Outdoor Action
Clues from the Past
These rocks may have been left behind after the ice melted.
They are not the same as the local rocks.
Look around and you can see many things that give us a clue to what happened in Chichester Harbour years ago and what life was like then.
The rocks tell you about the land (and sea) in times past, or you may be lucky enough to find fossils, which are clues to the wild
life thousands of years ago.
Things left behind by people (artefacts or evidence) are used as clues by archaeologists to help understand the past.
How to be an Archaeologist in Chichester Harbour
Where to go?
You can look for evidence of the Past everywhere around you, in place names and old buildings, and the landscape. But if you want to find objects that you can touch and hold then here are some suggestions;
Stone age tool and Roman tile
The Harbour beaches for worked flints. Arrowheads, Scrapers and Cores have all been found. If the piece of flint has lots of small, fairly regular chips taken out of the sides to leave a sharp cutting edge, then it may be a Stone Age Tool.
The beach south of Dell Quay for Roman Tiles. The Romans made tiles near here, probably for the Palace at Fishbourne. The mud on parts of the beach is sticky, bright orange clay. Look for flat tiles with a pale, salmon-pink colour, not the darker brick red.
Remember!
Be aware of the tide. Be considerate to the environment and other people. You should look for objects on the surface, as digging is not allowed in the harbour area.
Gold ring
If you find something which looks old and man-made, you should take it to ChichesterDistrict Museum for identification, remembering where you found it, because it could help us to understand life in the harbour in the past. Also you will find out what the object really is, and how old it is!
If you find a silver or gold object you must take it for identification to a museum or the police.
Look at the Evidence Timeline to see some of the objects found in the harbour.
Visit Chichester District Museum and Fishbourne Roman Palace and Emsworth Museum to find out more about some of the objects found in the harbour.
Join the Young Archaeologists Club to really get involved.
Fossils
Clues to life in the past can be found buried in the soil and rocks below us.
Fossils show us which plants and animals were alive millions of years ago when the rocks and clays of the harbour were being formed.
A Fossil is the remains of a once-living plant or animal preserved in rock. “Fossil” means “dug out of the ground”. They can be found washed up on the beach after the sea has eroded the rock they were in.
If you find a fossil, you can take it to Chichester District Museum to find out what it was, and how old it is. Make a note of where you found it, this helps us to understand life in the harbour long ago, and it could be a rare example!
The most common fossils around Chichester Harbour are the shells of sea creatures.
Long ago sea mud and sand containing the bodies of dead sea creatures gradually hardened into rock. Some fossils are the hardened remains of an animal, such as bones, shells and teeth. Other fossils are natural casts (trace fossils) of the animal showing its shape but not actually containing any of the animal's body which dissolved totally, leaving a mould that was filled with minerals and then went hard.
Some examples of fossils found in the harbour area:
Sandstone rock with sea shells in.
Fossilised Sea Urchin, about 70 million years old. The spikes covering a living sea urchin would have fallen off when it died, leaving the spotted pattern on a smooth shell.
Sandstone rock with sea shells.
Fossillised Turitella. Fossilised snails, from the shore near West Wittering. About 50 million years old.
Rotularia Bognoriensis. These fossils are the coiled, chalky tubes of worms that lived in soft sand in shallow seas.
Fossilised shells from Backlesham Beds, washed into the Harbour.
Flint pebble with shell imprint