BMAPA has awarded prizes to the site that has discovered the most interesting or significant find alongside an award for the site displaying the most professional attitude towards archaeological reporting. The awards were judged by the Head of Maritime Archaeology within English Heritage, Ian Oxley.

The find with the most archaeological value, which will make the biggest contribution to knowledge and understanding, is a mammoth tusk discovered by staff at Purfleet Aggregates in Essex last year. The tusk was within a cargo of marine sand and gravel dredged from a licensed area in the North Sea some 100km east of the River Humber. Dated by English Heritage’s scientific dating section as being approximately 44,000 years old, the tusk represents one of the most northerly dated examples of mammoth remains ever recovered from an accurately known position on the seabed and may have special implications for understanding the distribution of the species during the last Ice Age.

The award for most professional attitude in applying the protocol throughout the year at a wharf went to Solent Aggregates Ltd at Bedhampton Quay, where the wharf staff was judged to be both efficient and enthusiastic in their application of the reporting requirements.

The award for most professional attitude in applying the protocol throughout the year at sea went to the marine aggregate dredger ‘Arco Humber’, operated by Hanson Aggregates Marine. The crew regularly reported small fossil fragments amongst the 8,500 ton cargoes of sand and gravel.

Commenting on the first year of the reporting protocols in operation, Ian Oxley said, ‘The marine aggregate sector has effectively defined the standards for all other marine development activities to aspire to, and this is something that everyone involved in the industry can be incredibly proud of.’