the archaeologist · lidar survey – applications in the woods jon hoyle shipwrecks and global...

Spring 2009Number 71

This issue

NEWTECHNIQUESFORPROSPECTION,DATING ANDIDENTIFICATION

Newdevelopments in geophysicsp15

Shipwrecks andglobal ‘worming’p30

Probing the pastwith neutronsp32

The ARCHAEOLOGIST

1S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

O N T E N T SCContents

Editorial

Finds Tray

IfA Recession seminar Andrea Bradley

GeoSIG: IfA Geophysics Special Interest Group Ken Hamilton

A role for geophysics in Scottish developer-funded archaeology? Conference Oliver O’Grady

Hard Times: Archaeology and the Recession Kenneth Aitchison and Martin Locock

A wider archaeological VISTA: the Visual and Spatial Technology Centre at Birmingham Vince Gaffney

New developments in Geophysics Eamonn Baldwin, Jimmy Adcock and Meg Watters-Wilkes

Bayesian chronologies: Yet another radiocarbon revolution? Peter Marshall and Benjamin Gearey

Understanding hidden landscapes Henry Chapman and Benjamin Gearey

The past in three dimensions Helen Moulden

Science@Silchester Michael Fulford

Finding archaeology on claylands: an inconvenient truth Patrick Clay

Lidar survey – applications in the woods Jon Hoyle

Shipwrecks and global ‘worming’ Paola Palma

Probing the past with neutrons Evelyne Godfrey and Winfried Kockelmann

Metals and metalworking: guidelines and training Justine Bayley

The significance of gromps Evelyne Godfrey

Projet JADE: recherches sans frontières Alison Sheridan

English Heritage Regional Science Advisors: best practice and training Jacqui Huntley

Scientific guidance from English Heritage Andrew David

Luminescence dating Peter Marshall

Magnetic moments in the past Cathy Batt

Archaeological Geophysics: from field to archive IfA bursary Tom Sparrow, Chris Gaffney and

Armin Schmidt

New journal: The Historic Environment: Policy and Practice Roger White

New members

Members news

Obituary: Angela Simco David Baker

Obituary: Alan Vince Lyn Blackmore and Jacqui Pearce

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2 T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

But we should not despair. As Vince Gaffney says ‘the(archaeological) profession and its practitioners areset apart by the wide-ranging skills and experiencerequired to undertake archaeological research. Thereare few arts disciplines that engage so fruitfully withenvironmental, material and earth sciences in quitethe manner that archaeology achieves on a dailybasis’. This TA therefore examines some of the latestbenefits of this engagement, and what we in turn canoffer back to the world.

As in all archaeology, the first step is to understandwhat we already have. We therefore include anexplanation of Bayesian chronology your editor could understand (p18), and appreciate how itenables us to understand chronological relationshipsbetween past human activities and environmentalchange (the what-came-first conundrum of theoreticaldebate). Many other innovations for site detectionand analysis are chronicled here, plus the latestguidelines from English Heritage, trainingopportunities, a new IfA Group (for geophysics), andplenty more to inspire (or terrify, when you hear thelatest on shipworms…..)

Alison [email protected]

Yet again we are in depressing times, with theRecession making deeper inroads into our professionafter many good, if hard-won, years. IfA’s responseswere firstly to look at ways it can relieve financialburdens on members (see TA 70), then to take stockby undertaking rapid surveys that tell us just what theposition is, and to explore ways that archaeologistscan help themselves and each other (p7 and 10).

Kenny Aitchison chronicles how the number ofarchaeologists working in the UK had, in 2007,increased by 20% over the previous five years to atotal of 6865. If the losses catalogued last autumncontinue, this gain will be lost this summer. He andMartin Locock therefore look at how organisationsand individuals can protect themselves, and eventhrive, in this situation. This attitude too was thetheme of IfA’s Recession Seminar. Here, short-termtactics for survival and a strategy for the future wereset out, with the triple aims of managing ourorganisations, protecting the sector and thearchaeological resource, and ensuring we make thebest of our dialogues with local and centralgovernment. Kenny’s survey will be repeated thisApril and so, if you are running a commercialarchaeological organisation, do please make sure youfill in the questionnaire carefully so that IfA’s case ismade on hard evidence.

New techniques for prospection, dating and identification

Contributions and letter/emails are always welcome. TA is made

digitally available through our website and if this raises copyright issues

with any authors, artists or photographers, please notify the editor.

Accessed digitally, web links are especially useful in articles, so do

include these where relevant. Short articles (max. 1000 words) are

preferred. They should be sent as an email attachment, which must

include captions and credits for illustrations. The editor will edit and

shorten if necessary. Illustrations are very important. These can be

supplied as originals, on CD or as email attachments, at a minimum

resolution of 500 kb. More detailed Notes for contributors for each issue

are available from the editor. Opinions expressed in The Archaeologist

are those of the authors, and are not necessarily those of IfA.

EDITED by Alison Taylor,

IfA, SHES,

University of Reading,

Whiteknights, PO Box 227

READING RG6 6AB

DESIGNED and TYPESET

by Sue Cawood

PRINTED by Duffield

Printers Ltd (Leeds)

Notes to contributors

Themes and deadlines

Summer: Issues today: Recession,

heritage protection and

treatment of human burials

Deadline: 1 May 2009

Autumn: IFA Conference papers and

Annual Report

Deadline: 15 June 2009Ed

it

or

ia

l

3S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

F R O M T H E F I N D S T R AY

Heritage protectionThe Heritage Protection Bill for England and Wales was in the end absent from the Queen’s Speech, but at the same time LindaFabiani announced that the Scottish government did intend to introduce a bill to amend existing legislation. As non-appearanceof the English and Welsh Bill was said to be because of its size (at a time when government has other concerns) rather than anyantipathy towards heritage, the more targeted, amending tactics of Scottish Government may well prove a more pragmatic fix.Government, politicians of all parties and the heritage sector are still supporting the Bill at Westminster, but attention is directedtowards reforms not requiring primary legislation (www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.20038), and the new PlanningPolicy Statement for England.

New Guidance on Metal Detecting RalliesFurther advice on metal detecting issues is contained in a GuidanceNote just published by ALGAO, CBA, English Heritage, the PortableAntiquities Scheme and the Society of Museum Archaeologists, aimedat helping those who get involved in metal detecting rallies. TheGuidance is supported by the two largest commercial rally organisers,who promise to run their rallies in line with it in future. It includessixteen recommendations, including a notice period of at least twelveweeks for the local Historic Environment Record and Finds LiaisonOfficer, to ensure sites are properly identified in advance and properpreparations made for recording finds. The full text can be found onwww.britarch.ac.uk/conservation/portant/detecting.

Holes dug into a Roman settlement at Icklingham,

Suffolk © John Browning

Nighthawking: a surveyAfter a two-year survey, a report hasbeen published by Oxford Archaeologythat replaces rumour and myth withfactual evidence for ‘nighthawking’(defined as ‘the search and removal ofantiquities from the ground using metaldetectors without the permission of the landowners or onprohibited land such as Scheduled Monuments’). Of the240 reports investigated, 88 affected scheduledmonuments and 35 were on excavations in progress. AtIcklingham in Suffolk, over 200 holes were dig during oneraid. There is known to be massive under-reporting of thiscrime, as police see it as low priority, prosecutions arerare and fines are less than for parking offences. The aimof the report is to break this cycle, with recommendationsfor clear guidance for landowners, police authorities, theCrown Prosecution Service and magistrates. Anotherrecommendation is a central database of reportedincidents. Copies of the report can be found onwww.helm.org.uk/upload/pdf/Nighthawking-survey.pdf.



Maritime Archaeological Day2 May 2009 Bournemouth University Talbot CampusThis is a chance to see finds from the Swash Channel Wreck site (dated toapproximately the 1620s), along with talks, videos and activities related tothis wreck and to maritime archaeology in general. The Swash ChannelWreck, off Poole Harbour, has produced an impressive collection of artefactsincluding iron cannons, wooden barrels, rigging elements, copper, pewter,bones, ceramic domestic material, leather shoes, musket shots, apothecaryjars and outstanding carvings. There will be talks by Paola Palma, DaveParham, and BSc and MSc students from Bournemouth University.

For further information contact: Paola Palma [email protected]

Marine & Coastal Access Bill in the LordsThe Marine and Coastal Access Bill (M&CA) is being keenly debated in itsCommittee Stage in the House of Lords. The debate on heritage and archaeologyamendments probed the question of why there is no specific reference to marinearchaeology in the draft Bill or to English Heritage as a statutory consultee. Withoutthe Heritage Protection Bill, which would have introduced new measures forprotecting the marine historic environment, it is currently only historic wrecks thathave legal protection. One commitment on behalf of Government is that themarine policy statement will set out the Government’s policy on safeguarding themarine environment , including cultural and historic marine heritage. For furtherinformation see http://www.britarch.ac.uk/news/090302-marinebill.

Heritage science strategy website The steering group for the NationalHeritage Science Strategy has justlaunched the websitewww.heritagesciencestrategy.org.uk.This will soon include three reportswhich provide the evidence basefor drawing up the new strategy.These will detail the current use ofscience in preserving and protectingcultural heritage (available fromApril), assess the use of science inenhancing our understanding of thepast (available end of May),address issues of sector skills andconsider practitioner andinstitutional capacity to deliverimprovements in the application ofheritage science (available July).

Each report will be available on theEnglish Heritage website, with aone month consultation period. Forfurther information contact Jim WilliamsNational Heritage Science StrategyCoordinatorPO Box 2075 Bristol BS35 [email protected]

Swash Channel merman -

the earliest known ship

carving in England.

5S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Wessex Archaeologypublishes Time TeamWessex Archaeology hasjust launched a newsection on its websitedetailing theirinvolvement with TimeTeam, including all the post-excavation reportsthey have prepared from the 2007 and 2008series. They aim to add earlier post-ex reportsproduced by Wessex Archaeology, as well asthose from the current (2009) series. Seehttp://www.wessexarch.co.uk/timeteam/ to readthe reports.

Thomas A GoskarWeb ManagerWessex Archaeology Ltd

Science and Heritage Programme grantsThe Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and theEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) aretaking forward a joint £8.1m programme, Science and Heritage,‘to support leading-edge research which will explore new waysto understand the cultural and physical nature of heritage and toprepare society for the challenges that cultural heritage will facein the 21st Century’. There will be two opportunities for funding

1 Interdisciplinary Research Grants (up to £800,000, duration 1-3 years, must involve at least two collaboratingorganisations. Outline stage deadline: 14 May 2009, fullproposal stage for short-listed projects, deadline: 17September 2009

2 Post-doctoral Fellowships (to support outstanding early careerresearchers), duration equivalent to three years full-time, opento researchers with no more than five years post-doctoral orequivalent experience. Deadline: 10 September 2009

The full Programme Specification, including further details of thethemes and on other activities under the Science and HeritageProgramme, and the research already funded, can be found athttp://www.heritagescience.ac.uk/.

Debbie WilliamsAHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage Programme Coordinator http://www.heritagescience.ac.uk/

IfA Finds Group spring meetingMortimer Wheeler House, Eagle Wharf Road London N1 7ED20 May 2009The theme is Osteology, dealing with the broadersubject by looking at animal and human bone,worked bone, forensic archaeology and at policy indealing with human remains. The Finds Group hopesthen to arrange a workshop session in the autumn,based on feedback from the meeting. Details areposted on the Finds Group page on the IfA website.

Contact Nicky Powell,[email protected], for further details.



Scottish Community Archaeology Conference 16 and 17 May 2009, Queen Margaret University,MusselburghEast Lothian Council and Archaeology Scotland (previously,Council for Scottish Archaeology) are holding the first nationalScottish Community Archaeology Conference, with openingremarks by Mike Russell, Minister for Culture, External Affairsand the Constitution.

This is a chance for volunteers to share experiences with eachother and with archaeologists, interpreters and fundraisers.There will be workshops where volunteers and professionalscan share ideas and an exhibition featuring communityprojects and heritage organisations.

For information or a booking form contact ArchaeologyScotland, Suite 1a Stuart House, Eskmills, Station RoadMusselburgh, EH21 7PB 0845 872 3333,www.scottisharchaeology.org.uk, East Lothian Councilwww.eastlothian.gov.uk/archaeology, 01620 827408.

Cotswold Outdoor OfferIfA members can now get a 15% discount at Cotswold

Outdoor (sellers of warm clothes and travel and camping

equipment). Please quote ‘Institute for Archaeologists’ at the

till and present your membership card. The discount is also

available for phone and online orders. If you have difficulty

using this offer please contact the IfA office.

Finding the Familiar: Dealing with artefacts of theModern AgeMedieval Finds Research Group and ARCUSUniversity of Sheffield, Humanities ResearchInstitute9 May 2009This workshop will offer an opportunity to discuss19th- and 20th- century finds, with a range ofspeakers from commercial archaeologicalorganisations, societies and museums. Some will drawon North American and Australian experience whileothers will look at material types found across Britain.A speaker from the Historical Plastics Society willaddress the question of what we can learn fromplastics.

For further information, contact Claire Coulter,[email protected], and for registration contactQuita Mould, [email protected].

Festival of British Archaeology 18 July to 2 August 2009 Previously known as National Archaeology Week, thisevent has been celebrated and supported by hundreds ofheritage organisations since 1990. This summer, over 450events will be held across the UK at heritage sites,museums, archaeological excavations, communitycentres, English Heritage and National Trust sites,universities, National Parks and other venues. The Festivalis co-ordinated by CBA, which is now calling on potentialparticipants to plan for the 2009 event and to registerusing the documentation and guidelines that can be foundon the festival website, http://festival.britarch.ac.uk.

Cosmeston

Community

Archaeology Project.

Photograph: Jane

Stewart

Museum of

Docklands.

Photograph: Museum

of London

7S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Jobs are being lost, skilled professionals are leavingthe sector, businesses are failing and archaeology inplanning, in post-ex and in archive is under threat.We are reminded daily of the long-term nature of thisrecession and fear for the coming months is naturallyat the forefront of our minds. To survive will requirecollective effort not only to identify tactics for theshort term, but also a coherent vision of where wewant to be long term. IfA’s Recession Seminar (inLondon at the Museum at Docklands on 16 February)aimed to identify both short-term tactics for survivaland a strategy for the future. The debate identified theobjectives set out below. They are the drivers foraction already taking place across the sector and aframework for evolving aspirations for thedevelopment and growth of our profession in a post-recession economy. We must

...in managing our organisations♦ ensure that redundancies are managed properly

and fairly with selection for redundancy based onclear process, consideration of alternatives andunderstanding of statutory obligations

♦ retain specialist skills, in the understanding thatthose with best skills will be better positioned torespond to demand when the recession ends

♦ ensure that organisations have sustainable businessstrategies

♦ improve commercial risk management processeswithin businesses

…in protecting the sector and the archaeologicalresource♦ act decisively and firmly should sub-standard

archaeology be detected♦ collect intelligence on sector skills, to identify

emerging skills gaps, and where capacity will belowest when the recession ends

♦ ensure funding for post-excavation work,particularly where clients are likely to change –perhaps through up-front payment or laterdischarge of conditions

♦ ensure that recruitment standards are not loweredonce the market picks up

♦ react quickly if archives are threatened by businessclosure

♦ make more decisions based on the quality, notquantity, of archaeological work that’s achievablethrough the planning process

♦ understand our market better, obtaining advice andexpertise of those outside the sector

♦ commit to a better market operation in the future,based on quality assurance through the RegisteredOrganisations scheme, market knowledge anddefined market strategy

…in our dialogue with local and central government♦ advocate links between the planning process and

quality standards ♦ find ways to communicate the public/social value

of archaeology ♦ ensure that the new PPS can be strongly enforced

(including the possibility of more frequent use ofS.106s)

♦ pursue better model conditions for planningconsents and ensure they remain as a charge onthe land if not discharged

♦ make the pitch for archaeology in new terms –terms that reflect current priorities and agenda

Andrea [email protected]

IfA Recession SeminarAndrea Bradley

“To survive will require

collective effort not only to

identify tactics for the short

term, but also a coherent

vision of where we want to

be long term.”


• production of a set of IfA standards for geophysicalinvestigations

• archiving geophysical data • training and CPD for practitioners in archaeological

geophysics• training and CPD for users of archaeological

geophysics, aimed at curators and contractors

We are looking not only at the form in which dataare archived, following ADS guidelines (Schmidt2002), but also looking at the storage location ofgeophysical data. GeoSIG will shortly be circulatingan on-line questionnaire about the form and locationof data, to assess the current state of geophysicalarchives. We urge anyone with geophysical data, bethey geophysicist, curator, contractor or archivist, tohelp us by filling in the questionnaire onwww.harewoodgeophysical.com/geosig/archival.php.

GeoSIG is sponsoring the forthcomingALGAO:Scotland meeting on geophysics (p9), andthere are plans to run more training events in thenext few years for curators and contractors, withseparate events aimed at archaeological geophysicalpractitioners.

GeoSIG is working closely with ISAP, EIGG, andEuroGPR to ensure that we keep up to date withdevelopments in the wider geophysical community.The committee also has close links with the NearSurface committee of EAGE. Your GeoSIG committeecomprises Peter Barker (Chair), Hannah Heard(Secretary), Ken Hamilton (Treasurer), Roger Whiteand Adrian Butler. There are also representatives fromISAP, EIGG, EuroGPR and English Heritage, and plansto include representatives from ALGAO, CADW,Historic Scotland and NIEA.

Membership is free to IfA members (£10 for non-members). For more information, contact Ken Hamilton([email protected], 01362 869275)

Schmidt A 2002 Geophysical Data in Archaeology:A Guide to Good Practice ADS(http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/project/goodguides/geophys/)

Members of IfA and the wider archaeologicalgeophysical community have come together to formthe IfA Geophysics Special Interest Group (GeoSIG).This new IfA group represents the interests ofarchaeological geophysicists to IfA Council and in theInstitute’s activities, and is open to both IfA membersand non-members. It was set up followingdiscussions within the archaeological geophysicalcommunity on how to create and maintain standardsfor commercial geophysical work. However, theGroup quickly decided that it should be aimed atboth archaeological geophysicists and users ofgeophysical data such as curators and contractors.

GeoSIG will produce documents and guidelinesrelating to geophysical work and promotegeophysical work constructively within the structureof archaeology. It is currently examining a number ofspecific issues, such as

• the practical implementation of guidelines such asGeophysical Survey in Archaeological FieldEvaluation (English Heritage, 2008)

Magnetometer

survey of Venta

Icenorum, Caistor St

Edmund, Norfolk.

Courtesy D

Bescoby, University

of Nottingham

GeoSIG:

KenHamilton

IfA Geophysics Special Interest Group

9S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Papers include:

Recent geophysics in Perth and Kinross David Strachan (PKHT, Manager) and Oliver O’Grady (PKHT, Assistant Archaeologist)

Beyond Time Team: Geophysics in the real world John Gater (GSB, Director)

Marine Geophysics and Protecting Scottish Wrecks Philip Robertson (Historic Scotland, Senior Inspector of Marine Archaeology)

The use of geophysics in the Highlands and Islands Susan Ovenden (OrkneyCollege, Geophysics Unit, Director)

Is it Reasonable? Sarah Winlow (PKHT, Heritage Officer)

Is it Sustainable? A contractors view from Scotland Tim Neighbour (CFA,Assistant Director)

Geophysical Prospection and Planning - A view from the East Ken Hamilton(Norfolk Landscape Archaeology, Head of Archaeological Planning)

Going Over Old Ground Five Years On Ian Banks (GUARD, Director)

Specs and Guidance for archaeological geophysicists – seeing the way aheadPeter Barker (IFA, Geophysics Special Interest Group, Chair)

This, combined with the recent new edition ofEnglish Heritage’s guidance on Geophysical Survey inArchaeology Field Evaluation and the formation ofGeoSIG, make the perfect time to clarify the situationin Scotland through reference to professional bestpractice throughout the UK.

Conference proceedings will be published as the first ALGAO:Scotland Monograph. Among theoutcomes of the event, there will be advice forcuratorial archaeologists about the appropriate usesof geophysics for development management.

Oliver O’Grady Assistant Archaeologist (IfA Bursary)Perth and Kinross Heritage TrustThe Lodge, 4 York PlacePERTH PH2 8EPwww.pkht.org.uk

This conference, supported by IfA andALGAO:Scotland and hosted by the Perthand Kinross Heritage Trust, brings togetherperspectives from throughout the UK,including curatorial archaeologists,contractors and commercial managers, andrepresentatives from Historic Scotland andEnglish Heritage, to stimulate criticaldiscussion on what future role geophysicsshould have in development controlarchaeology north of the border.

The specific impetus for the event has been theauthor’s placement with PKHT on an IfA trainingbursary in Development Control and CuratorialArchaeology, and his professional interest ingeophysical survey techniques. Results of a recentsurvey of ALGAO:Scotland members undertaken byPKHT indicate that the majority of Scottish localauthority areas rarely stipulate geophysics inarchaeological briefs. Regional exceptions have beenidentified, such as the Orkneys and we will behearing from Susan Ovenden regarding her work inthe commercial sphere throughout the Northern andWestern Isles.

It is now over five years since the role of commercialarchaeological geophysics in Scotland was lastdiscussed in a forum of this kind (Ian Banks ofGUARD will be talking about GOOG five years on).

A role for geophysics inScottish developer-fundedarchaeology?

C O N F E R E N C E

Oliver O’Grady


Working into

the twilight...

© Wessex

Archaeology 130 fewer people employed in October 2008 than inAugust 2007, and a further 345 archaeological jobswere lost in the quarter from 1 October 2008 to 1January 2009, representing 8.6% – one in twelve – ofthe jobs in commercial archaeology and 5% of theentire UK archaeological workforce. Commercialarchaeology is transforming from an industry that grewby 5% every year over the past decade to one that isnow shrinking by at least that rate.

Where we are goingThe overwhelming majority of respondents to the IfAJanuary 2009 survey consider that the market willdeteriorate further. Further job losses are anticipatedand almost certainly some archaeological practiceswill go out of business during 2009.

IfA will repeat the survey in April 2009.

These are serious times and hard decisions will haveto be made if archaeological organisations are tosurvive; they will need to become more efficient,more profitable, more flexible, and, probably, smallerand more specialised.

What can companies do?Face the problem. Make sure that staff have arealistic view of the business prospects andunderstand your strategy to deal with them.

Focus on the specification. It is easy for the scopeof projects to grow beyond their strict purpose.Project managers should ensure that the entire teamunderstand the specification and, in particular, note

Where we wereIn 2007 there was more archaeological work beingundertaken in the UK than ever before. The housingboom was approaching its peak, and thearchaeological profession was reaping the benefits.The Archaeological Investigations Project tracks thenumber of reports deposited with HistoricEnvironment Records in England (the best proxyindicator of the volume of work), and reports thatthere were 4800 archaeological investigations inEngland in 2006, of which 93% had been initiatedthrough the planning process.

In the summer of 2007, the Archaeology LabourMarket Intelligence: Profiling the Profession 2007-08report estimated that a total of 6865 people workedas archaeologists in the UK, an increase of 20% overthe previous five years. Around 4000 individualsworked in what can be called commercialarchaeology (the remainder working in curatorial,academic and specialist organisations).

Where we areSince the Profiling the Profession census date inAugust 2007, stock markets have crashed and houseprices have fallen relentlessly. The AIP estimates thatthe number of reports will have dropped from the2006-07 high of 4800 to 4474 for 07-08 (a drop of7%) and 4158 for 08-09 (a projected drop of 13%over two years).

In January 2009 IfA did a rapid survey of IfA RegisteredOrganisations and FAME members to identify howmany archaeological jobs were being lost. There were

Hard Times: Archaeology and the recession

Kenneth Aitchison and Martin Locock

S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

colleague who you trust who could act as yourmentor, passing on advice and ideas in an informaland supportive way. And think about whether youcould do the same to help someone who is at anearlier stage of their career.

But you also need to protect yourself by thinking of aPlan B: it makes sense to ensure that your CPD logand CV are up to date, and it is worth thinking aboutwhat your next job might be and starting to preparefor it. Finish off any outstanding projects andpublications, look out for opportunities for trainingand networking: you may have been able to rely onyour company in the past, but it is time to look wider– even think about whether there is anything else youcould, or would want to do? Do you havetransferable skills that might find a better marketoutside archaeology?

ProspectsThe recession is going to be a transformative time forarchaeology. It will come to an end one day, and thework will come back. We can’t predict when thatwill be, but when it does, archaeology will havechanged – in terms of the number of people andorganisations doing it, and in the way that we dothings. Until then, we all just have to do the best wepossibly can in the most difficult of circumstances,and hope that the profession copes better than it haswith previous downturns.

Kenneth AitchisonIfA Head of Projects and Professional Development

Martin LocockAuthor of the website 10 simple steps to betterarchaeological managementhttp://10simplesteps.blogspot.com/

In next TA we want to look more broadly at the effects and

implications of the recession, and how we can best survive

it. Readers’ responses are welcome. (Ed)

exclusions. Extra work without extra pay is a losswaiting to happen.

Cashflow and credit control. Relying on anoverdraft facility to keep your business solvent runsthe risk of collapse if the bank chooses to change itslending policy. Companies should aim to shorten thegap between expenditure and reimbursement byprompt completion and invoicing, and introducingstage payments. One imponderable is the risk thatclients may go out of business: it may be worthwhileexploring credit checks for new businesses. Any hintof delays in paying invoices should lead to asuspension of further work.

Staffing. Your staff is both your biggest asset andpotentially your biggest liability. Keeping more staffthan you have work for is a surefire recipe fordisaster. While redeployment is always preferable toreduction, it is a precarious balancing act to ensurethat the size of the team matches work available. Thisapplies quite as much to managerial or adminpersonnel as it does to field staff.

Profitability. There are probably some types ofproject that are difficult or impossible to completeon-budget; often these are desk-tops, watching briefs,and projects which require a lot of travel and/oraccommodation. If they are not guaranteed to lead tobigger projects, micro-profit or non-profit jobs are notwhat you want to be doing when times are tight.

Cost control. Reduce all budgets: consumables, plantand travel. If it’s not needed, don’t spend it.

What can individuals do?Firstly, you can play your part in helping youremployer to implement the above. This may, in itself,be enough.

Build a support network - think about who can helpyou and who you can help. Identify an experienced

11


VISTAThe current economic situation presents considerable challenges to archaeology and archaeologists

within Britain and across the world. Despite this, archaeology remains a uniquely attractive

discipline both intellectually and through its capacity to enrich quality of life. It is also true that the

profession and its practitioners are set apart by the wide-ranging skills and experience required to

undertake archaeological research. There are few arts disciplines that engage so fruitfully with

environmental, material and earth sciences in quite the manner that archaeology achieves on a

daily basis. Few contribute so fundamentally to the continuing development of the rural and urban

fabric of the country and engage as part of a wider heritage industry that leads the world. Here at

Birmingham we are relying on this rich diversity combined with the specialist strengths we have

built up as a university department with an integrated commercial archaeological arm to make sure

we grow, whatever the economy does.

A wider archaeological VISTA:

COMPUTER-BASED VISUALISATIONThe history of computing applications and, morerecently, the emerging significance of computer-basedvisualisation as a core archaeological activity amplydemonstrates our ‘two cultures’ discipline.

Visualisation is fundamental across the arts andsciences, to trade and industry, indeed to almost allaspects of life, and 21st-century technology has madepossible new ways of visualising things, new ways ofthinking about things and new ways of

13S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Vince Gaffney

VISTAthe Visual and Spacial Technology Centre at Birmingham

major Roman City in Britain, as well as theStonehenge Landscapes Project. By 2000, activitiesincluded support for other disciplines within theUniversity wishing to use visualisation technologies;further development of the resource was identified asone of the University’s strategic research priorities.

In 2003, external commercial partnership andinternal collaboration with the University’sInformation Services enabled formal establishment ofVISTA as a technical facility with a university-widebrief, embedded within Birmingham Archaeology.Success had a snowball effect, attracting furthercommercial partners and international academiccollaborations. Another boost came in 2004, whenmajor investment from Advantage West Midlands, theregional development agency, led to VIN (the VisualImaging Network) Technology Services as a divisionof VISTA, providing assistance to businesses withvisualisation needs in the region. In 2008 VISTAsigned a memorandum of agreement with IBM topromote and develop large-scale computingtechnologies for archaeology and the arts moregenerally.

VIRTUAL WORLDSVaried funding streams combined for a singlepurpose have enabled the development of a facility

communicating these thoughts. The enthusiasm ofarchaeologists to adopt these technologies, from GISthrough digital reconstruction to Web 2.0, indicatesthat archaeology is creating a generation of trainedpractitioners with skills that will be required as thenation’s economy recovers from the current crisis.Moreover, future restructuring within the UK economyis likely to enhance the nation’s awareness of theincreasing significance of heritage industries to theeconomy overall. Archaeologists with significantdigital skills will be valued within the UK as anessential part of an expanded culture sector ratherthan an adjunct to the building industry or IT services.

STRATEGIC RESEARCH PRIORITYIn this context, specialist technology groups withinarchaeological organisations acquire particularsignificance. The Visual and Spatial TechnologyCentre (VISTA) at the University of Birmingham is oneexample (http://www.vista.bham.ac.uk/). The originsof VISTA lie in the work of a research group based inBirmingham Archaeology, the University’scommercial field archaeology unit. During the 1990sthis group developed a reputation for innovativeapplications of technology to the visual and spatialanalysis of large archaeological data sets. Theymanaged the Wroxeter Hinterland Project, whichincluded the first complete geophysical survey of a

Seeing beneath the sea.

Images: University of

Birimingham

VISTA14 T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

dedicated to the capture, analysis, display anddissemination of large-scale archaeological data sets.Alongside the processing of traditional GIS andremote sensing data VISTA supports a significant 3Dscanning capacity ‘Virtual Worlds’ laboratory (p22),including a suite of structural or high definitionlandscape scanners. The processing of terabytes ofimaging data is facilitated by dedicated fibrenetworks linking the centre’s own render clusters withthe Birmingham ‘Blue Bear’ large cluster, which wasoriginally provided to analyse data sets from theLarge Hadron Collider. Visualisation of data setsgenerated by archaeological research is supported bydedicated stereo projection facilities with trackingcapacity, whilst the VISTA Centre includes two AccessGrid nodes. These provide multi-site interactiveconferencing over the Internet to supportcollaborative projects that span international sites.

The availability of technology, however, is not assignificant as the people who use it. Our staff engagein leading-edge research projects involvingvisualisation technology, initiated by individualdepartments, through consortia of departments or ascollaborative research ventures with externalpartners. Partners have included the US Departmentof Defence, the University of Princeton, the SloveneAcademy of Sciences and Arts, Oberlin College(Ohio), the Department of Antiquities (Libya), theQatar Museums Authority, English Heritage, NaturalEngland, the Arts and Humanities Research Counciland numerous commercial partners.

INUNDATED LANDSCAPEOne recent flagship project has involved explorationof the inundated landscapes of the southern NorthSea. At the end of the last Ice Age, rising sea levelsinundated an inhabited prehistoric landscape largerthan the surface area of the UK. This inundatedlandscape is now under intensive pressure fromtrawling, mineral extraction and infrastructuredevelopment. The project is using the latest seismicand visualisation technologies to map and explorethis lost world. The southern North Sea has been thesubject of extensive seismic survey over many yearsfor petroleum and gas exploration, which has createda vast dataset whose value goes beyond the originalpurpose of locating fossil fuels. Although notcollected for this purpose, the top of the seismiccolumns can be used to reconstruct ancient landsurfaces which now lie buried beneath many metresof sediment and the waters of the North Sea.

SEISMIC DATAThe project is being carried out in collaboration withPetroleum Geo-Services (PGS), who donated

c.23,000 km2 of marine seismic data, and issupported by a grant from the Aggregates LevySustainability Fund. To date this has allowed thedetailed mapping of a uniquely preserved but largelyunknown landscape. Rivers, streams, lakes andcoastlines lost more than 8000 years ago are nowbeing explored for the first time. Methodologies havedeveloped considerably since the conclusion of theoriginal ALSF project, and VISTA staff are nowcarrying out similar projects elsewhere in the NorthSea, the Irish Sea and the Arabian Gulf.

Work at VISTA demonstrates that archaeology isvaluable for fostering interdisciplinary andcollaborative research and provides an exemplar ofthe fruitful exploitation of commercial and academicpartnerships, and of innovation in knowledge transfer.Such a model has wider applicability within thediscipline. In a time of economic uncertainty it isessential that archaeologists use their considerableskills and experience to best effect. UK archaeologyis and will remain an important activity in bothcultural and economic terms, regionally, nationallyand internationally. We have much to give as well asto receive from other disciplines, and if we want tosurvive and flourish we should continue to plan onthat basis.

Vince Gaffney Visual and Spatial Technology Centre Institute of Archaeology & Antiquity University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT

Barratt G, Dingwall L, Gaffney V, Fitch S, Huckerby Cand Maguire T 2007. Heritage management at FortHood, Texas: Experiments in Historic LandscapeCharacterisation. Archaeopress

Gaffney C and Gaffney V (Eds) 2000. Non-invasiveInvestigations at Wroxeter at the end of the 20thCentury. Archaeological Prospection 7(2)

Gaffney V, Fitch S and Smith D 2009. Europe’s Lost World: the rediscovery of Doggerland. CBA Research Reports

Gaffney V, Thomson K and Fitch S (Eds) 2007.Mapping Doggerland: The Mesolithic Landscapes of the Southern North Sea. Archaeopress. Oxford.

Gaffney VL, White RH and Goodchild H 2007.Wroxeter, the Cornovii and the Urban Process.Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 68.

15S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

The Ferrex© 4.032 Magnetometer

It’s peculiar what archaeology borrows and adaptsfrom other fields; sometimes the less obvioustechnology proves more favourable. For example, ourmost basic tool – the 4 inch (WHS) trowel, isprimarily a pointing tool, not a digging one. A morerecent example is the Ferrex© 4.032 Magnetometer, a magnetic measurement system developed byGerman manufacturer Foerster for subsurfacedetection of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Bombdetectors don’t usually feature in the archaeologicaltool-cupboard; regardless, VISTA, within the Instituteof Archaeology and Antiquity, Birmingham (IAA) hasrecently invested in just such a system for itsGeophysics Division.

Deadly or harmless?The reason lies in the development of the Ferrexsystem, which was driven by the need to distinguishbetween potentially dangerous UXO and innocuousitems such as scrap metal. One might not expect aninstrument of this sort to have the sensitivity to pickup the subtleties of buried archaeological featuressuch as pits, ditches and walls. But in the effort toprovide data sound enough to discriminate betweenthe deadly and the harmless Foerster have developeda magnetometer based on the Fluxgate technologyused in archaeological geophysics. In archaeology,this technology is nothing new. Instruments such asthe FM256 Gradiometer (Geoscan Research) and theGrad601 gradiometer (Bartington) are deployedroutinely in both contract and research archaeologyto carry out detailed large area magnetic surveys.

Consistent data-setIn Foerster’s Ferrex system the probes are non-directional and are factory-set. This means that thedirection in which the probe is held becomesimmaterial and instrument set-up procedures in thefield are reduced to an occasional 30 secondcalibration routine. Anyone who has calibrated aFM256 or FM36 will immediately appreciate thebenefit of this, and not only in terms of time saved.

Furthermore, unlike the FM256 and the Grad601, theForester is a multi-probe system that accommodatesup to four probes. These are mounted on a framewhich is wheeled over the survey area with ease. Thishas the added benefit of keeping the height of theprobes constant, ensuring a consistent data-set.Probes can be assembled at a 0.5m or 0.25m spacinginterval; half or quarter that of the Grad601.Magnetic readings may then be sampled asfrequently as 0.10m intervals. This sort of resolution(or sampling ratio) makes up for the slightly lesssensitive sensors of the Ferrex probes, at least incomparison to the FM256 or Grad01.

Real time and real worldAs if these innovations aren’t enough, Foerster haveprovided the facility to integrate leading brandsurvey-grade GPS units into the system. The

New developments

in Geophysics

Eamonn Baldwin, Jimmy Adcockand Meg Watters-Wilkes

The Foerster Ferex in use in Turkey with GPS positioning

The Foerster Ferex in use

in Shropshire with GPS

positioning integrated

into the data collection.

The three sensors are

visible on the frame


Jimmy Adcock and Meg Watters-Wilkes

Recent hardware developments within the world ofground penetrating radar (GPR) have witnessed theintroduction of multi-channel systems capable ofsimultaneously capturing a larger amount and rangeof data (depth-wise) from within a single survey

transect. Survey time is consequently reduced, andtechnical concerns regarding the balance betweensignal strength (depth) and survey resolution(sampling ratio) are eased. Furthermore, theintegration of survey-grade GPS units with GPRsystems is further reducing survey times andincreasing flexibility in the field.

Meg Watters exploring GPR

modelling data in 3D on the

Machdyne PowerWall in the

VISTA centre

advantage is twofold. Firstly, when the Ferrex systemis coupled with a Leica 1200 SmartNet receiver, suchas those used in IAA, Birmingham, every reading islogged in real-time with its own real world co-ordinates. In other words there’s no need to geo-reference your survey grid to the national mappingsystem retrospectively. In fact, with the Foerster, onecan dispense with setting out a grid matrix entirely.How come? Well, the real time co-ordinateinformation that is streamed through the GPS receivercan also be used to navigate the operator alongimaginary survey lines, effectively creating a virtualgrid. All the operator need do is select a start and endpoint which the Foerster field computer takes as abase line from which to build the imagery grid. Theresult is fully referenced and custom-sized gridsorientated to the needs of the survey or operator. So,the second benefit is obvious: no more untanglingsurvey lines and ropes; no more reeling in muddytape measures; no more hauling and hammering-in

stacks of survey stakes over site; and no need for atotal station for set-out.

Most important of course, are the results. The kit wasoriginally field-tested by a team from IAA inconjunction with Chris Gaffney from the Universityof Bradford at the World Heritage Site and ruinedHellenistic city of Cyrene in Libya. The results werestartling and revealed, despite the difficult terrain, theplan of the ancient city in intricate detail. The Ferrexhas since seen continual use by the IAA acrossBritain and Europe on research, contract and trainingprojects, including Stonehenge. It has certainlyproved a welcome addition to the IAA’s Geophysicscupboard.

Eamonn BaldwinHead of Terrestrial GeophysicsIBM VISTA - IAA, [email protected]

Ground penetrating radar: recent improvements

17S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

250MHz GPR data collected by GSB Prospection as part of a Time

Team investigation at Caerwent Roman town, Monmouthshire: time-

sliced data (top); volumetric plot (centre); combined output (bottom).”

Modelling archaeological surfacesHowever, it is software improvements that have reallychanged the face of GPR. Today’s software packagesare more intuitive, have quicker, more powerfulprocessing algorithms and provide a huge range ofvisualisations. Early analysis only used individualradargrams – effectively electronic section drawings –but it soon became possible to combine these (likeslices in a loaf) to produce 3D data blocks. These canbe cut in any direction or shape, though mostcommonly horizontally (like a layer cake) to mapreflection amplitudes, in plan, at different depths. This has subsequently moved onto volume plots –stripping away the ‘quiet’ matrix of entire datasets toleave only the strongest responses (equivalent to ajailbird removing the sponge of their cake to revealthe hacksaw baked within). 3D representations ofarchaeological features such as those revealed andmodelled by GSB Prospection at Caerwent last yearare now becoming commonplace and are as close toa complete representation of a buried resource as iscurrently possible without resorting to the ‘spade andsweat’ approach. An alternative option is toautomatically detect horizons running through adataset to model archaeological surfaces (egpalaeolandscapes) rather than using horizontal slices,in which surfaces might simply dip in and out.

Earlier monumentRecent work by IAA at Catholme CeremonialComplex, Staffordshire demonstrated that the abilityto visualise 3D data establishes a new method ofextracting archaeological information fromgeophysics through data interpretation andpresentation. State-of-the-art visualisation softwareallowed a range of data types such as resistivity andmagnetometer data to be combined with GPR dataand even archaeological section drawings, andexplored in a single 3D environment. The enhancedvisual perspective exposed not only the underlyingform of various archaeological features but also theirinterrelationships, contributing to their interpretationand informing subsequent investigations. The strengthof such 3D analysis was proven at Catholme whenvisualisation results identified a circular series of pitslying beneath a ring ditch. Subsequent excavationsproved this to be an earlier phase of monumentconstruction. Significantly, this phase would havebeen missed by excavation alone, which sampled the

ring ditch in plan and section according to thescheduling constraints.

One drawback to the advances in modelling andvisualisation is the volume of data produced. Assurveys become larger, datasets grow exponentiallyas does the processing time and power required forreal-time display of the subsequent models. However,the possibility of using remote access networks as ameans of time-sharing powerful super-computers(such as the University of Birmingham’s BEARCluster) will undoubtedly become morecommonplace.

In contrast, on a lower-tech note, GSB haveattempted to reproduce dynamic models withoutrequiring a monitor or PC (ie for permanent displayboards etc) by employing lenticular technology(perhaps best known for its use in free toys andnovelty postcards). The multi-image arrays, printedunder an integral plastic lens, produce strikinglyeffective yet inexpensive, animations or 3D effects tohelp grab the public imagination.

Jimmy AdcockGeophysicist & GPR SpecialistGSB Prospection [email protected]

Meg Watters-WilkesGeophysical ConsultantIBM Vista - [email protected]


ANSWERS UNDER OUR NOSENot long ago, most of us felt we had a decentunderstanding of chronology if we were able tocalibrate our radiocarbon results or appreciated theimplications of the ‘Halstatt Plateau’ for dating theIron Age. But Bayes theorem has added a differentterminology to the world of chronology;‘standardised likelihoods’, ‘posterior beliefs’ and‘prior beliefs’ are all part of the new lexicon. So whyis this school of statistical thought leading researchersto invest in yet more radiocarbon dating programmesand also to reassess and re-analyse lists of old dates,in search of chronological answers that may havebeen under our noses all the time?

PRIOR AND POSTERIOR BELIEFSSimply put, Bayes theorem states that new data(‘standardised likelihoods’) are analysed in the lightof what we already know about a particular problem(‘prior beliefs’). Understanding that emerges from this

Tomb of the Revd

Thomas Bayes. This 18th-

century clergyman

devised an effective

statistical system for

improving his chances

when betting on the

races

produces ‘posterior beliefs’. Bayes theorem can beapplied to any statistical problem, but in the contextof archaeological chronology ‘standardisedlikelihoods’ are generally age estimates produced byradiocarbon dating. Prior beliefs are most often ourknowledge of the stratigraphy of a site or section; thatdated samples relate to a single phase of activity orare in a stratigraphic order, for example. The resulting‘posterior beliefs’ that combine this information arereferred to as ‘posterior density estimates’ and areexpressed as probability distributions similar tocalibrated radiocarbon.

The use of Bayesian methods is not unique toarchaeology – they are used in weather forecasting,health care policy and criminal justice, to name a few.A common practical application is in email ‘Spamfilters’. It is hardly new even in archaeology, havingbeen first used in the 1980s for analyses of radiocarbondates and the ceramic sequence at Danebury.

An 18th-century clergyman with a penchant for a flutter on the horses might seem like an unlikely person to have sparked a seismic shift in the world of radiocarbon dating. Nevertheless, it is the Revd Thomas Bayes’deceptively simple theorem, published in 1763, that is at the heart of recent developments in the way weapproach archaeological chronologies. It is the application of a Bayesian framework for interpretingradiocarbon dates from Neolithic long barrows that has led Alex Bayliss, Alasdair Whittle and theircollaborators to state in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal ‘we will not bluff you with date substitutes…we do mean…explicit, quantitative probabilistic estimates of real dates when things happened by the agencyof particular people in specific places in the Neolithic of southern England.’

BAYESIAN CHRONOLOGIES:yet another rediocarbon revolution? Peter Marshall and Benjamin Gearey

19S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

evidence for human activity. The Bayesian approachthus allows us to understand in greater detail thechronological relationship between past humanactivities and environmental change. A properunderstanding of chronology enables a move towardsmore comprehensive insights into the how, why andwhen of the past.

Peter MarshallChronologies25 Onslow RoadSheffield S11 [email protected]

Benjamin Gearey Birmingham Archaeo-EnvironmentalInstitute of Archaeology and AntiquityUniversity of BirminghamEdgbaston

BELOW: Probability distributions of radiocarbon dates from

Claish Neolithic house: each distribution represents the

relative probability that an event occurred at a particular

time. For each of the radiocarbon measurements two

distributions have been plotted, one in outline (simple

radiocarbon calibration), and a solid one (the chronological

model used). Other distributions correspond to particular

aspects of the model. For example, ‘Boundary start’ is the

estimated date for the start of use of the Neolithic building.

The large square brackets down the left hand side along

with the OxCal keywords define the overall model exactly

(http://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/).

ABOVE: Probability

distributions of the date of

the Bronze Age cremation

burial [7074] and (top Prior

disturbance) woodland

clearance inferred from the

pollen record from Sutton

Common.

DATING FOR NEOLITHIC CLAISH Incorporation of Bayesian statistics and Markov ChainMonte Carlo (MCMC) methods into statisticalpackages such as OxCal and BCal together withinformation from archaeology now permit a robustapproach to the construction of chronologies. Forexample, in dating a Neolithic building at Claish,Callander, our ‘prior beliefs’ are that at an unknowntime in the past, the building was built and occupiedfor a period before being abandoned. The‘standardised likelihoods’ are 12 calibratedradiocarbon dates obtained on charcoal andcarbonised cereal grains from post holes and hearthcontexts. Our model incorporates ‘prior beliefs’ and‘standardised likelihoods’. As well as producing‘posterior density estimates’ (in black) for the 12calibrated radiocarbon dates we also have two newdistributions for when the building was built (start;3750-3650 cal BC (95% probability)) and wasabandoned (end; 3700-3630 cal BC (95%probability)). We have no radiocarbon samples forthese events; they are derived from the distribution ofour 12 standardised likelihoods, and take intoaccount that we are unlikely to have dated either theearliest or latest sample.

WOODLAND CLEARANCE AND BRONZE AGEBURIAL: WHICH COMES FIRST?Bayesian approaches also impact on the world ofenvironmental archaeology. Constructingchronologies for peat deposits for example, thesource material for pollen diagrams, requiresincorporation of absolute and relative dating. Preciseand accurate chronologies are essential forcomprehensive records of past environmental changeand for evaluating correlations betweenarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence ofhuman activity. An example of the way these can becombined and compared is shown here. This showsthe posterior density estimates for palynologicalevidence of woodland clearance from a radiocarbon-dated pollen sequence adjacent to Sutton Commonalongside dates for a Bronze Age cremation burialfrom a nearby mortuary enclosure. In this instance,the posterior density estimate for the clearance phasederived from our Bayesian model indicates a 90%probability that the cremation pre-dates palynological

Software for Bayesian chronological analyses

Program Web address

OxCal http://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/embed.php?File=oxcal.html

BCal http://bcal.shef.ac.uk/

Ren-Date http://www.meteo.be/CPG/aarch.net/onlytxt/rendate.otxt_en.html

CPGchron http://ftp2.uk.freebsd.org/sites/lib.stat.cmu.edu/R/CRAN/src/contrib/Descriptions/CPGchron.html

Bpeat http://www.cimat.mx/~jac/software.html


Understanding hidden landscapes

Henry Chapman and Benjamin Gearey

Modelling the evolution

of wetlands on Hatfield

Moors using GIS

■ Concealed environments Other wetland environments provide less dramaticexamples of hidden landscapes but present similarchallenges. For example, the accretion of alluvialdeposits on floodplains or the spread of uplandblanket peat can conceal areas which were once dryland. These contexts are particularly valuable becausethey may preserve organic archaeological material aswell as palaeoenvironmental remains, providingvaluable information on the character of these pastenvironments.

■ Bog bodies, metalwork and coin hoards Recent work funded by English Heritage on thelowland raised mires of Hatfield and Thorne Moors insouth Yorkshire has begun to investigate the potentialfor modelling the growth of these peat bogs, with theaim of understanding implications for past humanactivity and the location of archaeological sites. Weknow from previous environmental work that untilthe mid-Holocene, these were dry landscapes. Risingsea levels and subsequent flooding of low lying areasresulted in a slow but steady shift from woodland tofen, and from fen to bog. Previous archaeologicalfinds, largely discovered during peat cutting andmany now lost, include bog bodies, metalwork andcoin hoards, demonstrating that people were activein these areas as they were across the wider area ofthe Humberhead levels.

Since the work of Mick Aston and TrevorRowley in the 1970s landscapearchaeology has grown considerably.Integration of applied theoreticalapproaches during the 1980s and 1990sbrought added depth to the discipline,whilst developments in environmentalarchaeology and application of spatialtechnologies such as GIS expand thepotential toolkit. Still, a particular challengeis provided by ‘hidden landscapes’, thosewhich cannot be observed directly andwhich have changed considerably overtime. An example is ‘Doggerland’, thedrowned landscape of the southern NorthSea which, as recovery of archaeologicalmaterial in the nets of deep sea trawlersdemonstrates, was once part of the northEuropean plain. Now, work by VinceGaffney and his collaborators at theUniversity of Birmingham is demonstratingthat it is possible to explore and understandthese submerged environments.

21S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

The modelling of landscape evolution on Hatfield

Moors has been used to interpret a later Neolithic

trackway and platform – the site was constructed at a

time of dramatic environmental change resulting in the

death of woodland, the opening up of the landscape

and the emergence of new wetland environments

Henry P Chapman Visual and Spatial Technology Centre Institute of Archaeology & Antiquity University of Birmingham, Edgbaston [email protected]

Benjamin GeareyBirmingham Archaeo-EnvironmentalInstitute of Archaeology and AntiquityUniversity of [email protected]

■ New methods and oldAny attempt at a ‘hidden landscape archaeology’ ofthese pre-peat land surfaces that hopes tocontextualise archaeological sites and remainsrequires an understanding of the spatial and temporalprocesses and patterns of peat spread. Normally,establishing this for peatlands of such size requiressignificant investment in survey and associatedpalaeoenvironmental analyses and so, rather thangenerating extensive new data, we chose to assess thepotential for using existing datasets, such aspalaeoenvironmental studies, alongside limitedbespoke new data to produce robust and testablemodels of landscape change. Ground PenetratingRadar (GPR) data have informed us about thetopography of the pre-peat landscape, whilst Lidarand borehole data allow us to investigate the depth ofpeat surviving in different areas of the moors and tocollect samples for radiocarbon dating. Historical andmodern mapping and various palaeoenvironmentalinformation are also brought in to help inform us onthe character of the past landscape.

■ Trackways through a changing landscapeThis broad range of information has been modelledand manipulated through GIS software, enabling us

to map the spread of peat in time and space. Wherewere the earliest pools and when did they develop?How fast was the spread of peat? Answering thesequestions allows us to move on to address cultural,landscape archaeology questions. What impact didthe development of wetlands have on the movementof people through the landscape? Which routewaysremained accessible the longest? Where might sitesof different types and periods be preserved? OnHatfield Moors we investigated the landscapearchaeology of a later Neolithic timber trackway.Modelling of the pre-peat landscape andmanipulation of the radiocarbon chronology for peatgrowth indicated that the site was located at the edgeof one of the earliest areas of wetland development ata time when much of the rest of the landscape wasdry. In addition, we mapped the extent and temporalspan of surviving peat deposits, which we hope willassist future management of the moors.

Hidden landscapes such as peatlands provide aunique challenge for landscape archaeology and onewhich requires a multi-disciplinary approach. Whilstwe might never be able to observe them directly, theapplication of new technologies allows us to explorethem remotely.

3D


Today, such technology is much more affordable. In2006, NextEngine Inc, of Santa Monica, California,released the first consumer 3D desktop scanner (baseprice $2995). While not the fastest at data capture,the NextEngine device produces high fidelity models,and its low cost places 3D object scanning withinour reach. Such scanners enable alternative forms ofanalytical assessment for artefacts, and are alsoinvaluable in archiving and dissemination. Withtoday’s increased emphasis on digital recording fordatabase archiving and dissemination via the Web,3D object capture is likely to make inroads intonumerous branches of archaeology.

Databases and disseminationSo far, despite the quantity and variety of onlinedatabases, pervasive storage of archaeological objectdata in 3D digital formats has yet to emerge. Adatabase that provides an interactive viewingplatform for models of archaeological items, withassociated information such as origins and sitelocations, is the next logical step. This will have hugebenefits for identification, research anddissemination, and can satisfy several audiences. It isa highly convenient way to send accurate 3Drepresentations to specialists, especially invaluablewhere it is illegal to remove finds from a country, andit allows public access to antiquities that otherwisemight never be seen.

Egypt at a touchOne project which capitalise on these possibilities isunderway in the University of Birmingham’s VirtualWorlds Laboratory. The Eton Myers Collection VirtualMuseum project has been sponsored by JISC (JointInformation Systems Committee) to provide ‘virtual’access to the collection, one of the most impressiveof its type in the world for Egyptian antiquities andart. 3D models of a proportion of the objects will becreated as a base for an Internet-based VirtualMuseum, enabling worldwide access to previouslyunseen items of unique provenance and historicalvalue.

In the 1860s, François Villème created

a process known as photo sculpture.

Using 24 cameras, profiles of objects

were reproduced on photographic

plates, projected onto a screen using a

magic lantern and transferred to clay

using a pantograph. Since then, the

evolution of technologies that capture

shape by optical means has been

considerable, and there are now many

instruments available for use in

different environments. These operate

on differing principles according to the

task at hand and have varying levels of

accuracy, but essentially use laser

technology to map the surface

geometry of target objects. In the last

decade, use of 3D laser scanners within

the archaeological profession for

analysis and documentation of

historical and archaeological finds has

been increasing, although

implementation has been hindered by

the high cost of 3D sensors and the

processing software required.

The past in threedimensions

Helen Moulden

3D

23S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Details of mummified

hand with faience ring,

recorded in 3D

Access, manipulation and haptic feedbackSimilar use of 3D object scans in museums couldenhance outreach programmes, with representationson screens that could be manipulated by viewers.Similarly, a visitor could view items not on display atthat moment, and models might be used inconjunction with immersive display technologies toenhance a visitor’s interaction with items. Inparticular haptic feedback is a technique whichprovides tactile responses to a user when interactingwith synthetic models by applying simulated forces,vibrations or motions. Loaned artefacts might also beacceptably replaced by a 3D model temporarily. Or,if replicas are required, 3D printing technologyenables fabrication of detailed object replicationusing powder-based layering, as used in the field ofrapid engineering prototyping.

Landscapes, historic buildings and digital archingElsewhere, we are seeing increasing use of 3Dscanning technologies for landscape analysis andbuilding recording. Airborne Light Detection andRanging technology (Lidar) obtains elevation andintensity data based on time reception and varyingreflections from different material properties, and isused to efficiently map a territory and provide highradiometric and spatial resolutions. Among otherpurposes, this airborne scanning method can aid inthe discovery of new sites. Building scanning is beingemployed in commercial archaeologicalenvironments such as Birmingham Archaeology, andis assisting research through more advancedcomputational analyses and recording of structures.This has led to the formation of the CyArk 3DCultural Heritage Archive, an online repositorydealing with preservation of Cultural Heritage Sitesby collecting and archiving data captured throughlaser scanning and digital modelling. The siteprovides open access to 3D point cloud data througha Web-based Java application that allows interactionbetween a user and a model.

With the barriers to the use of 3D scanning fallingaway as new low cost products reach the market, thisis a sphere that is becoming ever more accessible toarchaeologists. What is now required is developmentof a skills base to take full advantage of suchtechnology, and further integration of 3D viewingcapabilities in standard Web browsers. The future islooking bright for this area of archaeology.

Helen MouldenVisual and Spatial TechnologyCentre Institute of Archaeology & AntiquityUniversity of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT

[email protected] www.vista.bham.ac.uk

Untextured high

resolution 3D model of

a shabti constructed

from laser scan data.

Intricate details include

heiroglyphic writing

surrounding its body

become clear

BELOW: Phytolith

multi-cell, Phragmites

communis (reed)

BELOW RIGHT: Evidence

from micromorphology;

an impregnated monolith

taken from floors within

an Early Roman building


Using GPS to gather digital

plan data in the field, as

part of the VERA project

stratigraphy is still well preserved and so work isslow, and we have only just reached the 1st centuryAD. At last we have a 3000 square metre trench inwhich to investigate the birth of a complex,nucleated settlement in late Iron Age Britain.

Geochemical sampling and the use of hearths

Recovery and analysis of biological data was at theheart of the project from the outset, and early on wealso adopted sampling strategies to recovermetalworking evidence. Originally the emphasis wason the macro and microscopic remains of ironmaking and iron working but, with funding from theHeadley Trust, we have embarked on an ambitiousprogramme of systematic geochemical sampling andanalysis to address questions about the extent of non-ferrous metalworking in the insula, and to gain betterunderstanding of the use of hearths. Led by Dr SamCook, this project has provided geochemical finger-printing of the use of internal spaces and of associatedhearths. It has raised questions about distinguishingbetween the products of domestic occupation,residues left by cooking and food consumption andactivities other than metalworking, and those left bymetalworking itself. Confidence in the existence ofmetalworking is assured by high ppm (parts permillion) concentrations, eg of copper, lead and zinc.

Leaking buildings

Experimental archaeology, another theme of researchat Reading, has much to contribute to ourunderstanding of this geochemistry. When linked with

ur Silchester Town Life, Project carried out underthe auspices of the University of Reading, is anin-depth study of a residential insula at the

centre of Iron Age and Roman Calleva Atrebatum.Work began in 1997, its overarching aim being tocharacterise the development of urban life from thelater 1st century BC to abandonment between the 5thand 7th centuries AD. Despite earlier excavations the

Science@Silchester Michael Fulford

O

25S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

All photographs:

Department of

Archaeology, University

of Reading

Using digital pens to gather digital context data in the field

evidence from micromorphology (taught as part ofthe department’s world-renowned MScGeoarchaeology programme), fascinating detailemerges. Rowena Banerjea’s doctoral research forexample informs us of the use and condition ofindividual early Roman buildings – flooring androofing material of rushes and reeds, animals sharingthe same space as humans, leaking roofs andeventually the decay of buildings.

Provenance of tesserae

Development and application of scientific techniquesdraws great benefit from the department’s location inthe School of Human and Environmental Sciences,which supports high quality research in geosciences.This School has a long history in provenancingmaterials, particularly stone, exemplified by researchconducted on our stone tesserae. Professor John Allenand colleagues from the Natural History Museum, theBritish Geological Survey and the University ofLeicester have shown how important the Isle ofPurbeck (known for Kimmeridge Shale and Purbeckmarble) was in the supply of a range of materials –reds, yellows and grey-blacks. It looks as if evenchalk tesserae were selected from a particular faciesof chalk in Purbeck to provide white tesserae. Thesematerials were used in 1st- and 2nd-century Romanmosaics as far as Caerleon to the west and Eccles tothe east, as well as London and the sequence ofpalatial buildings at Fishbourne.

3D projection and analysis

Sustained sampling programmes have recovered agreat variety of environmental and metalworkingdata. As we approach the fascinating period ofCalleva’s origins, the key is to ensure sufficientresources to maximise the benefits these data candeliver. Crucial to this is the IADB (Integrated

Archaeological Database), developed by Mike Rainsof York Archaeological Trust, which has benefitedfrom significant developmental resource from theJISC since 2004. The database, and its capacity tointegrate various strands of field data, is at the heartof post-excavation analysis. Up to now it hasoperated in two dimensions, but working withProfessor Mark Baker of the University’s School ofSystems Engineering as part of the VERA project, weaim to have 3D projection and analysis of field andsample data later this year.

The work of Science@Silchester lies not so much inthe development of new techniques but in co-ordination, integration and sustained application ofmultiple approaches developed elsewhere. Newknowledge and insights that this strategy is providingare addressing the key research objective ofcharacterising urban life at Calleva over time withresounding success.

For up to date information on the project, seewww.silchester.reading.ac.uk, and for VERA (TheVirtual Environments for Research in Archaeology)see http://vera.rdg.ac.uk/.

Michael FulfordProfessor of ArchaeologyDirector, Silchester Town Life ProjectDepartment of Archaeology School of Human and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Reading

Geochemical sampling in Insula

IX: lead ‘hot spots’ identified

within the early Roman buildings

on site


Digging on clay in January - why clayland sites will never be popular

with archaeologists © ULAS

One of 17 individual hoards of Iron Age silver and

Roman Republican coins during excavation. This site

on boulder clay was first located by fieldwalking by

a local community group. Subsequent metal detector

survey, geophysical survey and trial trenching

established its extent and significance. © ULAS

300 SITES IN 90 MINUTESMore field survey and evaluation over the past thirtyyears has begun to redress the balance (eg Clay2002; 2007; Mills & Palmer 2007). It is becomingclear that, far from being ignored, they were beingexploited extensively if not intensively from theMesolithic onwards. Examples of this new evidenceinclude remarkable results from aerial photography inBedfordshire where, in the summer drought of 1996,vertical photographs taken for Bedfordshire CountyCouncil revealed 300 sites as cropmarks from ninetyminutes of flying, most of them previously unknownand most on clay substrata. Fieldwalking surveys insome East Midlands clayland areas have now foundevidence of Neolithic to Bronze Age ‘core areas’every 3.6 sq km and late Iron Age sites every 1.82 sqkm (Clay 2002).

Despite this progress, clayland archaeology is still‘hard to reach’, in that it isn’t often visible withoutintrusive work. An examination of a sample of 85evaluations undertaken since 1990 on clay soils wherethere was no previously known archaeology has comeup with some interesting results. Criteria were• no previously known archaeological evidence• greenfield sites with clay substrata – not urban or

village core• positive result defined by archaeological deposits

with material remains – finds suggesting domesticor ceremonial activity. These did not includemedieval field systems (ridge and furrow)

TRIAL-TRENCHING REQUIRED?Of this sample 42 evaluations (49.4%) located newsites while 43 (50.6%) were negative. Of the positiveresults only three (7.1%) were located byfieldwalking and two by geophysical survey, whilst37 (88.1%) were from trial trenching. Does thisreflect a distrust of geophysical survey as a technique

Let’s face it – archaeologists don’t like working on clay soils.

In summer these can be as hard as concrete while in winter

they seem to be under water most of the time. Traditional

fieldwalking can often be unproductive, cropmarks usually

only appear in exceptional (very dry) conditions, and there

are few visible pre-medieval monuments. Lack of evidence

has meant lack of research, which in turn means claylands

are dismissed as areas of little archaeological potential. Even

when they are surveyed, fieldwalking has often been

undertaken at a lower resolution than ‘lighter’ soils in view of

their perceived lower potential (eg Hall 1985, 28). As a

consequence clay areas show fewer HER records, helping

reinforce preconceptions.

Finding archaeology on c laylands:

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTHPatrick Clay

27S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

A notable discovery at Rothley

was an incised plaque which,

when complete, would have been

symmetrical, possibly showing a

stylised face within a rectangular

frame. © ULAS

of detection for these substrata in the 1990s? Morerecent results show that this technique can besuccessful on clay soils.

The predominance of Iron Age sites is particularlyremarkable, perhaps a reflection of more widelyspread smaller farmsteads during this period,compared with fewer but larger sites from laterperiods. Later sites are also more commonly stillsettled today, and so do not show in greenfield areas.Examples of the type of previously unknown claylandsites that can be found include a Neolithic site fromRothley, Leicestershire (Hunt 2006), only located fromtrenching a very low density flint scatter, and theremarkable East Leicestershire hoard of over 5000 IronAge coins located from fieldwalking and subsequentmetal detector and geophysical surveys (Score 2006).

Period No. %

Late Upper Palaeolithic 1 2.4Neolithic 2 4.8Earlier Bronze Age 3 7.1Later Bronze Age 1 2.4Iron Age 19 45.2Iron Age and Romano-British 3 7.1

Romano-British 9 21.4Anglo Saxon 2 4.7Medieval 2 4.7

Total 42 100

So what can we conclude? The following may seemblindingly obvious but it still needs re-stating • HERs are not a true reflection of the

archaeological resource • thorough survey/evaluation of blank areas is

necessary, or data will be lost and biases continue(a truism for all substrata throughout Britain butunfortunately there are still very variable responsesfrom different planning authorities to areas ofunknown potential)

Clayland sites are more difficult to find but can oftenreveal higher quality archaeological remains than, forexample, sands and gravels which often have poorbone and organic survival. Although most positiveresults followed trial trenching this should not beviewed as the only way to locate these sites.Techniques are developing all the time and,increasingly, geophysical survey can be successfullyused as a first stage in evaluation, with appropriatetrenching samples to follow.

Although it will never be popular with archaeologists,clay can be worth the effort.

Patrick ClayUniversity of Leicester Archaeological ServicesUniversity of LeicesterUniversity RoadLeicester LE1 7RHwww.le.ac.uk/ulas

Clay P 2002 The Prehistory of the East Midlands

Claylands. Aspects of settlement and land-use from

the Mesolithic to the Iron Age in central England.

Leicester Archaeology Monograph 9. Leicester:

School of Archaeology and Ancient History,

Leicester University

Clay P 2007 ‘Claylands revisited. The prehistory of

WG Hoskins Midlands plain’ in A Fleming and

R Hingley (eds) Landscape History after Hoskins

Volume 1 Prehistoric and Roman Landscapes Oxford:

Oxbow books, 70-82

Hall DN 1985 ‘Survey work in Eastern England’,

in S Macready and FH Thompson (eds), Archaeological

Field Survey in Britain and Abroad, 25–44. London:

Society of Antiquities Occasional Paper 6

Hunt L 2006 ‘Rothley Lodge Farm’ Trans Leicestershire

Archaeological and Historical

Society 80, 237-238.

Mills J and Palmer R (eds) 2007 Populating Clay

Landscapes Stroud: Tempus.

Score V 2006 ‘Rituals, hoards and helmets: a

ceremonial meeting place of the Corieltavi’,

Trans Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical

Society 80, 197-208.

Part of a Late Neolithic

assemblage from a previously

unknown clayland site at Rothley,

Leicestershire, located by trial

trenching. Situated on a north-

facing slope of Mercia mudstone,

geophysical survey had been

largely negative while

fieldwalking had only resulted in

a dispersed spread of lithics.

However, trial trenching targeting

a slight concentration of worked

lithics located an occupation site

which included a possible

building and pits with structured

deposition of artefacts associated

with Grooved Ware. © ULAS

Jon Hoyle


Earthworks under treesAfter trialling a number of prospecting techniques inwoodland, all of which, including rapid walkoversurvey, would have been hugely expensive in suchlarge areas of woodland, in 2006 GloucestershireCounty Council Archaeology Service (using EnglishHeritage ALSF funds), and the Forestry Commissionjointly commissioned a Lidar survey of c. 278km2.This included most of the woodland in Dean, andtook advantage of an innovative use of Lidardeveloped by the Cambridge Unit for LandscapeModelling, applying a vegetation removal algorithmto Lidar data. This process separated out the laserpulses which had not been blocked by the trees, andmapped the micro-topography of the ground surfacenormally concealed by woodland cover.

Modern house masquerading as a hilltop enclosure

Subsequently the Forest Research branch of theForestry Commission produced a series of hillshadedimages of the ground surface, which could beilluminated from different directions to emphasiseearthwork features. These were imported asgeoreferenced layers onto our GIS.

So far, the full potential of Lidar data have not yetbeen realised, and there are a number of currentinitiatives to manipulate raw data to tease out yetmore information of value to the archaeologist. Mostusers, however, engage with Lidar in the form ofthese hillshaded images, which are comprehendedand used in a similar way to aerial photographs. ButLidar images are not aerial photographs, but theresult of a mathematical process which recordsvariations in the relative height of features on theground, and expresses this as an intelligible image ofthe ground surface. Contemporary landscape featuressuch as roads and field boundaries cannot bedifferentiated from archaeologically significantearthworks without comparison with other data sets,such as current OS maps detail.

Our interest in Lidar was the result of a project to investigate the archaeology of the

Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. About 118km2 (35%) of the area is under woodland,

including an almost continuous single block of about 88km2 and, apart from post-

medieval industries, few archaeological sites are known in the wooded areas. This is

despite numerous indicators suggesting prehistoric, Romano-British and medieval activity.

Lidar survey applications in the woods

Location of the Forest of Dean Lidar survey

29S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Sub-circular enclosure with central mound: the enclosure is an

earthwork, but the mound appears to be a large pile of logs Sub-rectangular enclosure identified in an area of woodland

All illustrations

© Gloucestershire

County Council and

the Forestry

Commission

A thousand new featuresProcessing produces other anomalous results. Areasof conifer can be impenetrable enough to block theLidar, and dense undergrowth, particularly in areas ofrecent clearfell, has a similar effect. The processedhillshaded images of woodland frequently have an‘untidy’ appearance, with numerous smallirregularities caused by bushes or forestry detritus.Professional judgement can discount these features(although not always confidently) but at least onesignificant-looking mound seems to have beencaused by a pile of logs. Many such shortcomingswill be resolved as processing techniques aredeveloped, and by and large, the results have beenimpressive. The preliminary analysis of the survey hasidentified over a thousand potentially significantfeatures, none of them previously identified.

Late medieval coppiceExtensive areas of charcoal platforms and open castmineral workings overlying coal outcrops wereanticipated, but Lidar has allowed these to be rapidlymapped and added to the HER. Others features wereless expected. Large areas of linear and rectilinearearthwork systems were identified, some but not allof them corresponding to historical records of latemedieval coppice. Other enclosures included sixsub-rectilinear enclosures which are consistent in sizeand form, suggesting a similar function and date.

AccuracyWe have been able to ground truth the results in afew areas, and Lidar has generally accuratelydepicted the location and form of identified features.It has also had the unexpected benefit of facilitatingnavigation though the woods by showing tracks andother landscape features not recorded on maps.When we compared Lidar results with areas whereconventional walkover survey had been undertaken,not only did Lidar map features with a degree ofaccuracy impossible to achieve without sophisticatedsurveying equipment, but it detected other features,particularly linear earthworks, which had not beenrecorded. Bumps and hollows abound in woodland,earthworks can be obscured by undergrowth andsight lines are limited. In these conditions slightfeatures can easily be overlooked or dismissed. Withthe landscape-scale overview which Lidar allows, therelationships between earthworks can easily beunderstood and borderline features reassessed andinterpreted with greater confidence.

The survey itself and the transcription of the resultsare just the beginning, as many of the recognisedfeatures are not yet fully understood. However, wehave been able to identify and prioritise areas forfurther research in what was previously an almostblank canvas. Next winter we willtake the project forward with aprogramme of ground truthing andfurther investigation of selectedearthworks.

Jon HoyleSenior project officer Gloucestershire County CouncilEnvironment DirectorateArchaeology Service


tunnel he drove under the Thames. Teredo navalis isprobably the shipworm best known byarchaeologists. It is a highly specialised bivalve, aworm-like mollusc, adapted for boring into wood. Itvaries in length from 150mm to 1.8m, depending onenvironmental characteristics. Recently, a species ofshipworm called Lyrodus pedicellatus Quatrifages,common in more temperate climates, was recordedin British waters. This caused some alarm as Lyroduscauses much more damage than Teredo navalis.

Colonisation Lyrodus reproduces from October to May. Afterspawning, larvae colonise the surrounding wood afteronly a few hours in the water column whereasTeredo navalis larvae are free swimmers and maytravel away from their source for up to three weeks.The obvious consequence is that Lyrodus pedicellatusrepeatedly colonises the same timber until all woodis locally exhausted. If conditions are favourable,several generations can spawn each year, so thateach individual can produce larvae from a fewthousand to several millions. Evidence of this borerwas recorded by the author on sacrificial samplesdeployed on the Mary Rose site in 2004/05.

On the crustacean front, the most common includeLimnoriidae (or gribbles) and the Cheluridae. Theattack on wood by crustaceans can be moredetectable compared to the shipworm one, as thegalleries excavated are at a superficial level, just onthe wood surface. These galleries are narrow andsometimes interconnected and – just like theshipworms tunnels – run alongside the grain of thewood.

Warmer waterTeredo navalis has been widely recorded in watersaround the south of England for a long time, whereasthe presence of Lyrodus in British waters is thought tobe a sign of global climate changes. The increase inthe air/water temperatures creates the right conditionsfor non-indigenous species to develop and settle inareas like the south of England. Shipwrecks which arenot buried under at least 0.5m of sediment are morelikely to be attacked and degraded by thesewoodborers.

Wooden shipwrecks, piers,vessels and other underwaterwooden structures in seawaterare at the mercy of dynamicenvironmental variables, such as strong currents and tides and,if they are exposed to aerobicconditions, they may be degraded by organisms such as bacteria, fungi, molluscs andcrustaceans. This has always been the case, but there is newevidence that modern climaticconditions are set to make things much worse.

Ancient attacksThe boring molluscs of the Teredinidae family,commonly known as shipworms, are notorious forthe high level of degradation they cause in woodenobjects or structures in the marine environment, inquite a short period of time. The destructive potentialof shipworm to wood, especially archaeologicalwood, is often underestimated as the attack isdifficult to detect from the outside. Internally,attacked timbers may be thoroughly honeycombed,yet look sound externally. Shipworms were a well-known problem to ancient mariners because of thedamage they caused to hulls. There were manyattempts to solve the problem yet sources reportedthat a huge number of ships were wrecked due toshipworm attack.

New speciesShipworms live in tunnels, which they dig when theycome into contact with the wood surface, and herethey live all their lives. Brunel took inspiration fromthis calcareous coating for a similar lining to the

Shipwrecks and global ‘worming’Paola Palma

31S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Faster decayCurrent research on archaeological sites (for examplethe Swash Channel Wreck site in Dorset) is showingthe presence of all or some the species mentionedabove on most sites, which makes the stability andpreservation of archaeological wood very vulnerable.Authors in the past estimated the life expectancy ofexposed archaeological timbers to be about ten years(eg Skowronek 1984). Judging by the preliminaryresults of recent research on woodborers’ activity onshipwrecks in relation to changes in theenvironmental parameter (such as increase intemperature) this statement seems optimistic today.

In the meantime, ‘silent saboteurs’ are constantlydestroying valuable and irreplaceable sites at a fastpace, and the more aggressive are colonising newlyexposed sites. The same problems our ancestors facedhave not found a solution across the centuries. Fieldobservations indicate that degradation by marineborers needs to be investigated and constantlymonitored in order to understand the threat andnature of the degradation. When this step is achieveda mitigation policy can be applied.

Woodborer activity is mostly undetected until it hascaused serious damage to wood that is exposed toextensive periods in seawater. So are we going into afast path towards global ship-‘worming’ by aggressiveborers fed on archaeological wood? We have to beready for constant monitoring of threatened wood todetect the presence of shipworms and gribbles andthe extent of their attack and degradation.

Paola PalmaLecturer in Maritime ArchaeologyUniversity of [email protected]

Calcareous coating of

shipworm 0.5m long,

on the Swash Channel

Wreck. Photograph;

P Palma, University of

Bournemouth

Carving from the Swash

Channel Wreck (Dorset)

showing signs of

woodborer’s attack.

Photograph: D Parham,

University of Bournemouth

A shipworm. Drawn by K

Mockeridge, University of

Bournemouth (student)

X-ray of sacrificial sample

attacked by shipworms after

only few months’ deployment in

seawater, in proximity of a

shipwreck. L French, University

of Bournemouth (student)


instrument that can quantify and spatially resolve (toa minimum of 2 mm) the bulk chemical compositionof intact archaeological objects by 2010. This will usea form of activation analysis. A neutron radiographyimaging instrument is also likely to be built by 2013,and is in the design stage now. These facilities will beavailable to use through a proposal system, just likethe existing instruments.

NEUTRON DIFFRACTIONThe huge advantage of ToF-ND is that a wholeartefact can be placed on a large sample stage, in air,in front of the neutron beam. No sampling or samplepreparation is necessary. ToF-ND is completely non-invasive and does not mark or alter the object. Thereis no long-term radiation. Bronze objects for examplemight be active for two or three days after analysisbefore being cleared to go. Iron artefacts aregenerally not active at all after analysis. It typicallytakes around one hour to collect a data point;multiple points can be collected across an object.This overcomes the issue of how representativetraditional destructive metallography is. Withconventional methods, pretty broad interpretationsabout early metalworking are based on one or twovery small samples cut from the most convenientlyaccessible points on heterogeneous objects.

At ISIS, a high energy proton beam travels from an accelerator along

a guide (1-2 on the diagram) and hits a small tungsten target (3) to make

pulses of neutrons. The neutrons are guided down beamlines (4) to

instrument stations where archaeological artefacts can be analysed

P r o b i n g t h e p a s t

No one likeshaving tocut, drill, orscrape an

analytical sample from an archaeological artefact, buthow can we decipher the manufacturing processes ofan object without doing this? For metal objects inparticular, one answer lies in using neutron-basedtechniques. The UK Science and Technology FacilitiesCouncil (STFC ) provides free access via a proposalsystem to academic archaeological and museum-based (not-for-profit) researchers to analyse objectsand experimental samples at the ISIS neutron facilityof the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell.

ISIS – not an acronym, but named after the old riverThames, and in turn the Egyptian goddess – isBritain’s spallation neutron and muon source, one ofjust a handful of such facilities in the world. The coreresearch applications of ISIS are fundamental physicsand molecular chemistry, but in the past few yearsincreasing numbers of cultural heritage materialscharacterisation projects have been carried outsuccessfully at ISIS. The main technique used foranalysis of archaeological and museum objects istime-of-flight neutron diffraction (ToF-ND), whichuses a pulsed neutron beam generated from a protonparticle accelerator (a synchrotron). ToF-ND is a non-destructive ‘bulk’ method that measures right throughthe thickness of an object, producing an averageresult.

ARTEFACT ANALYSISAny crystalline material – metal,pigments, rock, ceramic – can beanalysed by neutrondiffraction. There are plansat ISIS to build an

Free access to a non-destructive method of

highly accurate analysis of materials

including metal, pigments, rock and ceramic,

for research purposes, can now be offered by

the ISIS Neutron Facility in Oxford.

33S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUESToF-ND determines which metal, mineral, andintermetallic compounds are present, and how muchof each phase. In metals, grain orientation or ‘texture’can be seen, evidence for manufacturing techniquessuch as casting and hammering. Sometimes it ispossible to calculate chemical concentrations, byquantifying discrete phases. For instance, in steel,carbon is present as an intermetallic compound,cementite, containing 6.7wt% carbon. ToF-NDmeasures the cementite in a volume of steel; thisvalue is then normalised and multiplied by 0.067 tofind the bulk chemical composition in terms ofweight percent of carbon. Lead added to copper orbronze does not go into solution in the copper butforms a separate (metallic lead) phase. ToF-NDproduces an accurate elemental lead composition bydetecting all the separate metallic lead.

CORROSION PRODUCTSEverything that the neutron beam passes through ismeasured, so corrosion products, both external andinside an object, are quantified too. Each compound– eg cuprite, malachite, and tin or lead oxides inbronze – forms a distinct mineral phase. Unlike light-based methods and even most x-ray diffraction andspectroscopy, neutrons are able to completelypenetrate intact inorganic objects, allowing us to

measure how much of the original metal is preservedunder thick corrosion layers, and to find the bulkcomposition and microstructure of that metal.

On the GEM diffractometer, the neutron beam can befocused to analyse a minimum area of 2mm x 2mm xthe whole thickness of the object (up to around100mm of steel for example; thicker objects can alsobe studied using backscattered signals). GEM is verygood for quantifying the amount of grain ‘texture’ in ametal object. The ENGIN-X diffractometer can befocused in three dimensions, to a minimum of 1mm x1mm x 0.5mm in depth. ENGIN-X measures residualstrains and micro-strains in metal objects. If the lastthing that a bronze-maker did to an object was chaseover the surface with a chisel to removeimperfections and casting seams, then ENGIN-X canmap this working.

The commercial user rate to do analysis at ISIS isaround £10,000 per day, but so long as the results willbe published in an academic/scientific journal andthere is no direct profit being made, and the projectteam doing the ISIS work includes someone with auniversity (or museum or heritage trust) or a UK (orforeign) research council affiliation, the analysis is fullyfunded by the STFC. If you are interested in submittinga proposal to analyse artefacts, please contact theauthors. Proposals are reviewed by an access panel.Once your proposal is accepted, then the analytical

time is free and your travel andaccommodation expenses tocome to ISIS will be paid bythe STFC too.

The sample stage on the ENGIN-X neutron diffraction beamline at

ISIS is big enough to do non-destructive microstructural analysis

of whole, intact archaeological objects (or an airplane wing spar

as shown here). Photograph: Stephen Kill

w i t h N E U T R O N S Evelyne Godfrey and Winfried Kockelmann

Evelyne Godfrey and Winfried KockelmannISIS Neutron Facility STFC Rutherford Appleton LaboratoryHarwell Campus, Oxfordshire OX11 [email protected]@stfc.ac.uk


al 2001) and on the use of scientific techniques ininvestigating industries of the Industrial Revolution(Dungworth and Paynter 2006; see p43), and areworking on one on glassworking. A new fullyillustrated publication with further practicalinformation about past metalworking has beencompiled by the Historical Metallurgy Society (Bayleyet al 2008). This is effectively a research frameworkfor archaeometallurgy, with useful informationcarefully summarised by specialists. There isdiscussion of the resources that provide evidence ofmetalworking – from landscapes and sites to artefactsand documents. Also included is an outline of fieldand laboratory methods, an extensive summary ofmuch of what is known about metals andmetalworking from the earliest times to the 20thcentury (perhaps the most useful section), agenda forfuture work, recommendations for further reading,and a full bibliography.

Practical examplesSo what might be overlooked without such guidance?A recent excavation of a Roman roadside settlementrecovered over three tons of slag. Thanks to asampling strategy devised in co-operation witharchaeological scientists, one building was identifiedas an iron smelting and smithing workshop. From itsplan you can begin to see how and where thecraftsmen worked, putting flesh on the bare bones ofheaps of unidentified slag (Paynter 2008).

Later periods too can come up with surprises.Excavations in Legge’s Mount at the Tower of Londonproduced quantities of 16th-century crucibles in arange of sizes, and also small bone ash cupels thatwere used to test the purity of silver. Some of thevitrified hearth lining held further surprises, tiny golddroplets that show that this metal too was beingmelted. Separating gold from silver had always beena problem for metalworkers, but with thedevelopment in the late medieval period of nitricacid, made by distillation, this changed. Legge’sMount provides evidence of the new technology asthere are distillation flasks rather than the partingvessels that were used on earlier sites (Bayley 2007).

Industrial residues, or slags, are invaluable evidence for manufacturing

activities on archaeological sites. Production processes can be identified,

the scale of related crafts and industries reconstructed and inferences

drawn on a site’s social and economic role within contemporary society. It

has become commonplace for specialists to identify technical processes

and related structures using chemical analysis of by-products and debris,

and now that applying scientific techniques to archaeological questions is

far more common, excavators need to know more about what is possible.

Practical trainingEnglish Heritage archaeological scientists have beenrunning practical, hands-on training days incollaboration with EH regional science advisors, andare just coming to the end of a second nationwideseries. Several hundred participants have been giventhe necessary background to make decisions about

on-site sampling and excavation strategies,and basic knowledge to understand theprocesses that were carried out in the past.Many have gone away with sufficientconfidence to undertake their ownidentifications of common types of industrialdebris, and to discuss options andapproaches when commissioning work fromexternal specialists.

Guidelines To support this training we’ve also writtentwo Guidelines, on metalworking (Bayley et

The Historical

Metallurgy

Society’s

research

framework ▼

▲ 16th-century crucibles and cupels from Legge’s Mount, near the site of the Royal Mint in

the Tower of London. The large flask in the centre was used in distilling nitric acid which could

dissolve silver, a late medieval development in separating gold-silver mixtures. Cupels used to

test the purity of silver are shown bottom right. © English Heritage

Metals andmetalworking:guidelines and training

Justine Bayley

35S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Even for the Industrial Revolution and recent periodsthere is a role for archaeological science inunderstanding and interpreting the standing andburied remains on ‘brownfield’ sites; a lostopportunity was the demolition in 1976 of blastfurnaces at Stanton, Derbyshire.

Justine Bayley English HeritageFort CumberlandEastneyPortsmouth PO4 [email protected]

Bayley J 2008, ‘Medieval precious metal refining:archaeology and contemporary texts compared’, in M Martinón-Torres and T Rehren (eds), Archaeology,History and Science: Integrating Approaches toAncient Materials (University College LondonInstitute of Archaeology Publications). Walnut Creek,CA: Left Coast Press, 131-150.

Bayley J, Dungworth D and Paynter S 2001,Archaeometallurgy. London: English HeritageGuidelines 2001/01. Free of charge from EHCustomer Services; Product code XH20166.www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/cfa_archaeometallurgy2.pdf

Bayley J, Crossley D and Ponting M (eds) 2008,Metals and metalworking: a research framework forarchaeometallurgy London: Historical MetallurgySociety; ordering details at www.hist-met.org. Anonline version will be mounted on this website laterin the year.

Dungworth D and Paynter S 2006, Science forhistoric industries: guidelines for the investigation of17th- to 19th-century industries. Swindon: EnglishHeritage. Free of charge from EH Customer Services;Product code 51262. www.helm.org.uk/upload/pdf/Science-Historic-Industries.pdf

Paynter S 2008, ‘Metalworking Remains’ in Booth P,Bingham A-M, and Lawrence S (eds), The RomanRoadside Settlement at Westhawk Farm, Ashford,Kent, Excavations 1998 (Oxford: Oxford ArchaeologyUnit (Monograph 2)), 267-302.

The blast

furnaces at Stanton,

Derbyshire, being

demolished in1976.

© David Crossley

▲ Learning how to identify ironworking slags and residues at a

training day in York. © Mike Hemblade

Plot of hammerscale distribution in a post-built Roman workshop at Westhawk

Farm, Kent, in relation to other metalworking features. The hammerscale was

extracted from soil samples collected on a grid and, as expected, has highest

concentrations nearest the site of the hearth and anvil. Iron was smelted in the

furnaces to the left. © English Heritage ▼▼

Bloom straight out of an

experimental furnace, split

with an axe


than the blooms or gromps from the same site,because a large volume of slag stops the reductionprocess. Like blooms, smelting gromps are lumps offully-reduced metal with just a thin exterior coating ofoxidation and slag. They have been raked out with theslag, and have never been worked into a semi-finishedobject. Smithing gromps probably form from fragmentsof bloom that broke off during consolidation (the firstround of hammering to compress spongy solid-stateiron blooms into workable billets).

ChemistryA typical group of gromps can display a whole rangeof carbon compositions, from pure iron through steelto white cast iron. As with all bloomery iron, thecarbon content varies even within a single sample.Finding small lumps of white cast iron on earlysmelting sites does not mean that the intendedproduct of the furnaces was cast iron – with sufficientdraft, even with hand-operated bellows, you cangenerate the equivalent of blast furnace conditions ina bloomery furnace at times during the smelt. If afurnace was continuously producing liquid metal,you would expect discarded fragments of graphiticcast iron and glassy blast furnace-type slags; suchremains start to appear by the Late Middle Ages. Veryhigh carbon steel and white cast iron gromps on theother hand have been reported from so many IronAge to medieval production sites that they can be

Irregular lumps of solid iron with a rough

slag surface have been reported at many

early iron bloomery smelting and smithing

sites. These are known to archaeometal-

lurgists as ‘gromps’: pieces of metal that

have not attached to the main iron bloom

as it formed in the furnace. Most often

recovered from slagheaps, gromps tend to

be labelled ‘slag’, and are rarely given the

separate analytical attention they deserve.

Identification and metallographic analysis

of gromps ought to be done as a matter of

course, as these indicate what sort of iron

or steel was produced at a site and then

carried away.

Gromps (a term established by the Polish metallurgistElsbieta Nosek) are generated during smithing as wellas smelting, and are discarded with slag. They can befound in the slag assemblage of any early ironbloomery smelting site. At one small medievalsmelting site for instance (Kyloe Cow Beck, NorthYorkshire), where two furnaces and 4500kg of slagwere identified, 240kg of slag was brought back tothe lab. Around 10% by weight of this ‘slag’ samplewere metal gromps. The weights of individual grompsgenerally range from 20g up to half a kilogram.Gromps survive most burial conditionsextraordinarily well; so long as the outer coating ofslag remains intact, the metal is protected fromcorrosion. Sectioning will often reveal perfectlypreserved metal.

MagnetismWell-preserved iron gromps are the colour of the slagand soil on a site; they won’t have red or orangepatches unless the outer coating has cracked and themetal inside corroded. They can be distinguished bytheir high density when compared with slag and bybeing strongly magnetic (it is a good idea to alwayscheck slag samples with a magnet). Smeltingassemblages include other remains that are magnetic(eg slag with a lot of partly-reduced ore or ironinclusions). Iron entrapped in smelting slag regularlyshows much lower phosphorus and carbon contents

grompsThe significance of

gromps 37S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

considered a typical rather than exceptional by-product of solid-state bloomery iron smelting. Highcarbon steel and white cast iron gromps are mostlikely to form when the ore being smelted neededparticularly strong reducing conditions – for example,due to its leanness or its high phosphate content – toproduce an iron bloom.

Appreciation of gromps for reconstructing ancienttechnological processes was previously constrainedby the belief that bloomery furnaces only made solid-state (and carbon-free) iron. Cast iron structures ingromps led to them being dismissed as accidentalwaste products. In fact, they help to characterise theore employed and are important indicators of themaximum operating conditions of the furnace.

Studying iron productionFinished iron objects are rarely found inmetalworking areas, whether a smelting site or asmithy. Those that are found can’t be said for certainto have been produced at the site. There is adisconnection between discussion of the chemistryand microstructure of iron artefacts and research onearly iron production, which centres on slag analysis.Occasionally whole discarded iron blooms areanalysed, but complete blooms were not so oftenthrown away. Lack of access to iron objects forconventional (destructive) metallographic sampling,especially finer items such as weapons, is animpediment to forming a complete picture of earlyiron technology. Gromps provide a common materialthat is readily made available for metallographicsampling.

Through analysis of gromps found stratified with theslag, another important aspect of early ironproduction can be studied: the ore to metalpartitioning behaviour of natural alloying elements, ofwhich phosphorus is the most significant. Grompspresent the best reflection of the character of the finalmetal output of an iron production site.

• expect to find gromps mixed with the slag at any

iron smelting or bloom-smithing site

• gromps look like slag, but will react strongly to a

magnet and be unusually heavy and dense

• treat gromps as metal finds

• soak newly excavated gromps in acetone to

remove excess water, dry off and seal with an

equal weight of silica gel in a plastic box

• weigh the dry gromps, measure L, H, and W, and

take a photo with scale before sampling

• prepare metallographic samples of all the gromps

you find to get a clear picture of the metal that

was made or processed at the site

Evelyne Godfrey,ISIS Neutron Facility Rutherford Appleton LaboratoryUK Science and Technology Facilities CouncilHarwell Campus, Oxfordshire OX11 [email protected]

Evelyne Godfrey

Slice through the experimental bloom, made for

analysis. Gromps are smaller versions of this

Medieval iron gromp as excavated.

Photograph: E Godfrey

Same gromp cut in half.

Photograph: E Godfrey

Landscape of Monte

Viso. © Projet JADE


Projet JADE: recherches sans frontières Alison Sheridan

This year sees the culmination of a remarkable three-year, million-Eurointernational research project investigating the production, distribution,use and meaning of Neolithic axe heads of jadeitite (a rock composedmostly or entirely of the mineral jadeite) and other rare Alpine rocks.Projet JADE is funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche, andinvolves researchers from across Europe. Combining fieldwork, database-building and non-destructive mineralogical analysis (using reflectancesprectroradiometry), the project is revolutionising our understanding ofAlpine axe heads. The project is the brainchild of Pierre Pétrequin and isthe fruit of many years’ work, undertaken with his wife Anne-Marie,involving ethnoarchaeology in Papua New Guinea and fieldwork high in the Alps.

In Britain, over 85% of the 140+ British, Irish andManx specimens have now been studied by ProjetJADE. Last November saw a marathon session, whenartefacts from forty lenders were brought to the BritishMuseum’s Department of Conservation and ScientificResearch, where the team had brought theiranalytical equipment.

Alpine originsFascination with beautiful Alpine axe heads goesback to at least 1700, when the Maxwell Stuartfamily of Traquair House in the Scottish Borders hada fine carrying-case made for one specimen.Antiquarian interest grew, and while some argued fora Chinese origin, one French geologist, A Damour,argued convincingly in 1881 for a source in the northItalian Alps. Damour’s conclusions were based on hishigh-altitude fieldwork, and also on pioneeringchemical analysis. While the idea of an Alpine sourcegained general acceptance, Damour’s specificobservations were to be ignored for over a century.

Magic mountains?Geologists in the 1970s and ‘80s argued that makershad exploited secondary sources, ice- and river-transported blocks at the foot of the mountains. ThePétrequins were not convinced and, by systematicallyfieldwalking the high Alpine valleys at altitudes of1800–2400m each year since 1994, they discoverednot only the raw material but also working sites, withplentiful debitage and dateable charcoal. Two mainsource areas exist: Monte Viso, above Turin, and MonteBeigua, above Genoa. Additional sources of nephriteexist in the Valais region of Switzerland. Thespectacular geography of the source areas makes it easyto imagine that the large, exquisite axe heads couldhave been attributed divine powers, coming from theliminal zone between earth and the Otherworld. Arange of raw materials were used, varying in colour,texture and working properties. These include jadeitite,omphacitite, eclogite and nephrite.

Procuring and producing: extreme activitiesCollection of raw material could only take place overa short period during the summer, and only initialroughing-out was done on the mountains. Thisroughing-out was usually by flaking with ahammerstone although, with very tough pale greenjadeitite, greater control could be obtained bysawing, using thin plaques of wood, with water andsand. One partly-sawn block, from Lugrin, had beenbrought 200km from its source. Subsequent work wasby pecking, grinding and polishing; some axe headswere given a glassy polish, which could be achievedin various ways. Experimentation has shown that ittakes a thousand hours to create an axe head such asthe magnificent specimen from Canterbury: sawingand grinding remove only 1.82g per hour.

Traquair House axe head

and its box. © National

Museums Scotland

Axe head from Canterbury.

Photograph: P Pétrequin,

J Desmeulles, E Gauthier /

Projet JADE

39S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Big men: big axeheads Finished axe heads could travel great distances, up to1800km from the source: from County Mayo in thewest, to Varna (Bulgaria) in the east. But the spreadwas not even across Europe, nor was the date ofarrival: Britain, Ireland and Denmark see the latestappearance. By collating information about dating,distribution, composition and context, Projet JADEhas built up a picture of which sources and materialswere exploited, over what periods, to make whichtypes of axe. Earliest and latest exploitation (late 6thto early 5th millennium, and early 4th to mid-3rdmillennium) was effectively for local use in northItaly, eastern France and Switzerland, as small,workaday axes. Production of large, ‘sociallyvalorised’ axe heads and long-distance transport wasunderway by c 4600 BC, when large numbers werebeing procured by the menhir-erecting, massivetumulus-building elite of the Morbihan area ofBrittany. These grandees had the axes re-shaped andre-polished, and exploited their phallic connotations:it is here that one finds the longest examples inEurope (up to 470mm long), and one was foundplaced suggestively within a stone bangle. A fewcenturies later, the ‘Big Men’ of the Varna cemeterywere using these exotic treasures in a similar fashion.

Circulation, deposition, legendary biographiesWhile the Morbihan and Varna axe heads wereprobably buried soon after procurement, otherscirculated for long periods, and one challenge is togauge the length, mode and direction of circulationin different regions. One intriguing issue is the date/sat which Alpine axes arrived in Britain and Ireland.While some may have been made as early as 4600BC, it seems likely (Pétrequin et al 2008) that mostarrived as part of the Carinated Bowl Neolithicphenomenon, around or just after 4000 BC, astreasured ancient possessions of emigrant farminggroups from northern France. The axes would havebeen circulating within northern France, each with itsown identity and legendary biography, as a product(or indeed divine being) from the ‘magic mountains’far away. Analysis, matched against the project’sdatabase of 12,000 determinations, has shown thatone axe head from Fife is from the same Monte Visojadeitite block as three found in Germany; and thatthe Canterbury axe head was from the same block asone from Breamore, Hampshire, albeit madecenturies apart. A high proportion of British and Irishexamples have glassy polish. Perhaps this wasapplied shortly before the farmers set sail, to enhancethe axe heads’ magical, protective powers. In Britain,as elsewhere, many were carefully placed insignificant contexts, especially in wet areas (as in theSomerset Levels, beside the Sweet Track, or in theThames). Maybe even the decision to exploit

A block of jadeitite on

Monte Viso. © Projet JADE


montane, hard-of-access rock sources such asLangdale Pikes was inspired by the desire to recreatethe ‘magic mountain’ ideology of axe production inBritain and Ireland.

An international conference in Besançon thisSeptember, followed by the Prehistoric Society’s May2010 Europa conference in Cardiff, will present keyresults of Projet JADE. For further details, seehttp://mshe.univ-fcomte.fr (follow ‘pôles de recherche,axe 1, action 2’).

Alison SheridanNational Museums ScotlandProjet JADE Co-ordinator for Britain, Ireland, the Isleof Man and the Channel [email protected]

Pétrequin P, Sheridan JA, Cassen S, Errera M,Gauthier E, Klassen L, Le Maux N & Pailler Y 2008

Neolithic Alpine axeheads, from the Continent toGreat Britain, the Isle of Man and Ireland, in HFokkens, BJ Coles, AL van Gijn, JP Kleijne, HH Ponjee& CG Slappendel (eds), Between Foraging andFarming: an Extended Broad Spectrum of Paperspresented to Leendert Louwe Kooijmans, 261–80.Leiden: Leiden University (Analecta PraehistoricaLeidensia 40).

Distribution map. P Pétrequin / Projet JADEProj

et JA

DE

English Heritage Regional Science Advisors(RSAs) provide a free and impartial ‘one-stop shop’, giving support to local authoritycurators, EH staff and archaeologicalcontractors across England on mattersconcerning archaeological science. Wecannot have expertise in all branches of thisscience but we do have a network ofcolleagues and can put you in touch withrelevant specialists.

Professional trainingAn important aspect of our job is to develop andpresent, with colleagues from inside and outside EH,training in best practice and guidance for specifictechniques. As a result, in the last nine years, wehave provided training in over ninety sessions tomore than 2500 people in subjects such as scientificdating, geophysical survey, conservation,archaeobotany, industrial residues, and osteology.These sessions are free to attend and are regionallybased with regional case-studies wherever possible –making them accessible and relevant to theiraudiences. They are almost always a mixture of talksand practical work enabling attendees to appreciatethe role of the specific material/technique of the day.These sessions provide CPD for attendees and alsothe opportunity for curators and contractors todiscuss possibly controversial issues in informalsurroundings, hopefully leading to betterunderstanding. We find the days stimulating andenjoyable both to produce and to run. Given thefeedback from attendees they, too, find the daysbeneficial and fun.

Forthcoming training sessions include Metals andmetal-working debris, to be held at Exeter on 23 Apriland Bristol on 24 April. Topics will includeunderstanding the basics of iron smelting andsmithing, non-ferrous smelting, on-site sampling andrelating finds to features, scientific techniques andwhat they can tell you, and identification of samplesbrought by participants. Handling sessions anddiscussion are integral to the day, and we even giveyou lunch.

English Heritage

41S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Piling and

mitigation training

for the North-East

region - problem

solving session.

Photograph: Jacqui

Huntley

Best practiceOne aspect of our current work is development of atraining session on sampling and assessment – twoareas of great concern. We are hoping to runSampling strategies, evaluation and assessmentsometime this Spring (see website for details). The daywill cover sampling and assessment (emphasising thatsampling should be fit for purpose and be integratedwithin a project from the start). The risks of taking toofew samples during evaluation trenching andassessing too little will be explored in a practicalsession. Sampling is not just for plant remains, andassessment of the contents of residues willdemonstrate how this can add value to a project. Wewill finish with a discussion of what and howmaterials from samples can become a more visiblepart of the historic environment record as far toomany currently remain invisible. We are very muchfocusing on best practice and fitness-for-purpose (andyou get lunch here as well).

Making data visibleA second important aspect is to address the issues of‘getting the archaeological science data out there andvisible’. All too many of these data simply lie withinintervention reports in the familiar grey literature.Whilst these reports are recorded in the HistoricEnvironment Records, few HERs include flags as tothe presence of archaeological science materialswithin them – Worcestershire HER is one noteworthyexception. Most data are therefore invisible unlessone looks through all of the reports lodged in theHER, hardly an efficient use of time – for example inthe Durham HER between 50-81% of theinterventions for 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008 hadrecords for some aspect of archaeological science butthis is not visible through the online search at all.

RSAs have therefore developed a scheme forrecording the presence of this material quickly andeasily at the report writing stage – somewhat akin tothe OASIS form – using formalised and agreed termsnow available through MIDAS. ALGAO has been partof this process throughout and we are about to golive and encourage everyone to use the scheme. Theadvantage of making these data accessible is thatoverviews and syntheses can more easily be

produced, allowing better targeting and questions tobe asked of any intervention – making sampling andscience more fit-for-purpose on any site.We have an up-to-date website that gives moreinformation about the range of work the RSAs areinvolved with around the regions and provides ourcontact details. It also lists dates of current trainingsessions and downloadable versions of many of theEH Guidelines – http://www.dur.ac.uk/eh.rsa.

Regional Science Advisors:

best practice and training Jacqui Huntley

Archaeobotany practical

demonstration North-East

region. Photograph: Jacqui

Huntley

Jacqui HuntleyEnglish Heritage Convenor, Regional [email protected]


Guidelines on the X-radiography of archaeologicalmetalwork (2006)(Product Code 51163)Provides recommendations on the minimumrequirements for X-radiographic screening ofmetalwork from archaeological projects: why, whenand what to X-ray how to make informative X-radiographs and how to view and interpret these,and how to get help (reviewed in TA 61, 47).

Understanding historic buildings: a guide to goodrecording practice (2006)(Product Code 51125)Provides clear practical guidance on the ways inwhich the wealth of historical evidence embodiedin buildings can be gathered and disseminated. Itdescribes requirements for recording buildings, howrecords are built up, the methodologies used,architectural drawing conventions, the recordinglevels, writing up, and how records are preservedand disseminated.

3D Laser scanning for heritage: advice andguidance to users on laser scanning in architectureand archaeology (2007)(Product Code 51326)Explains how laser scanning works, when it isappropriate, and how it can be best applied. It aimsto enhance and disseminate best practice, withsections devoted to commissioning surveys,managing data, helping readers decide on theirapproach, and where to find out more, supportedwith a glossary and case studies (seewww.heritage3d.org)

English Heritage is publishing an increasingbody of guidance into many aspects ofarchaeology, including scientific issues. Thesewere last reviewed in TA in 2006 (TA 59, 37),but additional guidelines are now availableand the programme of revised and newpublications is continually being extended.For archaeological science these supplementand support the training and advice providedby the Regional Science Advisors (RSAs:http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.1273) (see p40).

Guidance published since 2006 includes

Archaeomagnetic Dating (2006)(Product Code 51162)Introduces the theory and principles behind themethod which can date fired or burnt structures, andsometimes sediments; the suitability of the method isexplained, with detail on practicalities such assampling, measurement, and interpretation,illustrated by case studies, and with a glossary ofterms.

Andrew David

Scientific guidance from

ENGLISH HER ITAGE

43S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Understanding the archaeology of landscapes: aguide to good recording practice (2007)(Product Code 51320)This document provides practical guidance on therecording, analysis and understanding of earthworksand other historic landscape features by non-intrusivearchaeological survey and investigation. It describesand illustrates with numerous case studies theapproaches to analytical archaeological survey,photography, drawings and reports, Levels of Survey,and the principles of archiving and dissemination.

Investigative conservation: guidelines on how thedetailed examination of artefacts fromarchaeological sites can shed light on theirmanufacture and use (2008)(Product Code 51411)Aimed at archaeologists, finds specialists andmuseum curators, these guidelines describe andillustrate the range of assistance that investigativeconservation can achieve. Richly illustrated withexamples, they provide a guide to good conservationpractice and indicate what project managers shouldexpect of conservators.

Geophysical survey in archaeological field evaluation(2nd Edition: 2008)(Product Code 51430)This guidance is intended to help curators,consultants and project managers to betterunderstand and engage with geophysical survey,helping raise consistency and quality inarchaeological field evaluation. It takes acomprehensive view of current methodologies andpractice, including recent technical developments,and recommends good practice for fieldwork, choiceof methodologies, data analysis, presentation, andreport writing.

Understanding historic buildings: policy andguidance for local planning authorities (2008)(Product Code 51414)This sets out English Heritage policy on theinvestigation and recording of historic buildingswithin the English planning framework. It providesadvice on how a specialist understanding of thesignificance of an historic building and its constituentparts can inform a development proposal or schemeof works and assist in the decision-making process. Italso identifies the need to record evidence that maybe damaged or lost.

Science for historic industries: guidelines for theinvestigation of 17th- to 19th-century industries(2006)(Product Code 51262)Shows how methodologies from several differentdisciplines can be combined to enrich understandingof the industrial past. In particular the guidancedemonstrates additional information that can beobtained by applying scientific techniques. Casestudies provide illustrative examples, methodologiesare outlined and selected industries summarised,together with practical advice for archaeologists whoencounter the remains of historic industries.

Geoarchaeology (2nd edition: 2007)(Product Code 50848)Geoarchaeology is the application of earth scienceprinciples and techniques to understanding thearchaeological record. This guidance covers commonsite-forming processes, the information gained fromdifferent geoarchaeological methods, and typical on-site problems; advice is offered on incorporating andprogramming geoarchaeology into projects, and howto get help once an excavation is in progress.

Piling and archaeology (2007)(Product Code 51352)Prepared to assist planning and archaeologicalofficers, developers and consultants, this guidancedescribes piling types, the impacts of piling onarchaeological remains, and how to best mitigate itseffects, illustrated with case studies; a strategy isproposed for future research, and best practice issummarised.


Luminescence dating techniques have beenemployed in archaeology over the last fiftyyears to date materials that were either heated(ceramics and burnt stone), or exposed todaylight before burial (sediments). Theseevents release electrical charge trapped incrystals such as quartz, which starts to buildup again as these crystals are exposed toradioactivity in the burial environment. Theaccumulated charge, which is proportional to the time elapsed since the material was last heated or exposed to daylight, ismeasured after stimulation by heat (calledthermoluminescence or TL) or light (opticallystimulated luminescence or OSL).

LUMINESCENCEDATINGPeter Marshall

www.helm.org.uk or www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications. For a hard copy, contactthe EH Customer Services Team [email protected], or telephone0870 333 1181, quoting the relevant Product Code.

Andrew [email protected]

OSL sampling inside Silbury Hill © English Heritage

Luminescence Dating: Guidelines on usingluminescence dating in archaeology (2008)(Product Code 51431)See below.

Guidelines for the curation of waterloggedmacroscopic plant and invertebrate remains (2008:web only)Intended primarily for environmental archaeologicalspecialists, and collections managers, theseguidelines advise on the most suitable methods forthe curation of small (up to about 50mm) organicremains recovered during archaeologicalinvestigations.

Guidelines in preparation include

Waterlogged Wood (3rd edition).

Environmental Archaeology: a guide to the theoryand practice of methods, from sampling andrecovery to post-excavation (2nd edition)

Guidance concerning the maintenance andrestoration of moats, ponds, ornamental lakes andother artificial/man-made water bodies

Understanding historic areas

The Light Fantastic – using airborne laser scanningin archaeology survey

Guidelines on producing and interpretingdendrochronology dates(2nd edition)

Glassworking

Guidelines on the care of waterlogged leather andother sensitive organic materials

English Heritage’s Research Department alsopublishes examples of current work through itsnewsletter Research News (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.8336) and results arewidely disseminated elsewhere, including in theResearch Dept Reports Series (http://research.english-heritage.org.uk/). Much of the work undertakeninternally, or funded in partnership, also contributesto programmes of outreach, training, advice,standards and guidance.

Documents described above, and many others thatcover a wide range of activities to do with thehistoric environment, can be located online at

45S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Sampling a brick

for OSL dating.

© English Heritage

For a hard copy, contact the EH Customer ServicesTeam at [email protected], ortelephone 0870 333 1181, quoting Product Code 51431

Peter Marshall English Heritage Scientific Dating Team

Bailiff IK, 2008 Methodological developments in theluminescence dating of brick from English latemedieval and post-medieval buildings, Archaeometry49, 827-51

Nowakowski JA, Quinnell H, Sturgess H, Thomas C,and Thorpe C, 2008 Return to Gwithian: shifting thesands of time, Cornish Archaeology 46, 13-76

Toms PS, Hosfield RT, Chambers JC, Green CP, andMarshall P, 2005 Optical dating of the BroomPalaeolithic sites, southwest Britain, Centre forArchaeology Rep 16/2005

The age range over which luminescence dating canbe used, from a century or less to hundreds ofthousands of years, is particularly appealing toarchaeologists. It means that it can used in situationssuch as

River terracesFluvial gravel sedimentary sequences containingPalaeolithic tools at Broom, Devon (Toms et at 2005)provided a site chronology and exemplified the ageof sediments that could be dated (>250,000 years).

Archaeological sitesOSL dating of aeolian sand at Gwithian, Cornwall(Nowakowski et al 2008), in combination withradiocarbon measurements, helped to provide achronological framework for interpreting activity atthe Bronze Age site.

Brick buildingsThe realisation that fired clay bricks could be datedby luminescence (Bailiff 2007) has significantlyincreased the potential for phasing and dating theconstruction of medieval and post-medieval brickstructures.

English Heritage’s luminescence dating guidelines, byGeoff Duller, are designed to establish good practicein the use of luminescence dating in archaeology.They provide archaeologists with the tools to assesswhether luminescence dating will provide usefulchronological information for their site, anintroduction to the science behind luminescencedating, sections on the practicalities of collectingsamples, collaborating with laboratories andunderstanding results, and a series of case studies.

The guidelines (Duller GAT, 2008 LuminescenceDating: Guidelines on using luminescence dating inarchaeology, Swindon, English Heritage) can bedownloaded from http://www.helm.org.uk/upload/pdf/luminescence_dating.pdf

Collecting samples of sand for OSL dating,

Gwithian Cornwall. © Historic Environment

Service, Cornwall County Council


Magnetic moments in the past Cathy Batt

Zoe Outram taking

archaeomagnetic samples

from the Upper House at

Hamar, Shetland (Viking

Unst Project). © S Dockrill

Archaeomagnetic dating has great potential forestablishing archaeological chronologies: it datesfired clay and stone, for example hearths, kilns, ovens and furnaces which occur frequently onarchaeological sites; it dates the last use offeatures, providing a clear link to human activityand is potentially most precise in periods whereother dating methods, such as radiocarbon dating,are problematic. There is increasing interest inusing archaeomagnetic dating as part of the suiteof chronological tools available to archaeologists,but it has yet to be adopted routinely. This is partlydue to a lack of accessible information allowingevaluation of its suitability in specificarchaeological circumstances and partly becausethere is no coordinated, centralised record ofexisting archaeomagnetic measurements.

This project will address these deficiencies bydeveloping a web-based resource and databasewhich will collate all existing UK archaeomagneticdata and allow the user to address specificquestions, such as the expected errors in aparticular period, the suitability of specific types offeatures and the existence of previous studies in thesame region or on the same type of feature. Theproject combines academic research at theUniversity of Bradford with the expertise of EnglishHeritage in developing best practice within theEnglish archaeological sector.

The project is at its early stages and progress willbe reported in TA; in the mean time, if youwould like further details please contact CathyBatt ([email protected]) and Zoe Outram([email protected]), University ofBradford.

Cathy BattSenior lecturer in Archaeological SciencesArchaeological SciencesUniversity of Bradford Bradford BD7 1DP

For more on EH guidelines on thermoluminescencedating see Peter Marshall, previous pages.

The University of Bradford and EnglishHeritage have just launched a project todevelop archaeomagnetic dating forapplication in UK archaeology, withfunding from the AHRC Knowledge TransferFellowship scheme. Previous research hasestablished a methodology for usingmeasurements of the past magnetic field ofthe Earth for dating archaeological materialsin the last 4000 years in the UK, and thisproject will realise the potential of thisresearch by developing its practicalapplication in UK archaeology.

The scientific basis of archaeomagnetic dating of fired materials.

Initially magnetic domains within a sample are magnetised in

random directions that cancel out. As the sample is heated the

domains demagnetise. On cooling, the domains remagnetise in a

direction close to the prevailing ambient magnetic field, resulting in

a net magnetisation in the sample which reflects the field at the time

of cooling. Linford, P 2006 Archaeomagnetic dating: Guidelines on

producing and interpreting archaeomagnetic dates: English Heritage

47S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

s large-scale geophysical surveys increasedocumenting and archiving this resource is

increasingly significant. With technologicaladvances in geophysical instrumentation,

especially the integration of GPS and Multisensorplatforms, large landscape surveys are increasinglypractical and increasingly data rich. Whereas acouple of years ago only one dataset would havebeen collected at a site, multiple datasets areincreasingly collected in one ‘sweep’ using cart andsledge-based platforms and, as data collection movesfrom traditional gridded data to grid-less, previousmetadata becomes a data set in its own right.

Anecdotal evidence from curators and planningdepartments indicates that despite the increase inpractitioners working in archaeological geophysics,the quality of archiving needs to be improved. An IfASpecial Interest Group into geophysics set up in 2008(p8) has a subcommittee reporting on archivingissues, a welcome addition to this topical debate. IfAhas already acknowledged the need to trainpractitioners via a Workplace Learning Bursary: Archaeological Geophysics: from field to archive,hosted by University of Bradford.

One driver for the host institution was recentdonation to the University of the Time TeamGeophysical Archive (TTGA) by GSB Prospection Ltd.The TTGA, as an archive, has great value foracademic research but also will promote geophysicsto the wider community. One aim of the Bursary is toincrease access to this resource.

The process of collecting high-quality data, reportingand archiving is an increasingly important, but as yetrarely formally taught, aspects of modern geophysicalsurvey. There are few specialists in this area; someacademic departments provide only research trainingwhilst few commercial practitioners have time toaccumulate information on best practice for longterm archiving. The IfA Learning Bursary seeks toredress this balance by looking at the ‘what’s andwhy’s’ of current practices by geophysical

contractors, Archaeology Data Service (ADS) andnational heritage groups, looking at a range ofgeophysical data.

Technical skills will be combined with training inrequirements for data management. This will enabledocumentation and archiving for archaeologicalgeophysics to become a streamlined practice. This inturn will lead to more transparent and accessible datathat will enable better integration with futuregeophysical and archaeological research. Bydeveloping archival databases and GIS repositoriesfor the TTGA and other University of Bradfordgeophysical datasets, efficient, effective and useablestrategies for archiving can be formulated.

Tom Sparrow IfA Work Learning Bursary holder

Chris Gaffney and Armin SchmidtUniversity of Bradford (Host Institution)

Archaeological Geophysics :f rom f ield to archiveI fA BURSARY

IfA Workplace Learning

Bursary Holder, Tom

Sparrow, during a

detailed GPR survey at

Caerwent, south Wales.

Photograph: J Adcock,

GSB Prospection Ltd

A

Tom Sparrow, Chris Gaffney and Armin Schmidt

48

Ne

w J

ou

rna

l

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

postgraduate courses and continuous professionaldevelopment programmes (CPD). We also fullyintend that it should be lively, interesting and aschallenging as the environment in which we allwork.

We now invite contributions to the journal (thedeadline for submissions for the first issue is 1September 2009). Submissions and expressions ofinterest should be directed to the editor, Roger White:[email protected]. Notes for contributors will beavailable shortly but are based on the MRHA StyleGuide (www.style.mrha.org.uk).

Institute for Archaeologists members will be able tosubscribe to the journal through their annualmembership renewal at an attractive discount onthe usual subscription.

Fro more information and to keep up to date with allthe latest developments visitwww.maney.co.uk/journals/hen.

Roger WhiteAcademic DirectorIronbridge InstituteIGMTCoalbrookdaleTelford TF8 7DX01952 435936

A new twice-yearly peer-reviewed journal fromManey Publishing, The Historic Environment, will belaunched early in 2010. The aims and scope havebeen developed with the interests of IfA members inmind, and it will be a publication for those whoinvestigate, research and manage the record ofhuman impact on our world, whether this is as apractising commercial archaeologist, builtenvironment conservationist or researcher based inan academic institution. How people have copedwith the changing natural environment in the past,and have adapted their societies to these changes, arereal issues of concern in today’s environment. Thisnew journal will engage with these broad issues,looking at historic landscapes in a holistic fashion,but will also work down to a finer level ofunderstanding on historic buildings, archaeologicalsites and artefacts in their setting. The approach takeson board the increasing perception that sites, objectsand landscapes cannot be viewed in isolation butneed a broader and less rigidly demarcatedapproach. We have much to learn from the manydiverse disciplines within our sector and thus thejournal will be concerned with the practice ofhistoric environment conservation as opposed topurely theoretical understanding.

We are currently assembling an editorial team thatcan provide the knowledge and practice required tocover such a broad remit. The breadth required isboth geographic – we have members on the editorialboard from the British Isles, continental Europe,North America, the Caribbean and Australia – anddisciplinary. Thus we have specialists in the builtenvironment, in excavation and its practice, in themaritime environment, and in monitoring anddefining procedures in all fields covered by thehistoric environment remit. We hope that the journalwill provide a mechanism for putting forward anddebating best practice in all aspects of work in thehistoric environment, and will enable those workingin the sector to develop across traditional boundaries.The Journal will be published in both print andonline formats and will form essential reading for allarchaeological practitioners including those involvedin building conservation – contractors, consultants,curators, researchers, students and fieldworkers –whether professional or voluntary. As an authoritativelearning resource, it will form core reading for

THE HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT: POLICY AND PRACTICERoger White

49S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

New membersELECTED Member (MIFA)

Emily-Jane Brants

Ross Dean

Michael Donnelly

Denise Druce

Quetta Patricia

Kaye

Steven Lawrence

Louise Loe

Douglas

McElvogue

Cecily Spall

Rebecca Stacey

Nicola Toop

Julia Wise

Associate (AIFA)

Kate Brady

John Cook

John Duffy

Glen Foley

Kathryn Grant

Claire Hallybone

Paul Harris

Steve Hickling

Anna Hodgkinson

Victoria Lambert

Brynmor Morris

Javier Naranjo-

Santana

Lucy Norman

Louise Parkinson

Christina Robinson

Louise Turner

Mark Winter

Practitioner (PIFA)

Robert Blackburn

Peter Burge

Jodie Ford

Karen Hudson

Jan Janulewicz

Sarah Lane

Rupert Lotherington

Lucy Maynard

Vanessa Oakden

Kenneth Owen

Meirion Prysor

Johanna Roethe

Peter Spackman

Tavis Walker

Allen Wright

Edward Youngson

Student

Britt Alexandra

Baillie

Bianca Ball

Peter Bidmead

Susan Birks

Timothy Carter

Patricia Day

Miguel Dias

Gary Lee Duckers

Markus Dwyer

Jonathan Dye

Sally Ford

Lynn Fraser

John Gates

Claudia Gouveia

Karl Hanson

Eileen Hoey

David Hunter

Martin Mawby

Adrian Messenger

Janis Mitchell

Giuseppe Morale

Daniel Mosley

Tanusree Pandit

Benjamin Raffield

Clare Rainsford

Rachel Sharland

Mary-Anne Slater

Ana Sousa Vaz

Charlene Steele

Susan Stubbs

Jacqi Townsend

Katherine Travers

Peter Turner

Alex Tye

Poppiti Vincenzo

Aimee Waller

Adam Wears

Nicholas Zorzin

Affiliate

Lorna Coventry

Alexandra Coyne

Elizabeth Danner

Rupert Ellis

William Harding

Olivia Harper

Edward

Higginbotham

Rachel Lindemann

Monika Katrin

Lowerre

Charlotte Malone

Sheryl McKimm

David McNally

Rachel Nicholls

Fiona Sharrock

Linda Theaker

Dylan Williams

Sarah Louise

Woodget

TRANSFERS Member (MIFA)

Jim Brown

Louise Brown

Nicholas Crank

Candice Hatherley

Joanna Higgins

Richard James

David Norcott

Michael Roy

Ian Suddaby

Ingrid Ward

Michael Wood

Associate (AIFA)

Christopher Clarke

Jason Clarke

Jane Harrison

David Hibbitt

Matt Nichol

Guy Salkeld

Mikael Simonsson

Practitioner (PIFA)

Markus Dylewski

Kevin Mooney

Melanie Partlett

Diarmaid WalsheM

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David Hunter (Australian)Student member 5963The year after I finished high school, I had a yearaway from studying and worked at the schoolmaintaining the archives. The school was on ahistorical site, and a lot of my time was spentprospecting the school fields for remnants of theearlier settlement. This prospecting led to an interestin geophysics, and I soon developed my ownresistance meter and carried out a survey of the field. In 2008, I began studying Archaeology at LaTrobe University (Melboume), and in the same yearwas involved in several high-status digs, includingGlenrowan, the site of the infamous Kelly Gang siege of the late 19th century. This year, I willcontinue my studies in archaeology, and plan tomajor in archaeological prospecting.

[email protected]

Alex Rose-Deacon

Members news

Alex Rose-Deacon PIFA 5088I trained initially in historic buildings analysis atARCUS, before going on to take the job of Head ofHistoric Buildings at Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd,London. There I was lucky enough to act as a builtheritage specialist on such projects as the 2012Olympics and the King’s Cross Regeneration Scheme.I now run my own business, offering historicbuildings analysis to clients within the commercialarchaeology industry. As a freelance historicbuildings archaeologist I offer a variety of services,from desktop assessment to top-level historicbuilding recording, input on conservation plans andenvironmental impact assessment.

Interested readers can find out more at my website:www.buildings-archaeology.com.

New members (cont inued)

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STRANSFERS(cont)

Affiliate

Graham Aldred

Rachel Baldwin

Adam Barker

Steven Black

Rosalind Broadley

Tom Burt

Jill Campbell

Leigh Campetti

Carla Cassidy

Ashley Coutu

Rachel Cruse

James Doeser

Deirdre Doherty

Andrew Donald

Michele Drisse

Affiliate (cont)

David Jackson

Peter James

Natalie Kershaw

Alexandra Latham

Emma Lawler

James Lawton

Margaret

McCartney

Helen Meadows

Julia Meen

Roisin Miskelly

Marion

Mittelstaedt

Neil Morris

Elizabeth Murray

Affiliate (cont)

Catherine Neal

Darren Parr

Rosy Phillipson

Steven Price

James Rhodes

Roger Roper

Ken Saito

Eleanor Simonis

Meg Sims

Robert Skinner

Heather Smith

John Smythe

Timothy Southern

Angharad

Stockwell

Affiliate (cont)

Shanna Streich

Timothy Tyler

Sophie Unger

Camessa

Wakeham

Richard Walsh

Philippa Whitehill

Joanna Wilkins

Jane Wilson

Duncan Wright

Affiliate (cont)

Joanne Dyson

Sarah Elliott

Tara Fidler

Charis Gates

Elfreda Gibson-

Poole

Josephine Gist

Georgette Gormley

Heather Hamilton

Annie Hamilton-

Gibney

Janelle Harrison

Nicola Herson

Dylan Hopkinson

Gillian Hutton

51S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 N u m b e r 7 1

Angela Simco

Obituary

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Angela Simco BA MIfA 1781952-2008

Angela Heather Simco, who died of cancer on 29December 2008 at the age of 56, grew up with themodern archaeological profession and made herdistinctive contribution to it. A member of theInstitute from 1984, she was a familiar figure atannual conferences.

Angie was brought up in the Bedfordshire village of Clapham, notable for its prominent Saxo-Normanchurch tower which she was later to record duringconservation repairs and in whose churchyard she isburied. Her interest in archaeology stemmed fromjoining a group of able and highly motivated localsixth-formers who were the core volunteers intraining excavations at Elstow Abbey and rescueexcavations at Bedford Castle in the late 1960s.

After graduating from the London Institute ofArchaeology in 1973, Angie joined what was tobecome the Conservation and Archaeology Section inBedfordshire County Planning Department. Initiallyinvolved with rescue threats, she excavated a Romanvilla farmstead site at Newnham east of Bedford, butthe main thrust of her public service career wascuratorial. She guided the fledgling Sites andMonuments Record with characteristic thoroughnessand the serious sleuthing skills required to order theinherited and often tortuous historiography of majorheritage assets. Her definitive publication on TheRoman Period in Bedfordshire (1984) set an earlyexample of what a well-stocked SMR could support;it includes a characteristically irrefutabledeconstruction of inflated visions aboutunsubstantiated Roman roads. Perhaps her mostimportant contribution was a methodology for thecare and repair of Bedfordshire’s historic bridges,devised in the best traditions of what we now knowas ‘informed conservation’, firmly but tactfullyguiding sometimes over-enthusiastic highwayengineers. Her book, with Peter McKeague, onBedfordshire’s historic bridges, explaining the methodand the bridges, is another standard work.

After leaving Bedfordshire County Council in 1992for a greater involvement in the work of her localBedford church, she set up her own sole-traderconsultancy in Archaeological Heritage Management.

This allowed her to follow her main interests,describing herself on her well-presented website(www.angelasimco.co.uk/), as ‘a landscapearchaeologist at heart … with a particular interest inresearching the development of the historiclandscape’. Several woodlands surveys in south andeast Midlands counties married documentaryresearch and field survey. For English Heritage’sMonuments Protection Programme she prepareddocumentation on Clay Industries, much admired asa model of its kind. She undertook assessments oflandscape character and archaeological resources forher former employers, together with projects for dataenhancement and systems migration in what hadbeen a genuine Historic Environment Record beforethe term was invented. There were two episodesacting as an Inspector of Ancient Monuments inEnglish Heritage’s East Midlands Region, andcontinued consultancy advice on the repair ofaccident damage to Bedfordshire’s historic bridges.

A reserved personality (though an enthusiastic andskilful hockey player), preferring to keep her powder dry until the problem at hand had been fullyscoped, but then expounding the way forward withmeticulous clarity, Angie exemplified many of thebest qualities of archaeological professionalism. She is a sad loss to her friends and colleagues.

David [email protected]