Sites and Landscapes

Question 1

Answer 1

Vertical AP’s and Stereoscope - Makes vertical aerial photographs look 3D when looked through.

Question 2

Answer 2

Soil Marks- stand out in a non-soil landscape. Show that the soil has been moved or disturbed, and shows that building, burial or farming took place there.

Question 3

Answer 3

Crop Marks - buried walls cause plants to grow shorter above them, and buried pits nad ditches cause plants to grow taller above them as they have more moisture.

Question 4

Answer 4

LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging)

• Uses radar to measure distance to grounds surface
• Igrnores tree cover which aerial photography cannot

Question 5

Answer 5

The most commonly studied archaeological ‘monument’ is the earthwork. In archaeology, earthworks are artificial changes in land level, typically made from piles of artificially placed or sculpted rocks and soil. Earthworks are often known as barrows in England, and mounds in North America. Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features, or they can show features beneath the surface.

Question 6

Answer 6

Surface collection or field-walking - collecting objects such as pottery sherds and bone that are on the surface, before or sometimes instead of more destructive approaches such as excavation.

Question 7

Answer 7

Aerial photography from an oblique angle. Ramspits is a Deserted Medieval Settlement on the edge of the Mendip Hills, Somerset..

Question 8

Answer 8

Shadow Marks & Snow. Earthworks, barrows, buried walls and pillow mounds (rabbit homes) are easily visible under low sun and snow cover.

Question 9

Answer 9

Open Area Excavation Gives us a picture of activities across space (e.g. the spatial relationship between artefacts and features).

Question 10

Answer 10

Magnetometry - measures variations in magnetic fields. Buried and magnetic haematite is disturbed by digging. It measures the distribution between area and background soil.

Question 11

Answer 11

Electrical Resistivity- measures electrical resistance in the ground. In this type of survey electrical resistance meters are used to detect and map subsurface archaeological features and patterning.

Question 12

Answer 12

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that uses radar pulses toimage the subsurface. This nondestructive method uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave band (UHF/VHF frequencies) of the radio spectrum, and detects the reflected signals from subsurface structures.

Question 13

Answer 13

The Quadrant Method -A procedure for excavating a circular feature such as a mound, barrow, pit, etc. by laying out trenches. Material is extracted from four quarters of the feature, starting with the two opposite each other and ending with the other two.

Question 14

Answer 14

Open Area Excavation, uncovering an area layer by layer: the horizontal approach

Question 15

Answer 15

Box Trench Excavation: the vertical approach. Stratigraphic evidence preserved over a large area. Inner walls then removed to show what is underneath them. Developed by Mortimer Wheeler.

Question 16

Answer 16

Narrow Trench Excavation: i.e. evalution trenches. Particularly useful for examining walls and ditches.