Geophysical techniques have been used extensively in both academic and commercial archaeology as a prospection tool to locate areas of archaeological potential and guide further investigation. However, after initial prospection, the involvement of geophysical specialists often ends and a wealth of potentially useful information contained within that data is lost. Headland archaeology has been pioneering an integrated approach to excavation where geophysicists return to survey sites that are in the process of active investigation. This allows us to uncover new details with higher resolution surveys performed closer to horizons of interest, and without the interference of soils and materials present within the plough soils. Novel mechanisms to provide this clearer data to excavators and curators in a timely and useful fashion, can allow us to identify the functions of structures, target interventions more efficiently by locating features that are invisible to excavators as well as identifying areas where cultural material may be concentrated. Detailed information about complex features can be used to inform excavation strategies. Furthermore, iterative feedback between surveyors and excavators can be used to improve geophysical interpretations both at the level of individual sites and within the wider practice of archaeological geophysics.

Here we will evaluate the potential of this approach through case studies at a number of sites in the United Kingdom, and discuss the implications for interdisciplinary understanding of sites and presentation of digital data.

First Author: Peter Turner

Co-Authors: Andy Boucher, Sam Harrison, Lei Ding, Jacob Adams

Keywords:
Geophysical Survey
Digital Data
GIS
Magnetometry
EMI survey
Commercial Archaeology