Archaeologists have reached the next crucial stage in uncovering the historic past of East Sussex's (England) ancestors. They will begin digging a series of shallow excavations on land at Lower Hoddern Farm in Peacehaven in a bid to find evidence of previous human occupation in the valley, which could include artefacts dating back to the Bronze Age.
     Field archaeologists from Archaeology South East will also be targeting the bed of the dry valley with a single larger excavation, measuring up to 100 metres in length and up to two metres in depth. They are hoping the study of any environmental remains found in a series of natural deposits, could reveal how the adjacent landscape was used thousands of years ago by their ancestors. Because of the effect of thousands of years of ploughing and erosion, artefacts such as flint tools and pottery are likely to have travelled to the bottom of the valley, where they remain trapped within a timecapsule of soil.
     The trench work follows earlier surveys using technology called magnetrometry, which can help reveal the extent of any buried archaeological features. The scanning equipment provides a magnetic reading from below ground, which can then help identify possible archaeological features, such as ditches, pits and postholes. Diggers will move on the site to begin stripping away the topsoil, an operation which will be closely monitored by the archaeologists, before they move in with spades and trowels to expose any possible finds. The investigations are part of extensive Southern Water survey work taking place in preparation for a planning application for a new £200 million wastewater treatment works at Lower Hoddern Farm, Peacehaven.

Source: Water UK (15 April 2004)