Wetland Archaeology & Environments Research Centre (WAERC)

Welcome to the website for the Wetland Archaeology & Environments Research Centre (WAERC), located within the Geography Department at the University of Hull.

WAERC is an interdisciplinary international, national and regional centre of archaeological research into human-landscape interactions in the past. Research into the understanding of in situ preservation in wetlands [research], excavation and the record of past landscapes contained within wetland sedimentary systems form key areas of investigation and analysis. In situ studies of the physico-chemical and biological characteristics of wetlands, alongside the wetland archive, are used to reconstruct past environments and also in advising and studying the threat to and preservation of this often vulnerable resource.

Summary Aims:

• to inform the international research agenda in all aspects of wetland science and archaeology
• to act as a forum for the discussion of wetland science and archaeology, and of the reconstruction and dynamics of past landscapes and palaeoecologies, at the International, National and Regional levels
• to develop research into in situ preservation in waterlogged burial environments
• to provide professional commercial services in support of archaeological and environmental research and management, especially but not exclusively in wetland-dominated landscapes
• to contribute to discovering and widely communicating the archaeological heritage of our region