Ground penetrating radar investigations at North Ballachulish Moss, Highland, Scotland

Clarke, C. J. S.; Utsi, Erica Carrick; Utsi, Vincent

doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0763(199906)6:2<107::aid-arp121>3.3.co;2-s

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The linear high amplitude reflections in the GPR timeslices starting at 0.44 m (see Figure (C)) deep were interpreted as being caused by the timbers encountered in the excavation, or their direct impact on the peat horizon they sit upon. There are other instances of GPR detection of waterlogged timbers (Clarke, Utsi, & Utsi, ; Utsi, , , ) so this is not a surprising outcome. The resistivity anomaly is co‐located with the timbers, but the bog oak was not detected with this technique, reaffirming our suspicion that some other factor is involved.…”

Section: Validation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…This is a function of both the original chemistry of the soil, and the processes it has been subjected to, including the addition of material such as ash, waste products, pottery and food waste, as well as in situ heating or burning, and oxidizing and reducing cycles not related to heat. This is further affected by the compaction of the soil; how many of those magnetized or magnetizable particles are packed into a given spatial unit of the soil that is being surveyed (Clarke, ; Dalan & Banerjee, ; Dearing, ; Gaffney & Gater, ; Marmet et al, ; Thompson & Oldfield, ). Given that these soils were saturated, and not considered to be from a settlement, or otherwise anthropogenically influenced, the usual expectations of higher soil magnetism (as measured by magnetic susceptibility) in the topsoil and in the fills of features like pits and ditches did not apply.…”

Section: Validation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Tales from the outer limits: Archaeological geophysical prospection in lowland peat environments in the British Isles

Armstrong

Cheetham

Darvill

2018

Archaeological Prospection

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In order to systematically investigate the potential of conventional near surface geophysical techniques to locate waterlogged archaeological targets in peatlands, the authors applied four conventional geophysical methodsearth resistance, groundpenetrating radar (GPR), magnetic gradiometry and frequency domain electromagnetics (FDEM)to four lowland peat archaeological test sites in Great Britain. In this article we demonstrate that a Neolithic trackway was identified in the GPR data in Somerset, with likely 'proxy' detections of chemical changes showing up in both electrical and magnetic surveys. This was determined by a coring programme and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) multi-element analysis of peat samples to determine the relative concentrations of geophysically relevant chemical elements. Though no Bronze Age timbers were detected at Flag Fen, a post-Bronze Age agricultural landscape was identified in both the GPR and gradiometer surveys. We conclude that GPR has the greatest potential for archaeological geophysical prospection in peatland environments, but that electrical and magnetic methods can usefully be employed as secondary sources of information and should not be discounted from future research. Further, this article argues that better understandings must be developed of the impacts of geochemistry on geophysical data if we are going to realistically pursue 'whole landscape' surveys.

show abstract

Section: Validation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Validation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tales from the outer limits: Archaeological geophysical prospection in lowland peat environments in the British Isles

Armstrong

Cheetham

Darvill

2018

Archaeological Prospection

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There remain challenges in identifying waterlogged archaeology within peatlands by geophysics due to a lack of physical contrasts (e.g. Clarke et al, 1999) and a variety of different techniques have been applied to address this (e.g. Schleifer et al, 2002).…”

Section: Proposed Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Bog Bodies in Context: Developing a Best Practice Approach

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bog bodies are among the best-known archaeological finds worldwide. Much of the work on these often extremely well-preserved human remains has focused on forensics, whereas the environmental setting of the finds has been largely overlooked. This applies to both the ‘physical’ and ‘cultural’ landscape and constitutes a significant problem since the vast spatial and temporal scales over which the practice appeared demonstrate that contextual assessments are of the utmost importance for our explanatory frameworks. In this article we develop best practice guidelines for the contextual analysis of bog bodies, after assessing the current state of research and presenting the results of three recent case studies including the well-known finds of Lindow Man in the United Kingdom, Bjældskovdal (Tollund Man and Elling Woman) in Denmark, and Yde Girl in the Netherlands. Three spatial and chronological scales are distinguished and linked to specific research questions and methods. This provides a basis for further discussion and a starting point for developing approaches to bog body finds and future discoveries, while facilitating and optimizing the re-analysis of previous studies, making it possible to compare deposition sites across time and space.

show abstract

“…The surface was bumpy and uneven, which resulted in unstable contact between the antenna and the ground surface and uneven rotation of the odometer wheel. Disrupted continuous contact causes problems in data acquisition by introducing a degree of interference, reducing reliance on positional information, and lessening the penetration depth (Clarke et al 1999). Such conditions, though, are typical for various forms of wetland environments in Finland.…”

Section: Geophysical Anomalies and The Ground Truthing Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Out of the Peat: Preliminary Geophysical Prospection and Evaluation of the Mid-Holocene Stationary Wooden Fishing Structures in Haapajärvi, Finland

Koivisto

Latvakoski

Perttola

2018

Journal of Field Archaeology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The huge scientific and interpretive value of wetland archaeological sites has been well demonstrated in several studies. The management of the archaeological resource of wetland landscapes is problematic, however, and there is an urgent need for noninvasive techniques to detect waterlogged organic archaeological remains. Stationary wooden fishing structures associated with fishing sites constitute an important wetland archaeological resource in northern Europe. In Finland, similar wooden constructions have been used for fishing from prehistory to the early modern era. The discovery of sites has been accidental, because the waterlogged organic remains have been considered invisible to conventional geoprospection techniques. Because of this, a small project was launched at Lamminoja, northwest Finland, in order to investigate whether it would be possible to improve our chances to detect fishery sites in demanding wetland habitats. New information was obtained through geophysical prospection, trial excavations, and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating. Geophysical testing was hampered by several factors, including complex sediments affected by modern drainage. New information was obtained, however, on the composition, age, and spatial distribution of the wooden fishing structures preserved in peat over 5000 years.

show abstract

Ground penetrating radar investigations at North Ballachulish Moss, Highland, Scotland

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Tales from the outer limits: Archaeological geophysical prospection in lowland peat environments in the British Isles

Tales from the outer limits: Archaeological geophysical prospection in lowland peat environments in the British Isles

Bog Bodies in Context: Developing a Best Practice Approach

Out of the Peat: Preliminary Geophysical Prospection and Evaluation of the Mid-Holocene Stationary Wooden Fishing Structures in Haapajärvi, Finland

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About