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Project Adair: Orkney and the Pentland Firth Mapping Marine Heritage Sites 30032012

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Project Adair: Orkney and the Pentland Firth Mapping Marine Heritage Sites 30032012 293 Project Adair: Orkney and the Pentland Firth Mapping Marine Heritage Sites 30032012 Project Adair: Mapping Marine Heritage Sites in Orkney and the Pentland Firth Desk-based assessment Project No: 293 ORCA Orkney College East Road Kirkwall Orkney KW15 1LX Report: Edward Pollard, Mark Littlewood, Mary Saunders, Robert Forbes, Kevin Heath HS Project Manager: Philip Robertson ORCA Project Manager: Paul Sharman RCAHMS Project Consultant: George Geddes Funded by: Historic Scotland March 2012 © Historic Scotland 2012 This documents has been prepared in accordance with ORCA standard operating procedures and IFA standards Authorised for distribution by: Date: © Historic Scotland (HS) 3 293 Project Adair: Orkney and the Pentland Firth Mapping Marine Heritage Sites 30032012 Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................... 9 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................... 10 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................ 11 2.0 Background ........................................................................................ 11 2.1 Project Adair ........................................................................................ 11 2.2 Marine legislation in regards to cultural heritage .................................. 12 2.3 Orkney and the Pentland Firth ............................................................. 15 3.0 Aims and Objectives of the Project .................................................. 15 4.0 Methodology ....................................................................................... 17 4.1 Sourcing datasets ................................................................................ 17 4.2 Data Interrogation ................................................................................ 20 4.3 Databases ............................................................................................ 21 4.4 Polygonisation ..................................................................................... 23 5.0 Results: Assessment of the data ...................................................... 25 5.1 The Datasets deriving from marine geophysics ................................... 25 5.1.1 Crown Estate side-scan sonar ............................................................ 25 5.1.2 Crown Estate multi-beam echosounder .............................................. 25 5.1.3 SeaZone TruDepths ........................................................................... 26 5.1.4 British Geological Survey Sub-Bottom Profiles ................................... 28 5.1.5 British Geological Survey Cores and Grab Samples ........................... 28 5.1.6 Marine Scotland Multi-Beam Echosounder ......................................... 29 5.1.7 UKHO Multi-Beam Echosounder ........................................................ 29 5.2 Non geophysics related data sources .................................................. 30 5.2.1 RCAHMS Aerial Photographs ............................................................. 30 5.2.1 Historic Charts .................................................................................... 32 5.2.2 Local Knowledge ................................................................................ 33 5.2.3 Commercial Projects .......................................................................... 33 5.2.4 Research Projects .............................................................................. 34 5.2.5 Canmore ............................................................................................ 34 5.2.6 SeaZone Hydrospatial ........................................................................ 35 5.2.7 Highland HER .................................................................................... 35 5.2.8 Orkney SMR ....................................................................................... 35 5.2.9 Shipwreck-density maps ..................................................................... 36 5.2.10 Wreck websites .................................................................................. 37 5.3 Datasets not reviewed ......................................................................... 37 6.0 Results: Data review .......................................................................... 39 6.1 Crown Estate side-scan sonar ............................................................. 39 6.2 Crown Estate multi-beam echosounder ............................................... 42 6.3 British Geological Survey sub-bottom profiles ..................................... 43 © Historic Scotland (HS) 4 293 Project Adair: Orkney and the Pentland Firth Mapping Marine Heritage Sites 30032012 6.4 British Geological Survey cores and grab samples .............................. 45 6.5 Historic Charts ..................................................................................... 46 6.6 UKHO Multi-Beam Echosounder ......................................................... 50 6.7 SeaZone TruDepths ............................................................................ 55 6.8 Marine Scotland Multi-Beam Echosounder .......................................... 56 6.9 RCAHMS aerial photographs ............................................................... 56 6.10 Whittaker Density Map ......................................................................... 61 6.11 Local knowledge .................................................................................. 62 6.12 Commercial projects ............................................................................ 63 6.13 Research projects ................................................................................ 64 7.0 The Updated Marine Historic Environment Record of Orkney and the Pentland Firth ............................................................................ 64 7.1 Submerged terrestrial archaeological sites .......................................... 64 7.2 Submerged palaeo-landscapes ........................................................... 66 7.3 Shipwrecks and losses ........................................................................ 68 7.4 Aircraft losses ...................................................................................... 69 7.5 Landing places ..................................................................................... 69 7.6 Anchorages .......................................................................................... 70 7.7 Fishing Areas ....................................................................................... 71 7.8 Tidal causeways and ferry crossings ................................................... 71 7.9 Other marine features .......................................................................... 72 8.0 Discussion .......................................................................................... 72 8.1 Areas of sensitivity around Orkney and the Pentland Firth .................. 72 8.1.1 Sites of harbours, landing places, bridges, causeways and fords ....... 72 8.1.2 Locations of known navigational hazards, historic anchorages, sea- routes and fishing areas ..................................................................... 73 8.1.3 Areas of high sediment accumulation ................................................. 74 8.1.4 Preservation potential in high-energy environments ........................... 75 8.2 Data quality .......................................................................................... 76 8.2.1 MBES data ......................................................................................... 76 8.2.2 Side-scan sonar data.......................................................................... 77 8.2.3 SeaZone TruDepths ........................................................................... 77 8.2.4 Sub-bottom profiles and cores ............................................................ 78 8.2.5 Aerial photography ............................................................................. 78 8.3 Key data gaps ...................................................................................... 78 8.4 Updating the record ............................................................................. 79 8.5 Recommendations ............................................................................... 81 8.5.1 Submerged archaeological sites and landscapes ............................... 81 8.5.2 Investigations of the foreshore and shallow inshore areas, particularly around harbours and ports ................................................................. 82 8.5.3 Recommendations for future record enhancement projects: The datasets ............................................................................................. 83 8.5.4 Recommendations for future record enhancement projects: The databases ........................................................................................... 85 9.0 Conclusions........................................................................................ 86 9.1 Interrogation of marine datasets .......................................................... 86 9.2 Assimilation of data into databases ..................................................... 86 © Historic Scotland (HS) 5 293 Project Adair: Orkney and the Pentland Firth Mapping Marine Heritage Sites 30032012 9.3 Future archaeological research ..........................................................
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