Tag: Archaeology Guide

Guide – Mining Glossary

Mining Terms Adit or Drift A tunnel driven from the surface underground or driven between seams. Used for pumping, transport, ventillation and manriding. Afterdamp Description given to the gases (noxious) remaining in a mine after an explosion, usually with a high content of Carbon Dioxide Anvil Stone In early mining activities, ores were crushed by …

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Guide – Bronze Age Mining

Mining in the Bronze Age In the last twenty years or so, some thirty copper mining sites of Bronze Age date have been identified. This has allowed us to create a reasonably accurate picture of the tools and techniques used during the extraction of copper ores in this distant prehistoric period. It is only recently …

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Guide – Mining

Guide to Mining This section illustrates the history of mining and aims to give sufficient information for a researcher to be able to recognise mining features and to be able to identify the periods of working on a site. Mine works are an extensive subject, complicated by the use of different terms for similar features, …

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Guide – GPR

Archaeology Techniques Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) GPR for Archaeology Introduction Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a variation on conventional radar, rather than into the air, a radio signal is directed into the soil and this is reflected by underground structural variations. It can be very good at detecting the structures of buried masonry structures as …

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Guide – Resistivity

Archaeology Techniques Resistivity The electrical resistance of the Ground is almost entirely dependant upon the amount and distribution of moisture within it. Buried remains affect this distribution and can be detected with instruments. Stone, for example, is more moisture resistant than a clay subsoil or the filling of a ditch. These resistivity differences can be …

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Guide – Hidden Remains

Hidden Remains Identification of features is simplified when the full extent of remains such as earthworks, can be easily seen. However, once the roof has gone, the walls perished or robbed, the interior burnt and the wreck left to perish for hundreds of years, the remainder flattened and used as a field for crops, the …

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Guide – Visible Remains

Visible Remains “The identity of an earthwork can be determined to a certain extent by the shape of the field marking that is left. If it is square or rectangular with rounded comers, it is highly likely that the constructors were from the Roman army. If it is an irregular quadrilateral with a gateway on …

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Guide – Glossary

Glossary of prehistoric features This section was compiled with the help of the English Heritage NMR record. It currently includes descriptions for those Military, Domestic and Agricultural features that would have been in existence up to the Roman Period in Britain. Primary Name Alternate Name(s) Description ALTAR An elevated table or podium on which to …

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Guide – Desktop

A Guide to DIY archaeology The Desktop Search Virtually all archaeological investigations begin with a desktop search of one form or another, the term desktop search simply means the sort of research you can do from a desk. Assuming that you have read the first section of this guide, you will already know about the …

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Guide – LOS Analysis

Line of site analysis The purpose of using line of site analysis is to better understand the sites relationships with other locations, to identify possible trade and communications routes, and the location of other possible sites of interest, as well as providing an element of “evidence by association”. For example, a church on a possible …

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