Chartered Institute for Archaeologists 2020

28 |  VALUES, BENEF ITS AND LEGACY Visualising archaeological potential: a deposit-modelling case study from Beam Park Riverside, Dagenham DANIEL YOUNG MCIfA and ROB BATCHELOR MCIfA OF QUATERNARY SCIENTIFIC (QUEST), ROBERT MASEFIELD MCIfA OF RPS GROUP, HELEN HAWKINS MCIfA OF PRE-CONSTRUCT ARCHAEOLOGY Geoarchaeological investigations at Beam Park Riverside, Dagenham (Figure 1), show how deposit modelling can be a useful tool for visualising and interpreting archaeological and palaeoenvironmental potential. Geoarchaeological deposit models are particularly useful where sediments have accumulated over a long period, and where archaeological deposits may be deeply buried. Such deposits are difficult to detect using geophysical survey and archaeological trial trenching. However, if sediment logs from engineering boreholes exist, or are commissioned, they can be used by a geoarchaeologist to determine the nature of the buried sediments, the type of environment in which they accumulated, their likely age, and their archaeological and palaeoenvironmental potential. Used at the early stages of a development- led project, the models can cost-effectively guide the selection of appropriate archaeological evaluation and excavation strategies, and contribute to our understanding of the wider landscape context and any associated archaeological finds. The benefits of geoarchaeological deposit modelling are discussed further, with case studies and guidelines, by Historic England (2020). Deposit models are valuable for identifying and visualising former land surfaces. Such land surfaces are significant, because they represent a type of environment, existing for a known period, which may provide evidence for human interaction with the environment in the form of archaeological finds and features. The potential of a buried land surface will usually be determined by the geoarchaeologist, Figure 1: Location of Beam Park Riverside, showing the Phase 1 and 2 areas of investigation and sites of prehistoric archaeological finds at the floodplain edge