Advances in archaeological prospection
The geoarchaeological shift
Keywords:
Geoarchaeology, Archaeological evaluation, Mesolithic, Development, ProspectionAbstract
This paper outlines the application of a geoarchaeological ‘landform element’ technical approach to the evaluation of large land parcels in advance of infrastructure development. This approach grew out of more traditional geoarchaeological applications, but has been modified directly to address the needs of large-scale construction and development projects where improved understanding of archaeological/palaeoenvironmental potential and significance is required due to the huge of scale of works being undertaken, often within a restricted timescale. The application of this approach using a real-world case study from Killerby Quarry is documented. This project delivered stunning archaeological preservation of Late Glacial – Early Holocene archaeological and paleoenvironmental remains that were able to be appropriately excavated and analysed. The pre-determination evaluation works for this 200 ha site were able to be undertaken at between 25-50% of the typical cost of evaluation works for a project of this size and complexity. This meant that resources could be subsequently better targeted at the mitigation phase to maximise knowledge gain, and ultimately, public benefit.
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