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Since 1990 a programme of archaeological survey has been undertaken on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight, between Wootton Creek and Ryde pier. The project has combined hinterland, intertidal, and offshore survey with a range of environmental analyses including pollen and plant macrofossil analysis, diatom, insect, and sedimentological studies, and radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating. The main objectives of the survey were to provide an overview of the archaeological potential and the sea-level chronology of the Solent, to investigate in detail the Wootton-Quarr coastline chronology (including evidence for prehistoric and later subsistence, trading, and maritime activities), and to develop survey and recording techniques, threat assessment methodologies, and management options for intertidal archaeology. During the project, more than 150 timber structures have been surveyed. These include small groups of posts, structures composed of posts and hurdling or brushwood, and long alignments comprising several hundred posts. Forty-eight of these structures have been radiocarbon dated and have been found to range from the early Neolithic to the post-medieval period. The posts survive in remarkable condition and reveal evidence for past woodland management regimes as well as providing information about woodworking technology, the skill of the workmen, and the size of the workforce involved in cutting the posts.
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Amongst the earliest structures recorded are a number of trackways which survive at extreme low water at Quarr and Binstead. Due to their position they are only rarely visible for short periods of time on very low tides. Consequently recording has been difficult. At Quarr, three trackways have been found running seaward within a stretch of about 150m. Radiocarbon dating places all three within the first half of the fourth millennium but cannot reveal whether they were contemporary or whether one replaced the other. Pollen analysis indicates that they were constructed in a saltmarsh environment. The most westerly of the three generally remains under water but the other two display distinctly different methods of construction, one using hurdles and the other longitudinal roundwood and split poles. The trackways appear to extend seaward for a maximum of 55m. At Binstead, two more trackways have been recorded which both date to the early-third millennium. One is of hurdle construction but only the upright posts of the other remain. It is unclear why the trackways were constructed in these positions on the coast. Perhaps they provided access to boats and the open sea, although it would surely have been easier and safer for boats to come ashore in one of the many small creeks which punctuated the Wootton-Quarr coast at that time. It is perhaps more likely that the trackways provided access for fishing, fowling, reed collection, or other activities which might have taken place in the saltmarsh.
It might be expected that in the intertidal zone the remains of fish traps would be identified. Several of the Neolithic and Bronze Age structures resemble the anchor posts of basket fish traps similar to those found in the Severn Estuary. Others are more complex and it has been difficult to find analogies for them. Whilst the obvious interpretation is that they are a different type of fish trap, they might possibly be associated with fowling or other as yet undetected pursuits. The most extensive structure recorded during the survey was a discontinuous longshore post alignment at present mean low water which extends for c1.25km. This has been radiocarbon dated to the seventh-eighth centuries AD. A study of the woodworking techniques suggests that the posts were shaped by a large group with differing skill levels, which implies that it was constructed hurriedly, using all available labour and tools. One possible interpretation is that the posts form the remains of one large fish trap or a series of smaller traps constructed to serve the needs of the workforce labouring in the nearby Binstead limestone quarries. If the structure is a fish trap, it is likely that it functioned using nets or lines as no indication of hurdling was seen. The survey recorded one classic, large V-shaped fish weir. Radiocarbon dated to the tenth century AD, this was constructed using hurdle fences strengthened with limestone blocks. The fences showed evidence of being braced by angled wooden props but unlike most published reconstructions, the fences were braced from the inside of the walls as well as from the outside. At the apex of the fish weir, there is evidence for a circular pound of c3.5m diameter, in which the fish would have been trapped. Such a trapping device is most closely parallelled in the nineteenth-century 'Salmon Garth' at Ravenglass on the River Esk.
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Substantial lithic scatters were recorded during the survey, and several in situ scatters occur on the firm ground along the edges of palaeo-creeks. These probably date to the late Mesolithic to early Neolithic period and include large numbers of crude picks and tranchet axes, and microliths of edge blunted and geometric form. Some of the lithic scatters were associated with large quantities of burnt and fire-cracked flint. Similar features were noted during field-walking in the hinterland but these are generally not associated with worked flint. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from two hinterland sites suggests that these are Bronze Age. The recovery of large quantities of ceramics from the intertidal zone provided evidence for trade and maritime activities in addition to subsistence-based activities of fishing and fowling. The ceramics range from Neolithic to post-medieval in date and include a variety of exotic Roman and medieval imports. Amongst these were sherds from a unique Rheinzabern samian jar. Many of the pots were substantially complete and it is thought that some of these would have been lost overboard during the unloading of ships. Ceramics found in the intertidal zone were compared with those collected by trawlermen operating oyster dredges over Ryde Middle Bank, some distance offshore. Both groups included pottery from Holland, France, and the Orient. The late medieval Southampton port records were also interrogated to discover the full nature of the historic cargoes which had been shipped through the Solent. Also recovered from the beach were almost fifty cattle skulls, many of which showed evidence of slaughter by pole-axing. One of these was radiocarbon dated to the Roman period. Possibly the animals were brought to the beach to be slaughtered prior to being traded to the mainland.
Between Wootton Creek and Ryde, expanses of intertidal peats containing fallen trees were recorded and sampled. The courses of palaeo-channels running through the intertidal zone were traced by augering, and samples for pollen and diatom analysis were taken. These palaeo-channels were followed offshore using sub-bottom profiling and sidescan sonar systems. Other environmental samples were taken from deep cores both in the project area and elsewhere on the north coast of the Island. Information obtained from pollen and diatom analysis plus select radiocarbon dating was used to reconstruct the vegetational history of north east Wight and to produce a sea-level curve for the Solent area. Fifty-eight samples for dendrochronological dating were taken from the fallen trees and other suitable structural timbers. A chronology spanning 3463-2557 BC was produced, with a slightly older 268 year floating chronology and several undated ring sequences shown by radiocarbon dating to be younger. Eleven samples from an Iron Age post alignment previously radiocarbon dated produced a floating 111 year chronology which is yet to be fixed dendrochronologically.
The Wootton-Quarr survey has combined hinterland, intertidal, and offshore surveys into a fully integrated assessment of the archaeology of a stretch of coastline. The project is now approaching the conclusion of its analysis phase which will culminate in the production of a monograph. This should assist in the identification of the specific survey, recording and management needs of this coastal zone.