23rd February 2008, 03:59 PM
The main issue, and problem, I have experienced with preservation in situ employing piling is how you deal with obstructions, this is especially true where the obstructions are the archaeology and if the site has been previously developed. Short of drilling each pile location with a diamond tipped drill - not a popular choice with developers - this is the primary concern I have as a curator when dealing with this type of solution.
If you are looking at a site which has been previously developed then you will be over any nominal 2% unless previous impacts can be used for piling - drilling through existing locations. Again this is not popular with developers and costs quite a bit.
Talk to a geoarchaeologist at the earliest possible stage to establish the nature of the waterlogging on site and how this has been maintained, and whether piling would seriously impact this characteristic of the site. Any evaluation should be significant enough to enable informed research questions to be answered. Your primary question would be how the waterlogging has been maintained and the likely impacts on this that piling would cause; chasing potential direct impacts from piles, at this stage, may not help you much, but if you are dealing with large, direct impacts that cannot be moved at this stage such as major drainage connections could be useful.
Finally, if you are in a company large enough to have a structural engineer lying around the place, hand them a copy of the piling guidance and take them our for beer once they have read it.
If you are looking at a site which has been previously developed then you will be over any nominal 2% unless previous impacts can be used for piling - drilling through existing locations. Again this is not popular with developers and costs quite a bit.
Talk to a geoarchaeologist at the earliest possible stage to establish the nature of the waterlogging on site and how this has been maintained, and whether piling would seriously impact this characteristic of the site. Any evaluation should be significant enough to enable informed research questions to be answered. Your primary question would be how the waterlogging has been maintained and the likely impacts on this that piling would cause; chasing potential direct impacts from piles, at this stage, may not help you much, but if you are dealing with large, direct impacts that cannot be moved at this stage such as major drainage connections could be useful.
Finally, if you are in a company large enough to have a structural engineer lying around the place, hand them a copy of the piling guidance and take them our for beer once they have read it.