Enlisting the help of volunteers, local school children, university students and a number of experts and specialists, Archaeological Research Services Ltd, the Northumberland Wildlife Trust and Northumberland County Council ran a 13-week excavation from June to September 2013 to rescue and record as much as possible from the site prior to further erosion. The response from the local community was overwhelming and hundreds of people took part in the excavations

As the initial dig period came to a close, evidence was uncovered regarding the catastrophic event which cut Britain off from the continent thousands of years ago. This triggered an emergency grant of £70,000 to continue the excavations for another week.