H. One of the most important revelations of recent research has been the extent of industrial activity
along the coast. Fishing and salt production are among the better documented activities, but even here our
knowledge is patchy. Many forms of fishing will leave little archaeological trace, and one of the surprises of
recent survey has been the extent of past investment in facilities for procuring fish and shellfish. Elaborate
wooden fish weirs, often of considerable extent and responsive to aerial photography in shallow water,
have been identified in areas such as Essex and the Severn estuary. The production of salt, especially in the
late Iron Age and early Roman periods, has been recognized for some time, especially in the Thames estuary
and around the Solent and Poole Harbor, but the reasons for the decline of that industry and the nature of
later coastal salt working are much less well understood. Other industries were also located along the coast,
either because the raw materials outcropped there or for ease of working and transport: mineral resources
such as sand, gravel, stone, coal, ironstone, and alum were all exploited. These industries are poorly
documented, but their remains are sometimes extensive and striking.
I. Some appreciation of the variety and importance of the archaeological remains preserved in the
coastal zone, albeit only in preliminary form, can thus be gained from recent work, but the complexity of the
problem of managing that resource is also being realized. The problem arises not only from the scale and
variety of the archaeological remains, but also from two other sources: the very varied natural and human
threats to the resource, and the complex web of organizations with authority over, or interests in, the coastal
zone. Human threats include the redevelopment of historic towns and old dockland areas, and the increased
importance of the coast for the leisure and tourism industries, resulting in pressure for the increased
provision of facilities such as marinas. The larger size of ferries has also caused an increase in the damage
caused by their wash to fragile deposits in the intertidal zone. The most significant natural threat is the
predicted rise in sea level over the next century especially in the south and east of England. Its impact on
archaeology is not easy to predict, and though it is likely to be highly localized, it will be at a scale much
larger than that of most archaeological sites. Thus protecting one site may simply result in transposing the
threat to a point further along the coast. The management of the archaeological remains will have to be
considered in a much longer time scale and a much wider geographical scale than is common in the case of
dry land sites, and this will pose a serious challenge for archaeologists.