Archaeological excavations at Sipson Farm in Hillingdon were undertaken by MOLA over a five year period. The gravel quarry, situated in a prehistoric landscape on the Heathrow plateau to the west of London, required archaeological investigation to fulfil planning conditions.
Timesaving strip, map and sample excavation was scheduled to coordinate with the gravel extraction programme.
A strip, map and sample method was employed; the most efficient approach to investigating the large open space site. It involved stripping the site with plant machinery under supervision from our archaeologists, mapping archaeological features using measured survey technology and excavating a sample of the features identified. Archaeological fieldwork on-site was phased to synchronise with the programme of gravel extraction. Excavations revealed extensive prehistoric activity across the site and work at the quarry extracting gravel continued unhindered by the work of our archaeologists.
