 The Blackden Trust
|
|
| Home page |
About us 
|
Events
|
Newsletters
|
Education
|
Projects
|
Resources
|
Support us
|
Links | Search | Contact | Site map |
Event report
Science meets Archaeology
Saturday 3rd October 2009
Tutors: Professor Bob Cywinski, Professor Sue Kilcoyne
Laboratory technician: Jay Smith
Post-doctoral Researcher: Stuart Astin
|
Zoology thwarts physics |
The day started with a presentation from Professor Bob Cywinski of Huddersfield University. Bob introduced us to the advanced scientific techniques that are now an integral part of archaeological investigation. He showed us how the broad range of scientific methods now available, from resistivity, ground penetrating radar, magnetometry and metal detecting can help us piece together and understand the often fragmentary evidence the past has left for us to decipher. He outlined the strengths and weaknesses of the different techniques and discussed the need to correlate the results of several investigative techniques of any site to get a fuller picture of its story.
After lunch the students had a chance to put what they had learnt in the lectures into practice. Salford physicists Sue Kilcoyne, Stuart Astin and Jay Smith set up a mini-lab with the miniature resistivity meters that Jay had specially made for the course. He also made
|
Recovering detected metal |
mini-sites of sand in plastic troughs in which he had buried objects with varying resistivity. The students were shown by Stuart how to use the equipment and
how to log the results into a program to convert them into a diagram, which would indicate where the objects were buried. The results were extremely close to those of a full-scale resistivity meter.
Having learnt how they worked, we used metal detectors to survey an area of disturbed the soil, and found a small and, as yet, unidentified metal object.
Bob ended the day with an exposition of the novel and exciting techniques that have only recently been adopted by archaeologists. These new techniques use beams of neutrons, exotic sub-atomic particles, to probe deeply within objects, revealing the finest details of their inner structure and provide unique information on their origin, composition, manufacture, use, and even their authenticity. He also showed us how future scientific developments will expand the essential role that science now plays in the finding and interpretation of archaeology.
This course drew together the strands that had been developed during the 2009 season, and was much appreciated by the students:
'I found the in depth talk on the science behind archaeology really interesting and I enjoyed putting the theory into practice.'
'The surveying techniques were explained simply and concisely, with no previous knowledge assumed - just what was needed.'
'The resistivity experiment in the sandbox was a really good idea and demonstrated the technique well.'
'Brilliant day, really interesting. As well as learning a lot, I laughed for most of the day due to the friendly atmosphere.'
|
Examining the results |
Fine tuning the equipment |
|
Programming the data |
Surveying and excavating |
| Home page |
About us
|
Events
|
Newsletters
|
Education
|
Projects
|
Resources
|
Support us
|
Links | Search | Contact | Site map |
|
© The Blackden Trust 2008-2012 |
|
|
The Blackden Trust is a registered charity no. 1115818 CSS and HTML validated |