Transcript DIGGING UP THE PAST

DIGGING UP THE PAST
FINDING A SITE
Where to Dig?
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“…most important sites are not found by
archaeologists at all…instead they are found
accidentally by farmers, quarrymen, construction
workers, or aerial photographers; underwater sites are
discovered by fishermen and divers; caves have been
found by potholers, children and even dogs.”
Paul Bahn
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Human activities that involve digging into
the ground and removal of soil have led
to many chance finds. Such activities
include ploughing, construction,
particularly airfields in World War 2,
means include quarrying and dredging
Some sites have also been found as a
result of drop in sea levels and soil
erosion
Other means include the use of ancient
literature, maps, legends and folklore.
The Dead Sea Scrolls discovered by
accident by two boys
The Mungo Man was discovered on February 26,
1974 when shifting sand dunes exposed his
remains. He was found near Lake Mungo, one of
several dry lakes in the World Heritage listed
Willandra Lakes Region.
Terracotta Army discovered in 1974 by
farmers digging a well
Schliemann and the Iliad
La Tene Culture
In 1857, prolonged drought lowered the waters of the lake by
about 2 m. On the northernmost tip of the lake, between the river
Zihl and a point south of the village of Marin-Epagnier, Hansli
Kopp, looking for antiquities for Colonel Frédéric Schwab,
discovered several rows of wooden piles that still reached about
50 cm into the water. From among these, Kopp collected about
forty iron swords.
Pipeline Diggers Find Mass Grave in
Ukraine 2007
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KIEV, Ukraine — Ditch-diggers discovered a mass grave
believed to contain thousands of Jews slaughtered in Ukraine
during World War II, a Jewish community spokesman said, a grim
finding in a nation one Holocaust expert said had been “an
enormous killing field.”
The grave was found by chance last month when workers were
laying gas pipelines in the village of Gvozdavka-1, about 175
kilometers (110 miles) northwest of the Black Sea port city of
Odessa, regional Jewish community spokesman Roman
Shvartsman said Tuesday
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Since World War 2 modern
technology has increased the
opportunities for archaeology
exponentially.
As well the role of science has
reduced the destructive
aspect of excavation to a
minimum
Ground Surveys
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The simplest survey technique is surface survey. It involves
combing an area, usually on foot but sometimes with the use of
mechanized transport, to search for features or artifacts visible
on the surface. Surface survey cannot detect sites or features
that are completely buried under earth, or overgrown with
vegetation. Surface survey may also include mini-excavation
techniques such as augers, corers, and shovel test pits.
Soil resistivity mapping
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Soil resistivity mapping A soil
resistivity meter evaluates how well
the soil conducts electricity by
measuring its moisture content.
Heavily compacted soil, such as a
buried road or the floor of a building,
holds less moisture and is less
conductive, while ground that has
been tampered with, such as trenches
or ditches, have high moisture content
and readily conduct electricity. In
either case, archeologists use soil
resistivity mapping to pinpoint
disturbed areas beneath the surface.
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)
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Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Ranging in size from small handheld
models that one places against the ground to larger ones that one
drags across a site, GPR devices use low-power radio waves to detect
changes in density underground.
Unlike traditional radar, which broadcasts into the air and uses a
parabolic dish to focus the returned waves, GPR uses a small but
sensitive receiver placed directly against the ground.
Depending on their needs, archeologists can adjust radio frequencies
upward for shallow sites or downward for deeper areas, though GPR
devices produce the greatest definition when reading depths of three
feet or less
Magnetometer
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Magnetometer The handheld magnetometer, also referred to as
a gradiometer, proton magnetometer, or simply "mag," is loosely
related to metal detectors used to sweep beaches in search of
lost coins and jewelry. As one moves it over the ground, the mag
generates a small electronic signal that measures the intensity of
the magnetic field below the surface. Where there is a break in
the bedrock—at the entrance of a rock-cut tomb, for example—
the magnetometer records a dip in the magnetic field.
Archeologists often use mags in conjunction with Global
Positioning System receivers (which use satellites to compute
precise positions) to create detailed maps of the subsurface.
Aerial Surveys
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Aerial survey is conducted using cameras attached to airplanes,
balloons, or even kites. A bird's-eye view is useful for quick
mapping of large or complex sites. Aerial photographs are used
to document the status of the archaeological dig. Aerial imaging
can also detect many things not visible from the surface plant
growing above a buried man made structure, such as a stone
wall, will develop more slowly, while those above other types of
features (such as middens) may develop more rapidly.
Photographs of ripening grain, which changes colour rapidly at
maturation, have revealed buried structures with great precision.
Aerial photographs taken at different times of day will help show
the outlines of structures by changes in shadows. Aerial survey
also employs infrared, ground-penetrating radar wavelengths,
and thermography.
The importance of Crop Marks for
Archaeology
Some crops (e.g. wheat and oats) are particularly sensitive to soil
water content and show marks clearly but others (e.g. grass and
potatoes) are insensitive and rarely show them. Additionally, welldrained soils (such as sands and chalky soils) show these marks
better than poorly drained clays.
A Legacy of War
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World War One brought the discovery that
photographs behind enemy lines taken from airplanes
could be of great value in warfare. Not longer after
this, observers taking random photographs from the
air over rural England noticed that traces of old
Roman walls, forts and roads could be seen on aerial
photographs but otherwise went unnoticed under
cornfields and pastures when archaeologists
wandered about the countryside on foot.
Stonehenge 1908 from a balloon
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Archaeologists at the University of Sheffield have
unearthed a huge settlement at Durrington Walls,
near Stonehenge, confirming that the Stonehenge
monument was part of a larger ritual centre.
The excavations reveal an enormous ancient
settlement that once housed hundreds of people.
Archaeologists believe the houses were
constructed and occupied by the builders of
nearby Stonehenge, the legendary monument on
Salisbury Plain.
Radiocarbon dated to 2600-2500 BC, the houses
are from the same period Stonehenge was built
— one of the facts that leads the archaeologists
to conclude that the people who lived in the
Durrington Walls houses were responsible for
constructing Stonehenge. The houses form the
largest Neolithic or new stone age village ever
found in Britain.
“Today aerial survey is the single most
important tool for the discovery of
archaeological sites in this country,” said
Pete Horne, Head of Aerial Survey and
Investigation at English Heritage
NEW ARCHAEOLOGY
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In recent years, remote-sensing technologies have become as
commonplace in archeological fieldwork as khakis, spades, and
brushes. Such tools for virtual excavation generate rapid results and
are non-destructive, highly accurate, and usually cost-effective.
“Today aerial survey is the single most important tool for the
discovery of archaeological sites in this country,” said Pete
Horne, Head of Aerial Survey and Investigation at English
Heritage
Post World War 2
Aerial Photography
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The simplest of the remote-sensing
techniques that archeologists use, aerial
photography allows experts to discern
aspects of a site that may be invisible
from the ground, such as floral patterns,
the layout of large monuments, and traces
of old walls and roads. The technique
involves taking photographs with
conventional camera and film from an
airplane, tethered blimp, helicopter, hot-air
balloon, or other airborne vehicle.
Aerial photograph of Chew Green
hillfort, Northumberland England
Yarnbury Wiltshire, photographed in 1996. The ramparts and
ditches are emphasized by light and shade and the reflective
qualities of a thin layer of snow enhance the visibility
This a Gallo-Roman villa rustica, that
was discovered by aerial survey in 1979
Archival Aerial photography;
What can you see?
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An excellent source of remote sensing
information for archaeologists is
archival aerial photography, the older
the better. U.S. Army Air Corps aerial
recconnaissance photos of the region
dating from September 1944 were
acquired from the U.S. Defense
Intelligence Agency using a Freedom of
Information Act Request (FOIA).
. Over 200 black and white vertical
aerial photos of a scale of
approximately 1:40,000 were acquired
and have been manually and digitally
analyzed to search for archaeological
sites, roads, etc.
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Imaging radar
Using radar across a broad
spectrum of frequencies,
imaging radar can see
through the ground to depths
of up to ten feet, penetrating
sand, dirt, and even heavy
vegetation; a buried section of
China's Great Wall was
discovered this way. Space
shuttles or satellites outfitted
with this equipment can
generate imaging radar maps
by day or night and even in
poor weather conditions.
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Infrared aerial photography
Buried structures can disturb vegetation above them
by blocking plants' growth or their access to
groundwater. While the archeologist's naked eye
cannot perceive these subtle abnormalities, infrared
film can. By recording the heat signature that plants
give off, and by detecting places where that signature
has been interfered with, infrared photographs can
hint at promising areas for excavation. Experts take
such photographs from the air with a conventional
camera using infrared film
The Lost City of Ubar
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In 1992, radar images from space revealed
ancient caravan routes that lead to the discovery
of the lost city of Ubar in the southern Empty
Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula in the sultanate
of Oman. Ubar was built by the legendary Ad
society that dates from 3000 BCE to the 1st
century in the Common Era. This ancient city is
referred to in the Bible, the Qua'ran, and the Tales
of the Arabian Nights. Ubar was the global center
for frankincense trade before the rise of
Christianity, which popularized burials rather than
cremations. It is known as the "Atlantis of the
Sands." Until recently most scholars thought Ubar
was a merely a myth
On the left is the image used to discover the caravan routes. It was
captured by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-band Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SAR-C / X-SAR). The radar penetrated 600 feet of
sand to detect the faint red streaks which are the old caravan routes
Paleodrainage in Eastern Sahara
A 50 km wide swath from the Spaceborne Imaging Radar A (SIR-A) revealed ancient
water courses underneath 1-4 m of sand in the eastern Sahara. Above the radar
swath is superimposed over a LANDSAT image of the same area.
In search of the Real Troy
UNDER WATER ARCHAEOLOGY
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Regional survey in underwater archaeology uses
geophysical or remote sensing devices such as marine
magnetometer, side-scan sonar, or sub-bottom sonar.
The Actium Project
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In the summers of 1993 and 1994,
a team of American and Greek
researchers scanned the ocean
depths where, 20 centuries before,
Mark Antony and Cleopatra fought
Octavian for control of the
Mediterranean world. Using computer,
video and remote-sensing technology,
Project members hoped to locate on
the sea floor actual physical evidence
from the battle. Our expectations were
based on various threads of evidence
that suggest 60 or more bronze
warship rams plummeted to the
bottom during the course of the battle
on September 2, 31 B.C.
Airborne Oceanographic Lidar (ADI):
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A laser device that makes "profiles" of the earth's surface. The laser beam pulses to the
ground 400 times per second, striking the surface every three and a half inches, and bounces
back to its source. In most cases, the beam bounces off the top of the vegetation cover and
off the ground surface; the difference between the two give information on forest height, or
even the height of grass in pastures. As the lidar passes over an eroded footpath that still
affects the topography, the pathway's indentation is recorded by the laser beam. The lidar
data can be processed to reveal tree height as well as elevation, slope, aspect, and slope
length of ground features. Lidar can also be used to penetrate water to measure the
morphology of coastal water, detect oil forms, fluorescent dye traces, water clarity, and
organic pigments including chlorophyll. In this case, part of the pulse is reflected off the water
surface, while the rest travels to the water bottom and is reflected. The time elapsed between
the received impulses allows for a determination of water depth and subsurface topography
Sidescan Sonar used to discover the wreck
of the Tudor Ship ,The Mary Rose in 1967.
The ship was brought to the surface in 1982
Sidescan Sonar
Wreck of the Mary Rose raised to the
surface on October 11 1982
Team uses sub, robot to recover ancient
shipwreck ruins
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1997
WASHINGTON (CNN) -Using a nuclear submarine, a
robot and a high-tech
mapping system, a U.S.
Navy-led team has
discovered an
unprecedented treasure trove
of shipwrecks in the deep
waters of the Mediterranean
Internet maps reveal Roman villa 2007
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Google Earth offers satellite images of many parts
of the worldLatest technology proved an
unexpected aid to unearthing the past when an
Italian man decided to look at internet maps of
his home.
Computer programmer Luca Mori found the remains
of an ancient Roman villa when he browsed Google
Earth maps showing satellite images of his local
area.
His curiosity was sparked by unusual shading by his
home in Sorbolo, Parma.
He contacted local archaeologists who investigated
and confirmed it was once the location of a Roman
villa.
"At first I thought it was a stain on the photograph,"
47-year-old Mr Mori explained. "But when I zoomed
in, I saw that there was something under the earth."
The satellite images threw up a dark oval shape
more than 500m (1,640ft) long, as well as shaded
rectangular shapes nearby
Putting it all together for Australian
soldiers August 2007
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ELIZABETH JACKSON: An expert panel in Canberra was recently given a report into the
discovery of a mass grave containing the bodies of 160 Australian soldiers killed in World War I.
The Battle of Fromelles in July 1916 in northern France was one of the bloodiest battles of the
Great War.
In a day of fierce fighting, over 5,500 Australians were killed - they were wounded or taken
prisoner.
Now archaeologists at the University of Glasgow have found several mass graves containing the
remains of 399 Commonwealth soldiers, including 160 from the Australian 5th Division.
TONY POLLARD: We used a background of quite in-depth historical research, which included a
quite substantial archive of allied wartime aerial photographs taken between 1916, just days after
the Battle of Fromelles, going right the way up to 1918, and these show the eight pits that the
Germans were ordered to dig by their commanders, the C, to actually accommodate the bodies
from the Battle of Fromelles, both British and Australian.
There's no trace of them obviously in the field today. There are one or two slight depressions, so
what we wanted to do was to use everything we had in our power to survey the ground without
actually digging trenches and with the possibility of disturbing the bodies.
So we did topographic survey, we measured the lumps and bumps, we did groundpenetrating radar, we did resistivity survey, which allows us, using a variety of
techniques, to measure anomalies under the ground, and we did a metal detector survey.
And all of those techniques, when measured together, have given us quite a valuable
insight into this area of ground and the deposits within it