Hampshire and Wight Trust maritime archaeologists have unearthed fascinating evidence of an ancient Stone Age settlement over 8,000 years old, buried beneath a peaty seabed in the western Solent. The remains of an ancient forest lies at the base of a submerged cliff off Bouldnor in the western Solent. It was first identified back in 1976 when local fishermen dredged up timbers and peat but no evidence of human habitation has been found at the site until now. The first signs were spotted thanks to a resident lobster, who had unearthed worked flint fragments in the course of digging its burrow. The lobster has since disappeared but its legacy lives on in the discovery of the oldest stratified human occupation site ever found below sea level in British waters.

"The western Solent isn't the easiest area in which to orchestrate diving operations", comments Garry Momber, Archaeological Officer at the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology, based at the Southampton Oceanography Centre. "During the seven day diving expedition, we braved high winds and rain, strong tides and low visibility - but the finds lying in the samples taken from the seabed have made the whole expedition worthwhile; worked flint tools, hazelnuts and evidence of pieces of charcoal, all of which indicate the site of a human settlement, preserved 11metres below current sea level."

Assessment of these finds is still ongoing, although over 50 humanly worked flint flakes and 23 burnt flakes have been identified so far. An overwhelming majority of finds were recovered from a dark sandy/clay context below the submerged forest. The peat within which the forest lies was traced east and west of the site along a corridor of over 1,500m and eight samples of timber have been taken for tree ring analysis. One sample from the forest has been dated to between 6615 and 6395 BC - making it around 8,500 years old. The multi-disciplinary project involves scientists from the School Ocean and Earth Sciences, the Department of Geography, University Southampton and the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology. It continues work which began as a Europe Community L'lnstrument Financier de L'Environnement (LIFE) project instigated by the Isle of Wight Centre for the Coastal Environment 1997.

Other work carried out by the Hampshire and Wight Trust this yeas included hulk surveys on the Itchen River, diving on the Sinah Circle Langstone Harbour, survey of the "Wadeway" which runs between Langstone Village and Hayling Island, survey of a shipbuilding sit the Hamble River and hulk identification at Forton Lake off Portsmouth Harbour. The fieldwork season has proved very successful so far and with further diving and intertidal projects planned, this will continue to be ant busy year! The Trust is most grateful for the continuing support SCOPAC in its research into sea level change and associated coastal studies.

Garry Momber and Julie Satchell