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!)
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…
I’ve now been with Allen Archaeology for 8 years and 7
months, and have managed in that time to drag myself kicking and screaming up
to the exalted heights of Senior Project Officer (mostly in charge of
geophysics, but also other stuff too). I can normally be found in one of two
places, either chained to my desk writing up reports or helping other people
with GIS issues (along with Charlotte and Mia), or out in the world on
geophysics missions (or sometimes, very rarely, actually digging). I’ve found
the higher up the totem pole I get, the more time I have to spend in the
office. This is all well and good when it rains, or during the winter, but can
occasionally be a little disheartening when the weather is nice and I’m hearing
about exciting sites others are currently on.
Here I am clearly providing wise words of informative encouragement
The location for such adventures can be as far afield as Suffolk, Staffordshire, Yorkshire or even into Wales. Have magnetometer can travel.
So with a trusty minion in tow, (occasionally we require more than one team for larger jobs – I try to not let the power get to my head) I head out to the required area. I’ve worked on a large number of geophysical projects over the last 7 or 8 years, from tiny areas of less than a hectare to mammoth cable route jobs- surveying a 60m wide area for a length of 50 or 60km. Unsurprisingly during that period I’ve encountered all possible weather conditions, from blizzards to torrential rain, and thick fog to baking hot summer days. The one constant being a steady 1.5 or 1.6m/s walk across a field.
Slightly too much snow proving tricky, properly equipped with snow goggles too Localised flooding not preventing surveying
The first job when we arrive on site is to set out the
grids. Prior to the job commencing, I make sure I’ve set out grids (20m or 30m)
on the computer, and we use the GPS to mark out the corner of each grid with
bamboo canes- no metal allowed as it affects the readings of the magnetometer.
My trusted minion will then start pegging out, we have 20cm long red pegs to go
in between the bamboo canes suitably spaced to provide equal transects for me
to walk along. In the meantime I’m attempting to balance the magnetometer
before I can start surveying.
Balancing the magnetometer is somewhat of an art rather than
a science. I need to find a magnetically quiet spot within the field to run the
set-up balance program- this zeros the machine’s two probes in the earth’s
magnetic field and with each other. However in order to properly locate a
magnetically quiet area I need a balanced machine, and to accurately balance
the machine I need a magnetically quiet area….
Once a suitable location has been found (in some cases we’ve
had to take the machine away from the site to a different location, balance it,
and then drive back very carefully to the site taking care not to bump the
machine on the way), I run through the set-up program on the machine. This sort
of looks like I’m doing a very slow square dance, involving spinning around and
rotating the machine at set intervals. This process can take some time, and
often I’ll run the set-up program a number of times before I’m happy that the
machine is properly balanced, not complaining, and ready to start.
The rest of my time is spent walking up and down the field
in either 20 or 30m transects, counting up to 21 or 31 respectively, and trying
to keep my pace constant, whilst trying not to trip over and vegetation or
crops that happen to get in my way, or fall down any rabbit holes. Keeping a
constant pace is very important as it means that any anomalies that are
revealed by the survey are displayed in the correct location on the results. We
almost always use a zig-zag pattern for surveying, and if I don’t keep my pace
constant it can be very clear in the results when linear features end up
looking distinctly broken up and not wonderfully linear in nature. Tricky
situations involve surveying up and down slopes, or through slightly thicker
than optimum vegetation.
Finally, when the area has been surveyed (or the machine has
filled up, it holds about 3 hectares of survey data before it needs downloading
and deleting), I get to hook the magnetometer up to a laptop, download the data
and get my first look at the survey. This is the best part of the day, as I’m
seeing results which can reveal archaeological features that can be up to
several thousand years old. Or the exact locations of modern services like gas
or water pipes- they tend to show up very well.
Weary but buoyed up by happy exercise endorphins I head back
to the office to show off all the exciting things I’ve found. If there’s still
more to survey then I can look forward to another day walking up and down
fields, if the job is complete it’s back to being chained to my desk to write
the report up.
Occasionally I get to interact with local wildlife or
people, mostly to explain that what I’m doing is a bit like some of the stuff
they’ve seen in Time Team.
