Transcript

Archaeology

Narrator

Changing use of the land is nothing new at Heathrow.New evidence has shown that ways of life have changed many times over thousands of years.In building for the future, Terminal 5 has presented a unique archaeological opportunity to better understand the past and preserve the ancient history of Heathrow for future generations.Archaeology and construction don’t usually make good bedfellows, but BAA and its construction partners have pioneered a seamless integration of the two activities. In April 2002 a team of 80 archaeologists set to work, harnessing satellite technology to map the site before excavating the relevant areas, which would in turn be handed over to construction teams.On-site facilities have been provided including the traditional shed for cleaning and sifting artefacts and sophisticated IT resources for real time analysis of data.

Ken Welsh

We have excavated nearly 100 hectares which really is a very large area, and that is 100 hectares of a prehistoric and Roman landscape, and because we have dug such a lot, instead of just as archaeologists normally do, just see a key hole, they might see a small bit of a settlement here or part of a field here, we have been able to see the whole landscape, so we have seen all the settlements, how they relate to each other, how the track ways run between the settlements and how that landscape has changed over the years, how people have modified it, dug new ditches, built new buildings, and that gives us a real insight into the way people lived.

Narrator

Excavations have revealed that the area was inhabited from the middle of the Mesolithic age circa 6000 BC and that the earliest farmers appeared to be from the Neolithic or New Stone Age period dated from 4000 to 2400 BC.

Archaeologist

Well one of the most important monuments on this site is the monument known as Stanwell Cursis – this is a monument which spans for about 3½ miles and was constructed about 5000 years ago as some sort of processional causeway across the landscape where the Neolithic people could visit the site’s important event in the landscape.

Narrator

During excavations over 80,000 artefacts have been found dating throughout history and including a bronze age finger ring, pottery 3½ thousand years old, Neolithic arrow heads, and Roman and Saxon broaches.

Archaeologist

Some of the really nice things that we have found have been in waterholes and the wet conditions in the bottom of the waterholes preserves wood and leather and other sort of organic material which normally gets destroyed over time. And so we have found Bronze Age axe halves, wood axe halves and wooden bowls, ladders that people actually got up and down into the water holes and so you know it has been fantastic.

Narrator

The waterhole being excavated here is on the site where two rivers have been diverted ahead of the construction programme. Whilst on either side of the area construction work continues apace on land that has already been researched and documented.

Archaeologist

It is a real privilege to be part of it here, because you really get a feeling that we are rewriting history and the understanding of human inhabitation in this part of London.