Over 20000 items were discovered during dredging works in Portsmouth Harbour, South United Kingdom, that will allow HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales be based at the Naval Base there.

The works are being carried out to deepen and widen a 7-kilometre channel to allow Navy’s aircraft carriers to dock. So far the specialists have removed 3.2 million cubic metres of sediment. The findings range from a human skull to shoes and sea mines. The workers uncovered also eight cannons, cannonballs, an aircraft engine and 36 anchors. A major disruption to the area was caused earlier by a German sea mine and five bombs, which were towed out from the seabed and detonated at a different location. Other items included bottles, plates and ceramics, but also a human skull. It is believed to date back to the Napoleonic wars.

(after BBC News, Britain’s Ministry of Defence & Isle of Wight County Press)