Event report

Science meets Archaeology

Monday 15th March 2010

Tutor: Professor Sue Kilcoyne
Laboratory technician: Jay Smith

As part of National Science and Engineering Week 2010, Sue Kilcoyne and Jay Smith from the School of Computing, Science and Engineering joined forces with Griselda Garner and Graham Massey from The Blackden Trust to show pupils from Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School how advanced scientific techniques now play an extremely important part in all aspects of archaeological investigation; from the initial geophysical surveys of potential sites to the sophisticated and often complicated analysis of the artefacts discovered during the excavations.

The presentation started with an introduction to the scientific techniques that are now an integral part of archaeological investigation.  Sue described how resistivity, magnetometry and metal detecting can help archaeologists piece together and understand the fragmentary evidence history has left to be deciphered.  She outlined the strengths and weaknesses of the different techniques and discussed the need to combine the results of several techniques in order to obtain the best description of a site.

The students then had a chance to put what they had learnt into practice.  They were provided with mini archaeological sites (sand in plastic troughs) in which objects with varying resistivity were buried.  First they surveyed their site, using mini resistivity probes.  Jay and Graham showed the students how to use the equipment and how to log the results into a program to convert the data into a diagram, which would indicate where the objects were buried. The students then used their results to carry out an excavation to find the buried objects.

The session finished with a presentation from Sue describing the novel and exciting techniques using neutron beams to probe deeply within objects, revealing the detail of their structure and providing unique information on their origin, composition, manufacture, use, and even their authenticity.  Sue also discussed how future scientific developments will expand the essential role that science now plays in the finding and interpretation of archaeology.

The day was a great success.  Three of the pupils asked to be included in the training excavation at The Blackden Trust in August and several other pupils also said that it would make them think more positively about continuing with a science course after GCSE.

For more information about Science and Archaeology please contact Sue at: s.h.kilcoyne@salford.ac.uk