Tag Archives: fieldwork

Lockdown Archaeology: accidental fieldwalking

By Matt Parker Wooding, Heritage Research Manager

As the lockdown from the Covid 19 pandemic continues, taking breaks from managing the heritage research team, and seeing the outside world physically rather than through the window, takes on all sorts of importance – physical wellbeing and mental resilience being the main two.

However, this has also been a valuable exercise in getting to know the place where I moved at the start of autumn last year and have not yet had the opportunity to explore. I now live in a rural area containing a multitude of public walks direct from my doorstep, with no driving required, a massive bonus right now.

One of the unexpected pleasures of this, with my distinct leanings towards prehistoric archaeology, has been the chance to do a bit of fieldwalking along the public rights of way which are ploughed. An opportunity which has only slightly affected the choice of routes for my daily walks. The finds have been expanding not only my knowledge of the area but have also been reported to the local HER with photos of each (with scale) and their grid reference.

Whilst this has been a welcome relief from the current problems, archaeology has to compete against the other distractions, which include red kites and grass snakes, and some beautiful views and sunsets, which do sometimes make it difficult to concentrate on the ground! Looking up at the views and skies is something I think we all need to do in the present circumstances, simply for the break from the computer or TV screen, and managing the work-life balance, which can be difficult when working from home.

Grass snake doing its thing

A Day in the Life of… Fabian Danielsson (Project Supervisor, Fieldwork)

I’ve been with Allen Archaeology for close to 4 years now, and have been working as a Supervisor for just over a year. My working life, like many others at Allen Archaeology, is split between periods in the office and periods out on site.

                On site, my job is essentially twofold – making sure that every archaeological feature gets excavated to a high standard and on time, and making sure the recorded archive is of a good quality. To do this, a site usually starts by stripping the topsoil off the site with a mechanical excavator, and surveying in the revealed features by GPS. I then work out what needs to be excavated – we usually have a target percentage for how much of each type of feature we excavate, and also all relationships between features so that we can work out the stratigraphy of the site (the chronological order that things happened).

I then provide guidance and advice to the guys and girls digging, adjusting methods and strategies as necessary. The features are then recorded by the excavator: everything gets a drawn section, a drawn plan and a colour photograph, as well as a context sheet which creates a written description. This is the recorded archive, which I will ideally check daily to make sure it all makes sense and is correct.

Fabian in his natural habitat (complete with wellies, mud and survey kit!)
Fabian in his natural habitat (complete with wellies, mud and survey kit!)

                Once a site has been finished, the archive is essentially the only record that is left of the site, so when it gets to the office we need to make sure it is handled correctly. This involves downloading photographs and survey data, logging finds and scanning drawings onto the computer. Once everything is in order we can write a report, although this does not always happen immediately after a site is finished as it depends on the requirements of the project. A report has several components, including selected photographs and drawings, specialist reports of the finds recovered, and the historical background of the site.  The bulk of the report consists of a written summary of what was found – this can be anything from a few paragraphs for very small sites to over 300 pages for some of the really big sites!

                At the end of the day though, it’s time to go home and watch a bit of Gardener’s World…