Non-destructive techniques in English gardens: geophysical prospecting

Cole, Mark; David, Andrew; Linford, Neil; Linford, Paul; Payne, Andrew

doi:10.1080/01445170.1997.10412532

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…This technique has been used extensively in archaeological prospecting in England since the early nineties, e.g. Linford (1993), Aspinall and Pocock (1995), Linford and Linford (1996), Cale et al (1997), and in the Nile Delta by El-Gamili et al (1998), as well as many published reports on the internet.…”

Section: Survey Results and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geoelectric resistance scanning on parts of Abydos Cemetery Region, Sohag Governorate, Upper Egypt

El-Gamili

El-Mahmoudi

Osman

et al. 1999

Archaeol. Prospect.

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The ancient Egyptian Abedju (original name of the present Abydos) locality is a famous archaeological site southwest of Balyana town, Sohag Governorate, Upper Egypt. It is located to the west of the agricultural land of the Nile Valley. The locality represents one of the most important burial grounds for kings and high court dignitaries in ancient Egypt. Shallow geophysical techniques are considered as one of the most accurate and cost‐effective methods used in archaeological prospecting and are considered as rapid and safe techniques in detecting a wide range of buried archaeological features. The geoelectric resistance scanning technique, using the Geoscan RM‐15 Resistance Meter, is applied with a twin‐electrode configuration at three sites of the unexcavated localities of Abydos area. This technique proved to be a useful means of exploring the sites through mapping the subsurface burial inhomogeneities resulting from the marked resistance contrast between the buried stone and brick walls and the covering fill of sand, silt and clay. Interesting different buried features are imaged and displayed on maps and three‐dimensional representations to guide the archaeological excavation programmes at the sites of Umm El‐Qaab, Shunet El‐Zebib and Kom El‐Sultan within the Abydos region. At the Umm El‐Qaab site the combined interpretation of the tomography resistance ranges and maps indicate buried walls and rubble as well as an amorphous background area. At the Shunet El‐Zebib site, the texture of the images, which show scattered and crowded high‐resistance anomalies, confirms the existence of buried tombs at the site, which is surrounded by defence walls. Thus, this site was not a fortress or a palace, but a special cemetery for higher dignitaries. Kom El‐Sultan, however, shows a concentration of high‐resistance anomalies at the northern part. Thus, these may be related to walls and rubble related to a nearby elevated temple. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Survey Results and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geoelectric resistance scanning on parts of Abydos Cemetery Region, Sohag Governorate, Upper Egypt

El-Gamili

El-Mahmoudi

Osman

et al. 1999

Archaeol. Prospect.

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“…Garden archaeologists have been sceptical of geophysics as a means of site investigation, stating a need for a methodology that will consistently identify planting beds ('soft landscaping') as many geophysical surveys only identified large structural features ('hard landscaping') (Locock, 2005). This view was also reiterated by Cole et al (1997) who believed that geophysics is less effective on sites where there is overlaying of features from later phases. The layering of designs is a problem on most garden sites with very few exceptions.…”

Section: Geophysical Contextmentioning

confidence: 89%

A Survey in the Park: methodological and practical problems associated with geophysical investigation in a late Victorian municipal park

Parkyn¹

2009

archeosciences

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The survey of Pudsey Park is a geophysicalinvestigation of a lateVictorian municipal park.The aim of the survey was to use geophysical techniques to identify the park's changing designs over a120 year period. An initial design for the park waslocated during the desk-based assessment, however, it was unclear how much ofthe originalplan had beenimplemented. It was suspected that Pudsey Park's design has been simplified over time. The project also aimed to identify a suitable samplingstrategy forstudyingparkandgarden sitesbyusinghigh-resolution surveysandmultipleprobe separationsfor varying depthsofdetection during earthresistance survey.It washoped that multiple electrode separations combined with a high density survey could be used to differentiate the signal responses from the modern park designs and earlierdesign schemes.The choice of strategy is at a significantly higher resolution than guidelines forgeophysical investigations for traditional archaeological features. The survey provided highly detailed but complicated data sets; areas of the park have had several redesigns, often where the modern scheme masks previous designs. A number of 'hard'and'soft'landscaping features were identified including the foundations of the original bandstand (now replaced) andformer flowerbeds.The 0.25 mprobe separation surprisinglyproducedthemost defined datawith the greatest level of information due to the increased spatial resolution.The geophysical investigation is the first of its kind to investigate a Victorian municipal park in its entirety.The survey validates the importance of high-resolution survey in the study of parksandgardensandalsoprovidesareference data set for futurework wherepoorerdocumentationhindersinterpretation. The geophysics data, together with the accompanying Geographical Information System database produce a unique and detailed picture of a Victorian park from its inception through 120 years of development.

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“…This view was also reiterated by Cole et al . (1997) who believed that geophysics is less effective on sites where there is overlaying of features from later phases. The layering of designs is a problem on most garden sites with very few exceptions.…”

Section: Geophysical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

A survey in the park: Methodological and practical problems associated with geophysical investigation in a late Victorian municipal park

Parkyn

2010

Archaeological Prospection

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The survey of Pudsey Park is a geophysical investigation of a late Victorian municipal park. The aim of the survey was to use geophysical techniques to identify the park's changing designs over a 120 year period. An initial design for the park was located during the desk‐based assessment, however, it was unclear how much of the original plan had been implemented. It was suspected that Pudsey Park's design has been simplified over time. The project also aimed to identify a suitable sampling strategy for studying park and garden sites by using high‐resolution surveys and multiple probe separations for varying depths of detection during earth resistance survey. It was hoped that multiple electrode separations combined with a high density survey could be used to differentiate the signal responses from the modern park designs and earlier design schemes. The choice of strategy is at a significantly higher resolution than guidelines for geophysical investigations for traditional archaeological features. The survey provided highly detailed but complicated data sets; areas of the park have had several redesigns, often where the modern scheme masks previous designs. A number of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ landscaping features were identified including the foundations of the original bandstand (now replaced) and former flower beds. The 0.25 m probe separation surprisingly produced the most defined data with the greatest level of information due to the increased spatial resolution. The geophysical investigation is the first of its kind to investigate a Victorian municipal park in its entirety. The survey validates the importance of high‐resolution survey in the study of parks and gardens and also provides a reference data set for future work where poorer documentation hinders interpretation. The geophysics data, together with the accompanying Geographical Information System database produce a unique and detailed picture of a Victorian park from its inception through 120 years of development. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Non-destructive techniques in English gardens: geophysical prospecting

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

Geoelectric resistance scanning on parts of Abydos Cemetery Region, Sohag Governorate, Upper Egypt

Geoelectric resistance scanning on parts of Abydos Cemetery Region, Sohag Governorate, Upper Egypt

A Survey in the Park: methodological and practical problems associated with geophysical investigation in a late Victorian municipal park

A survey in the park: Methodological and practical problems associated with geophysical investigation in a late Victorian municipal park

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