Trial trenching

Trial-trenching refers to the archaeological sampling of a site before planning permission is given to determine the presence, date, geographical spread and condition of any buried archaeological remains in order to decide whether further archaeological investigation needs to happen after planning permission is given and what form this will take. Typically, archaeological trial-trenching aims to excavate a 2% sample of a site. Trial trenching is only one technique used in archaeological evaluations.

Examples of archaeological projects that involved trial trenchign are by Wessex Archaeology in 1992 in advance of the extension of Three Locks Golf Course and by Thames Valley Archaeological Services in 2001 in advance of an extension being built to the listed property, Four Winds, The Platt, Amersham.