Profile: Alex is the CITiZAN Archaeologist for Outreach in Portsmouth, based in the Nautical Archaeology Society offices. She, along with her colleague, works to train new and existing archaeological groups on how to identify, record and monitor archaeology and work to raise awareness of coastal heritage to local communities. CITiZAN in the Severn As coastal archaeologists we face processes which are destructive to archaeology but cannot be protected against. The coastal zone does not, and cannot be afforded the protection that terrestrial archaeology, or even maritime archaeology to a certain degree, enjoys. When looking at Historic Environment Records the coast often looks sparse, we have thousands of records which have been identified through development archaeology but coastal development is very limited, for obvious reasons. So how do we work to identify and record an archaeological resource which is unquantified, fragile, constantly eroding and spans thousands of miles? The CITIZAN (Coastal and Intertidal Zone Archaeological Network) project aims to do just this, with its three regional teams covering hundreds of miles each and working in environments from low lying estuaries to granite cliffs. This presentation will look at the recording of complex archaeological sites in the diverse coastal zone, focusing on the use of new technologies and their accessibility with a focus on our work in the Severn Estuary. Contact details: Alex Bellisario CITiZAN Fort Cumberland Portsmouth PO4 9LD Tel: +44 (0)7817 386199 Email: ABellisario@mola.org.uk

1. Coastal and
Intertidal Zone
Archaeological
Network

2. CITiZAN AIMS
The coast of England is under constant threat from wind, waves and winter storms. These
threats wreak havoc on England's varied coastal and intertidal heritage, not only exposing
these sites but washing them away before they are ever seen.
The project has been set up in response to these dynamic threats to our island heritage. We
are a community archaeology project working on the English coast and in areas exposed at
low tide. We are actively promoting site recording and long-term monitoring programmes led
by our active volunteers

3. CITiZAN Funders
CITiZAN Supporters…

4. 3CITiZAN teams
1website
1 new app
100’svolunteers

5. The problem of coastal erosion
The English coast
has an approximate
length of 10,000km
(that’s from London
to Tokyo)
December and
January 2013/14
were the wettest
months for at
least 248 years
There’s over 80,000
records in our
database but this is
only a record of the
archaeology which
is known about!
There are not enough
archaeologists to
cover the coastline to
watch out for newly
exposed archaeology

6. CITiZAN Mobile App

7. • c. 80,000 records
• Rapid Coastal Zone Assessments via NRHE
• HER records (Devon, Cornwall)
• HE Peat Database (pending)
• Data from local archaeology groups
CITiZAN
mapping

8. 3D modelling and photogrammetry
https://sketchfab.com/models/b12eba8956f24f5f92efb03c40b28ac4

9. SUAV (drone)
survey

10. CITiZAN in the Severn Estuary

11. Dunster Beach
• Pottery identified
eroding onto the beach
• Community response
built up by Dig Village
• Attributed to Roman by
Dig Village
• Historic England
provided the
geophysics equipment
and training

13. facebook.com/citizan1
twitter.com/CITiZAN1
flickr.com/photos/citizan
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MOLA (Museum of
London Archaeology)
Mortimer Wheeler House
46 Eagle Wharf Road
London
N1 7ED
Council for British
Archaeology
Beatrice di Cardi House
66 Bootham
York
Y030 7BZ
Nautical Archaeology
Society
Fort Cumberland
Fort Cumberland Road
Portsmouth
PO4 9LD
www.citizan.org.uk
citizan@mola.org.uk