Paul Linford

A rival to Stonehenge? Geophysical Survey at Stanton Drew, England

The development of geophysical survey remains a spearhead-priority for new research and cultural resource management alike – since geophysics can find and map sites without destroying them. However, there are current weaknesses of sensitivity and resolution – the instruments cannot easily “see” small features like graves and post-holes of which so many ancient sites are principally composed. Great hopes have been invested in caesium vapour magnetometers, which the Centre for Archaeology has been promoting in England – perhaps nowhere with such dramatic success as at Stanton Drew, Somerset. Here, geophysical techniques have brought to light the lines of broad circles belonging to a previously unrecognised henge monument, and the caesium magnetometer showed these circles to be composed of individual pits about 1.4 m in diameter. The fine focus achieved for these buried features augers well for the discovery and preservation of similar sites and monuments in the future.

Non-destructive techniques in English gardens: geophysical prospecting

Abstract Buried archaeological sites are identifiable from the almost indelible nature of the geophysical record of past human activity beneath the modem ground surface. Geophysical survey can be a most effective technique of archaeological evaluation, although it has only occasionally been applied to former garden features within the British Isles (figure 1 and table 1). Recent reviews of garden archaeology7 concentrate on the data available from topographic, documentary and aerial photographic sources, but do not consider in detail the potential of other methods of non-destructive investigation. There is, perhaps, a perception that garden features are too shallow and ephemeral to leave a clearly detectable geophysical signature.8 While this may often be the case, the value of geophysics in this rapidly developing subject has not been adequately acknowledged. This paper illustrates, through case-study examples, the success that has been achieved to date and the potential that such techniques offer for th...

Chasing aeroplanes: developing a vehicle-towed caesium magnetometer array to complement aerial photography over three recently surveyed sites in the UK

Aerial photography combined with airborne lidar can often provide information on the location of archaeological sites at a near landscape level of coverage. Ground-based geophysical techniques may then be deployed to complement the aerial survey, particularly where the soils or land use may not be ideal for either producing crop marks or preserving topographic features. This paper describes the development of a vehicle-towed caesium magnetometer array, from an original handpushed system, to allow high-density datasets to be rapidly acquired over large areas required to provide a meaningful comparison at the scale demanded by the aerial survey results. Technical details of the system are presented together with methodological considerations for both data acquisition in the field and appropriate post processing to obtain high-sensitivity field measurements over more weakly magnetized sites. Results are presented from a number of recent collaborative research projects within the English Heritage Remote Sensing Team to illustrate the benefits of a combined aerial and ground-based approach to mapping the historic environment.

Recent Investigations at Two Long Barrows and Reflections on their Context in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and Environs

Recent geophysical surveys and excavations at Druids Lodge Estate, in fields west of the Diamond Wood in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SWHS), have confirmed the existence of the Winterbourne Stoke 71 long barrow and discovered a new long barrow (Winterbourne Stoke 86) a short distance to the south. Survey and excavation show internal features at both barrows and, alongside aerial photography, suggest that both monuments were destroyed during later prehistory. These barrows are part of a cluster around the head of the Wilsford dry valley. We review long barrows in the SWHS and environs to contextualise these discoveries, demonstrating a diversity of internal features, barrow sizes and morphologies. Chronological modelling is used to place the SWHS barrows in their inter-regional timescape and to understand the timings of the first appearance of monument types of the 4th millennium cal BC. Local topography appears to be the key factor in determining the alignment of long barrows, but the eastern ends of barrows appear to be significant. Long barrows are also considered in relation to causewayed enclosures, and movement around the landscape. Long barrows are an important structuring monument in the later Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape, but their importance is mediated by their location relative to Stonehenge, and access to the monument from the south. There is a clear pattern of differential preservation of long barrows away from the vicinity of Stonehenge. Further field research is necessary to achieve a better understanding of long barrows in the SWHS, and it is hoped that this article stimulates interest in these highly significant monuments. This article also provides an interactive map of the SWHS, linking to simplified plans of long barrows in the study area, additional information and references for further reading for each barrow. Appendices are provided containing specialist methodologies and/or data from the geophysical surveys and the Historic England excavation, and primary excavation data from the Historic England excavation is downloadable via the Archaeology Data Service (Historic England 2018).