Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project;

Abstract

Over the centuries many archaeologists have investigated the site of Stonehenge and we now know a great deal about the phasing and nature of the site. However, the area around the henge, while containing many symbolic and ritual elements, is curiously 'blank'. The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project aims to place the site and its development through time within a landscape context using fast and accurate ground-based geophysical techniques. The project has developed a rapid strategy to map, visualize and interpret landscape-scale data and is applying the strategy to the area known as the Stonehenge 'envelope'. The data are interpreted within a data rich three-dimensional data cube that has provided new insights regarding the apparent blank areas surrounding Stonehenge. It is an aim of the project to discover more about Stonehenge by looking out from the site rather than looking at it.

The 3-D reconstruction of medieval wetland reclamation through electromagnetic induction survey

“…Although these techniques allow obtaining high-resolution archaeological information at a landscape-scale234, they often neglect natural landscape variations. To fully understand the driving mechanisms behind human land-use, the integration of pedological and geomorphological information in these prospection stages is crucial.…”

Magnetic gradient and ground penetrating radar prospecting of buried earthen archaeological remains at the Qocho City site in Turpan, China

“…GPR 2D or 3D surveys provide depth information of the archaeological remains. Many successful application cases of both technologies are reported in the detection of stone structures, wooden structures, ditches, and so on (for example, Bonomo, Osella, and Ratto (); Capizzi et al (); Conyers (); Gaffney et al (); Kadioglu (); Di Mauro et al (); Scardozzi, Giese, and Hübner (); Thompson and Pluckhahn ()). For the detection of earthen remains, there are only a limited number of papers from a ceremonial site of Cahuachi in Peru, which lies in the desert environment (Masini et al ; Lasaponara et al ).…”

Combining EMI and GPR for non‐invasive soil sensing at the Stonehenge World Heritage Site: the reconstruction of a WW1 practice trench

“…Soil sampling is the traditional way to collect direct information about soil properties (Webster & Lark, ), but often soil scientists face restrictions in situations where invasive practices are dangerous, prohibited or not feasible. It is uncommon to perform these practices on terrains covered with an impenetrable surface, within former war zones containing unexploded ordnance and human remains, within heavily polluted areas and within landscapes of exceptional value, such as the UNESCO‐protected Stonehenge World Heritage Site (UK) (Von Der Osten‐Woldenburg, ; Gaffney et al , ). Only limited permissions can be granted to perform destructive sampling of the soil at this site, so conducting extensive sampling campaigns to characterize the subsoil in great detail are impossible.…”

“…Only limited permissions can be granted to perform destructive sampling of the soil at this site, so conducting extensive sampling campaigns to characterize the subsoil in great detail are impossible. From 2010, large‐scale geophysical surveys have been undertaken as part of the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project (Gaffney et al , ), which aims to tackle the current limitations and gaps in knowledge and pursue understanding of a significant part of the landscape of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. Within the framework of this project, archaeologists and soil scientists specializing in proximal soil sensing had the objective of exploring the soil spatial characteristics of this unique site.…”