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The Modern Antiquarian Forum » Cumbria » Is it possible to contract a geophysics survey? |
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Creyr 114 posts |
Sep 29, 2010, 20:59
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Just been to a most interesting talk and presentation by Robert Farrah on his research into the astronomical and landscape alignments of the Cumbrian sites as detailed in his book A Guide to the Stone Circles of Cumbria. see http://www.hayloft.eu/stonecircles.html It has inspired me anew to further explore our local stones and one question that keeps recurring is why has no one done a geophysics survey of the northern end of the shap avenue area? (the southern end being mostly under the railway/town) I am wondering if it possible to contract someone to do this sort of thing privately and if so how much it would cost. I bet theres plenty of local people who would be willing to chip in and I certainly wouldnt mind doing a bit of fundraising for such a project. Any thoughts/pointers/offers/reasons why its a stupid idea gratefully received. Thanks Claire |
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megadread 1202 posts |
Sep 29, 2010, 21:34
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Creyr wrote: Just been to a most interesting talk and presentation by Robert Farrah on his research into the astronomical and landscape alignments of the Cumbrian sites as detailed in his book A Guide to the Stone Circles of Cumbria. see http://www.hayloft.eu/stonecircles.html It has inspired me anew to further explore our local stones and one question that keeps recurring is why has no one done a geophysics survey of the northern end of the shap avenue area? (the southern end being mostly under the railway/town) I am wondering if it possible to contract someone to do this sort of thing privately and if so how much it would cost. I bet theres plenty of local people who would be willing to chip in and I certainly wouldnt mind doing a bit of fundraising for such a project. Any thoughts/pointers/offers/reasons why its a stupid idea gratefully received. Thanks Claire It's all well and good getting a geofizz survey done but it's the interpretation of the data that's the real problem. I'm no expert, far from it, my only experience of geofizz is what i've witnessed on the telly, so not much, but, the interpretation seems to be a mine field to be taken with a large pinch of salt. How many times have you seen a large "interesting" anomaly turn out to be little or nothing when actually investigated.
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thesweetcheat 6214 posts |
Sep 29, 2010, 22:23
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megadread wrote: It's all well and good getting a geofizz survey done but it's the interpretation of the data that's the real problem. I'm no expert, far from it, my only experience of geofizz is what i've witnessed on the telly, so not much, but, the interpretation seems to be a mine field to be taken with a large pinch of salt. How many times have you seen a large "interesting" anomaly turn out to be little or nothing when actually investigated. I'm guessing they're not cheap to do, either. Apart from the machinery and computers the man-hours must be pretty high (even if archaeologists aren't paid well!). Still, it does highlight how much stuff out there has never been examined recently (if ever). Take the LiDAR survey results from the Cotwolds for example. Hundreds of potential new sites revealed...
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nigelswift 8112 posts |
Sep 30, 2010, 06:49
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What a shame, you've just missed the chance to bid for one! http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/bid-for-your-own-bespoke-geophysical-survey/ Weve talked about this before. I don't think the hardware is beyond the reach of a community group but there's one bizarre possibility - even though it's a non-intrusive technique it may be considered to be in breach of bylaws/planning regs or other rules. You'd need to check. I believe a Metal Detecting Holiday company that caters for North Americans to come over here is in possession of one - you could ask them how they get on with it (I'm not giving their name as I disapprove of them!)
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moss 2897 posts |
Edited Sep 30, 2010, 09:07
Sep 30, 2010, 08:05
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nigelswift wrote: What a shame, you've just missed the chance to bid for one! http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/bid-for-your-own-bespoke-geophysical-survey/ Weve talked about this before. I don't think the hardware is beyond the reach of a community group but there's one bizarre possibility - even though it's a non-intrusive technique it may be considered to be in breach of bylaws/planning regs or other rules. You'd need to check. I believe a Metal Detecting Holiday company that caters for North Americans to come over here is in possession of one - you could ask them how they get on with it (I'm not giving their name as I disapprove of them!) It reminded me of the Bath and Camerton group who recently with geophys... seemed to show that the Cove at Stanton Drew was in actual fact a long barrow, it was amateur archaeos with the help of their local County archaeologist did the survey, presumably with a machine they owned as a group.. does'nt help much Clair but it can be done... there are land owner issues though. http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/83270
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tiompan 5758 posts |
Sep 30, 2010, 08:24
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moss wrote: nigelswift wrote: What a shame, you've just missed the chance to bid for one! http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/bid-for-your-own-bespoke-geophysical-survey/ Weve talked about this before. I don't think the hardware is beyond the reach of a community group but there's one bizarre possibility - even though it's a non-intrusive technique it may be considered to be in breach of bylaws/planning regs or other rules. You'd need to check. I believe a Metal Detecting Holiday company that caters for North Americans to come over here is in possession of one - you could ask them how they get on with it (I'm not giving their name as I disapprove of them!) It reminded me of the Bath and Camerton group who recently with geophys... seemed to show that the Cove at Stanton Drew was in actual fact a long barrow, it was amateur archaeos with the help of their local County archaeologist did the survey, presumably with a machine they owned as a group.. does'nt help much Clair but it can be done... there are land owner issues though. http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/83270 The gubbins they use . http://www.bacas.org.uk/geophysics-what.shtml
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nigelswift 8112 posts |
Sep 30, 2010, 08:42
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"I had been scanning all day, and then moved next door into the Druid's Arms to download my material on to a computer over a pint. When I saw the shape of a long barrow appearing on the screen my mouth just dropped open. It was one of those eyes-on-stalks moments, because I knew the civilisation that built stone circles came a thousand years after the civilisation that built long barrows." Cor blimey how exciting, that could have been any one of us. We tend to think archaeologists have looked everywhere, but they haven't. They've looked almost nowhere in detail except in advance of roadworks. There's a lot just waiting to be found.
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Creyr 114 posts |
Sep 30, 2010, 09:09
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It was the results from the Long Meg geophys http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post.php/56583/news/long_meg_and_her_daughters.html#comment4264 that got me thinking. I saw the final image last night at Robert Farrah's talk. It looks to my (uneducated) eyes a very convincing case for a missing outlier twin to long meg. I'm pretty sure I can get access to some retired Cumbrian archeos for help with interpretation and hope that I can use my farming ties to sweet talk the landowners... Today Im going to find out if Shap is covered by the Big Society thingy ( I know Kirkby Stephen is) for possible funding. I have just got a bee in my bonnet about how Shap is/was one of the most extensive and important monuments in the country and we now know so little about it.
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StoneGloves 1149 posts |
Sep 30, 2010, 09:55
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A huge amount, in fact; as I've successfully demonstrated. Then when you find it they pretend to be not interested. So, apathy is the greatest limiting factor.
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fitzcoraldo 2709 posts |
Sep 30, 2010, 10:01
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I have just got a bee in my bonnet about how Shap is/was one of the most extensive and important monuments in the country and we now know so little about it.[/quote] Hi Claire I share your frustrations, I have been fascinated and frustrated by the Shap monuments for a good few years now. Tom Clare surveyed the area in 1978 and then revisited the site for his excellent 2007 book. Sadly his work leaves more questions than answers and he states that 'without survey and or excavation it is now impossible to determine the original arrangements of the stones.' The mighty Stubob and myself have visited the site and tried to get to grips with what is there, you can find our observations in a blog I posted in 2004. http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/29979/weblog/ I've been back on a number of occasions and always come away completely baffled by the place. The local history society may be a start but they don't seem to do a lot of work on the prehistory of the area, contacting Mr Clare may be useful or having a chat with the archaeologists up in Penrith. It's a shame the local heritage initiative scheme has finished, to me a site like Shap is crying out for something a little more than a decent coat of looking at. Sadly, under the current regime I doubt anyone is going to throw any time and money at this wonderful site unless we could somehow transport it down to Wiltshire. Best of luck f.
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