2
ATH 205 3-1 Journal
I chose the Anglo-Saxon archaeological site; this accidental find could lead to a large excavation.
Before surveying this piece of land, we first need to do some desktop research into the area. This
type of research uses old records of the land and the site like searching the maps, the historical or
archaeological documents, economic records, written accounts, drawings, and aerial photographs
to indicate what was previously there to tell what kind of excavation we need to use on this
accidental find to protect the items and landscaping that might be present. Land surveying would
be a grate way of searching the area, this could be done by using Aircraft- Borne sensory
imagery which is used to record images of the electromagnetic radiation that is reflected or
emitted from the earth’s surface. (MBSDirect)
This allows us to see what is under the surface to give us a better chance of knowing if the site is
worth excavating or not. The surface collections tell us a lot about the culture and people who
once inhabited this land. Surface finds are often the first materials examined from a site and,
consequently, frequently provide preliminary information on the age, cultural associations, and
types of activities represented. Surface collection has these objectives (Hester et al., 2008):
The best way to examine the site and its surroundings is to use a nonintrusive method like
Bowsing, Resistivity Survey, Magnetic Survey, and ground penetrating radar. “Every
archaeologist dream of a way of exploring sites without the labor of excavating them. Some
subsurface detection methods are very simple, but most are expensive, and some are very time
consuming. Many of the more sophisticated techniques were originally developed for oil or
geological prospecting” (Clark, 1997; Hester et al., 2008).
This would be the archaeological method that I would use which is the nonintrusive method
since it helps preserve the material finds but, it also helps us to see beneath the surface so that
way we may adequately and safely excavate the site with little damage to the subsurface
