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Geophysical Survey at Baelo Claudia, Andalucia, Spain May 2016

As part of the ERC funded RoMP/Portuslimen project a season of geophysical survey was undertaken at the city of Baelo Claudia, in Andalusia, Spain. Work was undertaken by a team of surveyors from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton in collaboration with staff from the Junta de Andalucia and the University of Cadiz. The survey team comprised the author, Peter Wheeler, Stephen Guy-Gibbens, Christopher Oakes, Ferreol Salomon, Quentin Drillat and Nicolas Carayon. Continue reading →

THaWS 2016. A Late Start and Sediments Beyond the Temple of Ay and Horemheb

So another season of survey and augering is under way at Thebes. The Theban Harbours and Waterscapes Survey has, for the past 5 years, been using geoarchaeological and geophysical survey to study the changing floodplain of the river Nile, and the dynamics between the ancient harbours and waterways and the Theban temple complexes on the West Bank and Luxor and Karnak temples. Continue reading →

The Portuslimen Project. Geophysical Survey and Fieldwalking at Ephesus

One of the more constraining factors of geophysical survey in an archaeological context is the potential difficulty in dating or phasing anomalies in the data. Although hard science forms the main component of survey work, there is a large subjective element involved in the interpretation of geophysical survey data, which ultimately can decide the nature, function and phase of features. Continue reading →

The Portuslimen Project. Geophysical survey at Tarragona, and the constraints of modern urban areas

Over the past few months of field survey, work has swung around to a series of projects lined to Roman ports in the Mediterranean. In June and July I headed back for a season of excavations at Portus, and in August and September geophysical survey at the site of Ephesus in Turkey (more on this in a future post). In October and November work has commenced on a geophysical and topographic survey of the Roman port area of the town of Tarragona in Catalonia, Spain. Continue reading →

Between the Desert and the Nile. Theban Harbours and Waterscapes

The West Bank of Thebes Back in 2011 the Theban Harbours and Waterscapes Survey (THaWS) started with a field season of geophysics. This Egypt Exploration Society project (www.ees.ac.uk), directed by Dr Angus Graham,  was established with the aim of using different techniques to study the settlements and temples on the east and west banks of the Nile, and how they relate to the changing floodplain and river. Continue reading →

Abu Dhabi Islands Survey Part One

In October a survey team from the University of Southampton were involved in an archaeological and geophysical survey in collaboration with the Maritime Archaeology Stewardship Trust (MAST) and Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture (ADTCA). Research was carried out on the islands of Sir Bani Yas and Marawah investigating a range of different sites. The ‘Ubaid settlements and archaeology on Marawah will be the subject of the next blog. Continue reading →

Blog Catch-up #2: Archaeological Survey at Buraimi Oasis

Having spent the day at British Museum a few Saturdays ago during the Seminar for Arabian Studies (https://www.thebfsa.org/) reminded me that we had conducted a survey at Buraimi Oasis earlier in the year. A paper was given on the results of the survey and the overall fieldwork, conducted by Zayed University, Abu Dhabi (http://www.zu.ac.ae/main/en/), ADTCA (http://tcaabudhabi.ae/en) and Sultan Qaboos University (http://www.squ.edu.om/) in Oman, by Dr Tim Power of Zayed University. Continue reading →

Magnetometer Survey at Basing Common

After the successes of the surveys and excavation at Basing House in 2014, a second season of work is being conducted by the Basing House CAT project (http://basinghouseproject.org/) directed by Nicole and Gareth Beale. Work on the excavation is ongoing, and can be seen on the project blog. In addition to this work, however, further geophysical survey is also being conducted on Basing Common. Continue reading →