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Excavation with a BANG - BAJR Host - 4th October 2007
I found this request.... promised to pass it on.... what do you think??
I am a geophysicist who will be doing and excavation in the spring. I won't be looking for archaeology, but instead will be trying to understand naturally occuring magnetic anomalies to improve landmine and unexploded ordnance detection. I have identified the anomalies in magnetic datasets and modeled them to get an idea of their causes. Now I want to excavate a number of them one layer at a time to see the depth and extent of the soil causing the anomaly. What books or websites would you suggest I read in order to learn the proper procedures. Thanks.
_________________
Ryan North
Research Geophysicst
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu
Excavation with a BANG - the invisible man - 5th October 2007
I'm not totally convinced that this research can be designed from books and websites alone, although I appreciate that this must be a very brief summary of the project. Is the researcher working alone or as part of a university team? Presumably the latter as each context will need to be sampled for soil micromorphology and mag sus etc. I'd have thought that departmental colleagues can help set up an excavation team.
You don't know what you've got till it's gone.
Excavation with a BANG - Sith - 5th October 2007
When I saw the thread title, I thought that the Emperor.. er I mean Senior Partner had been prospecting with the Deathstar again. However, with a bit of Goggling I found this on Archaeologyfieldwork.com:
Quote:quote:"I am a geophysicist for the [u]US Army Corps of Engineers</u>"Go tell it to the Marines. I'm sure that Uncle Sam can jack up a bunch of archaeologically minded GIs to help out. [:p]
D. Vader
Senior Consultant
Vader Maull & Palpatine
Archaeological Consultants
Your powers are weak, Curator
Excavation with a BANG - kevin wooldridge - 5th October 2007
Um.....personally I feel tempted to suggest to Mr North that his research might be better directed towards persuading his fellow countrymen not to lay landmines in the first place.
But I guess thats what an old cynic would say....
Excavation with a BANG - John Walford - 5th October 2007
I'm not clear exactly what the request is for, but if it is for references about the nature of archaeo-magnetic anomalies then I would suggest that Mr North takes a look at the indexes for the journals 'Archaeological Prospection" and "Archaeometery" (both can be found with a Google search) and follows up from there. If, on the other hand, he understands the geophysical side of things and is looking for general advice about excavation techniqes, then something like Philip Barker's 'Techniques of Archaeological Excavation' would suit. I don't think much that has been published on the combination of excavation with the mapping of soil magnetic properties, although Clarke touches on it very briefly (just one paragraph) in the second edition of 'Seeing Beneath the Soil'.
It might also be worth Mr North's while getting in touch with the International Society for Archaeological Prospection (http://www.bradford.ac.uk/acad/archsci/archprospection/). They have an online mailing list and I am sure that if his request was circulated there he would be able to solicit a few useful opinions.
John
"Hidden wisdom and buried treasure, what use is there in either?" (Ecclesiasticus ch20 v30)
Excavation with a BANG - 1man1desk - 9th October 2007
Looking at the original post, it looks like Mr North doesn't so much want an archaeologist as a soil scientist, who can advise on field techniques to investigate the soil physics, chemistry and micromorphological characteristics of his 'naturally occurring magnetic anomalies'.
Rather than trying to read up on what is a very technical and specialist field and then do the job himself, I'd go with Mr Invisible in suggesting that he recruits an existing specialist to help him.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished