation stages in the dehydration of waterlogged anoxic sediments and that there is a very swift loss of anoxia if 'freshwater' is permitted to drain through waterlogged anoxic deposits. A Protocol for the preservation and monitoring of waterlogged anoxic deposits containing valuable archaeological material was proposed.