To Dig or Preserve

[Dinosaur]

S'good that SAMs are no longer defined by lines drawn in what appeared to be thick marker pen on bits of very-out-of-date 1:10000 map - have done a fair number of jobs over the years where no one was quite sure if they were in the SAM or not....

[archaeologyexile]

Just getting back into the chat again, and it seemed to me that this theme touches apon an interesting point raised by tool and John wells about voluntary societies in the the now closed free archaeology thread....ie how do voluntary societies get to do research.

I think johns approach only goes so far, he's publicising sites not researching them. It is still relatively east to raise £1000 or so a year for research, eg the CBA challenge fund etc. with these types of sums monuments can be surveys and subject to key hole excavation aimed at recovering dates, a radiocarbon date is £360 and a charcoal id is circa £20, of course this really only works on prehsitoric sites like but circles and hillforts say and should be avoided on roman ones........but if people want to do these things then they should go for it!

I might also vent my spleen at archaeologists on the public teat who only work 9to 5.......they ought to be out proselytising for archaeology and making sure that the taxpayer can see the visible benefits of archaeology!

[kevin wooldridge]

I might also vent my spleen at archaeologists on the public teat who only work 9to 5.......they ought to be out proselytising for archaeology and making sure that the taxpayer can see the visible benefits of archaeology!

Whoa....The curse of the Daily Mail hits BAJR Forums once again!!

[John Wells]

I think johns approach only goes so far, he's publicising sites not researching them.

I totally disagree.


Our original intention back in 2007 was indeed to publicise archaeological sites. But I believe that aerial photography from the near-UV to thermal infra-red, and geophysical techniques, are research tools.
It is a bit like telling a medic that if he uses photography or X-rays, he is not researching a medical condition until he cuts into the flesh.


Back to the original thread, the preservation of sites for the future, and potentially less damaging techniques of investigation, is thought provoking.
It conceptually moves archaeology from the medical equivalent of anatomy to surgery, where one targets an area and is guided by the Hippocratic Oath in relation to doing no harm.

These days, using photographic techniques to make 3D models, it can be quick and easy to record the topography, and detail of a site.
Techniques of 3D imaging the internal structure of a feature is bound to improve with time and, most importantly, with increasing resolution. With increasing resolution comes the possibility of precision keyhole sampling in solid material, as well as cavities.

Currently, the techniques of geo-spatial location and of laboratory investigation of gathered artefacts leaves onsite, in-situ investigation, for the most part, somewhere in the Stone Age, where even antlers and flint tools can do the job ;o)

Technology should be welcomed with open arms for what it can do onsite, as previously mentioned in just one area of endeavour:
http://www.bajrfed.co.uk/showthread.php?...on-PLOSone

Kite aerial photography has shown that the inertia in taking up 'new' techniques is not related to either cost or difficulty of use. It is more to do with mindset and education.
The first book on kite aerial photography was published in 1890!

© Wellcome Library, London.
Kite aerial photograph taken at an archaeological site with the 'kite camera', at Segadi, Jabel Moya, Sudan. 1913

[Dinosaur]

I can think of any number of inexpensive (or free) reserach projects that a society could be pointed in the direction of with relatively little professional input - sadly they're in an area without a sufficiently local society, but the principle stands in a wider sphere, there's tons of stuff the amatuer sector could be doing, both fieldwork and research, the amount of old stuff that needs sorting out and putting in the public domain is phenomenal and most soc members these days will have a PC and access to the internet - all they need is pointing in the right direction

[archaeologyexile]

Whoa....The curse of the Daily Mail hits BAJR Forums once again!!

Hmm not quite sure what your getting at.....I thought we were a vocation! I enjoy digging and would say its my hobby, I don't get any praise for commenting on planning applications but working with local volunteers is brilliant!

However my employer will not pay for it.....if I ignore the demand I end up in a self perpetuating ivory tower the only way to engage is to engage!

[archaeologyexile]

I totally disagree.


Our original intention back in 2007 was indeed to publicise archaeological sites. But I believe that aerial photography from the near-UV to thermal infra-red, and geophysical techniques, are research tools.
It is a bit like telling a medic that if he uses photography or X-rays, he is not researching a medical condition until he cuts into the flesh.


Back to the original thread, the preservation of sites for the future, and potentially less damaging techniques of investigation, is thought provoking.
It conceptually moves archaeology from the medical equivalent of anatomy to surgery, where one targets an area and is guided by the Hippocratic Oath in relation to doing no harm.

These days, using photographic techniques to make 3D models, it can be quick and easy to record the topography, and detail of a site.
Techniques of 3D imaging the internal structure of a feature is bound to improve with time and, most importantly, with increasing resolution. With increasing resolution comes the possibility of precision keyhole sampling in solid material, as well as cavities.

Currently, the techniques of geo-spatial location and of laboratory investigation of gathered artefacts leaves onsite, in-situ investigation, for the most part, somewhere in the Stone Age, where even antlers and flint tools can do the job ;o)

Technology should be welcomed with open arms for what it can do onsite, as previously mentioned in just one area of endeavour:
http://www.bajrfed.co.uk/showthread.php?...on-PLOSone

Kite aerial photography has shown that the inertia in taking up 'new' techniques is not related to either cost or difficulty of use. It is more to do with mindset and education.
The first book on kite aerial photography was published in 1890!

© Wellcome Library, London.
Kite aerial photograph taken at an archaeological site with the 'kite camera', at Segadi, Jabel Moya, Sudan. 1913

Hmm great images but where are the results offal of this, can you point to a previously unknown site you've discovered?

As to new insights on existing sites I tend to sit with unit of 1 it's all good stuff but you need to dig!

[Tool]

I'm guessing this area of societies working with the rest of the archaeology business/community is something the CBA takes an active role in? And does anyone from the CBA frequent these forums? Or is it fora...

[John Wells]

Hmm great images but where are the results offal of this, can you point to a previously unknown site you've discovered?

As to new insights on existing sites I tend to sit with unit of 1 it's all good stuff but you need to dig!

Discovery is not in the list on:
http://www.bajrfed.co.uk/showthread.php?...on-PLOSone
ie
Location
Delineation
Assimilation
Manipulation
Interpretation
Presentation
and is more appropriate to satellite and work from planes.

An advantage of your own low-level aerial photography is that you can include ground reference markers.

For us, discovering new sites is a low priority, as they are being discovered by the 1000 using higher altitude techniques.

If by 'discovered' you simply mean not in the SMR, all you need is a pair of eyes.
The first site my late wife and I visited in 2007 was Ogilface Castle, which is no longer shown on maps, is not scheduled, but is in the SMR:
http://www.armadale.org.uk/archaeologyogilfaceindex.htm



We parked in our local garden centre car park across the stream.
The garden centre was 'new' site No1, the local mill, which pre-dates the town:
http://www.armadale.org.uk/barbauchlawmill.htm
and which was not in the SMR.

After Ogilface Castle, we walked up the old monks road and found new site No2:
http://www.armadale.org.uk/archaeology2.htm



also not in the SMR.

But kite and UAV aerial photography is more about high resolution imaging of known sites, to complement high altitude imaging.

Here is a well known local site: http://www.armadale.org.uk/gormyre.htm
Gormyre Hill, just up from Castlethorn prehistoric hillfort:


In the 1920s little was visible on the ground:
'There is now no trace of this enclosure, except perhaps two low parallel lines of mound, hardly worth recording.' Inventory of Monuments in West Lothian' RCAHMS, 1929.

Photographically, it is easy to reproduce the 1929 description:


You have to visit a site repeatedly through the seasons, which is ideal for local archaeology groups and enthusiasts.

Another example is here at Ardoch:
http://www.armadale.org.uk/ardoch.htm
where there are interesting, unrecorded features, which show up using KAP.

These examples are just the visible spectrum!
Near infra-red KAP is a whole different ball park:
http://www.armadale.org.uk/rufford.htm


http://www.armadale.org.uk/bathandbristolyac.htm


and thermal imaging holds considerable promise:
http://www.armadale.org.uk/phototech03.htm

Despite the kind comments, up until this summer, our aerial images have been moderate quality. We have upgraded our cameras and now have seven Sony Nex 5R cameras and four 8mm, full-frame, fish-eye lenses for use locally (http://www.armadale.org.uk/lochlands.htm / http://www.armadale.org.uk/sitew01.htm ) and down in Gloucestershire, with Group member Heidi Walker, for her KAP with the National Trust.

It is stating the obvious that remote sensing techniques, including aerial photography, are useful when planning excavations.

Publicity is still a key part of our work.

It is important to realise that almost all our West Lothian aerial work is now done by just Jim Knowles and myself.
Other members of the West Lothian Archaeology Group are working with KAP independently throughout the UK and publish their images elsewhere.

Before 2004, my wife and I had been tripping over archaeology in Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire for over 30 years, with little interest.
However, in my early teens, I did have a metal detector (;oO) and also transmitted modulated AC signals through top soil, down the length of my parents back garden, using garden tools as electrodes. But Jim is our archaeological sciences lynch pin and is totally responsible for all the geophysical work now done by the Trust:
http://www.armadale.org.uk/archaeogeophysics.htm

[kevin wooldridge]

Hmm not quite sure what your getting at..... the only way to engage is to engage!

I don't find that vilifying the ever decreasing number of archaeologists who happen to work directly for government, local government or academia (sucking 'on the public teat') as a particularly engaging comment.....the analogy with the Daily Mail being that it is a cheap shot aimed at an audience conditioned to despise public service. I know plenty of public sector archaeologists who are paragons of archaeological virtue when it comes to engagement with the community outside the hours of 9-5, many who would put their private sector counterparts to shame....