Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109239 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Synopsis
Referring to recent surveys by the staff of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and their colleagues, Bowden (an archaeological field investigator and head of the Swindon field team) dispels the myths that survey is too complex and difficult, or that it is only a second-best to excavation. The 12 articles and six case studie

Customer Reviews

A book focusing on the oft overlooked subject of earthworks
This is primarily an archaeology textbook, so can be forgiven for being dry in places. It has survived being written by a committee, namely the staff of the RCHME (now English Heritage) National Monuments Record in Swindon, who have brought their combined expertise to bear.

The book focuses on an oft overlooked subject of earthworks, and the analytical survey of these features, although much of the practical advice given also applies to other fields.

Most of the book is a beginners 'How to' overview, briefly setting out what I presume is RCHME 'best practice' for a wide variety of practical subjects. Topics covered include carrying out a survey, what to survey and in what detail. Specialist areas such as work on the foreshore and in woodland are touched upon. There are useful insights into drawing plans, writing reports and the best way in which to present your data for publication and archiving. I found the section on drawing large-scale plans of earthworks most interesting, and learned how to draw those fascinating 'hairy caterpillars' on maps, and that by instead calling them 'hachures' I will sound more authoritative blagging my way in archaeology.

There are some brilliant plans of Avebury, Windmill Hill and West Kennett Long Barrow, and an infra-red aerial photo of Long Meg and Her Daughters, showing the adjacent, older, ditched enclosure, illustrating how we know that the circle is more recent. I will borrow these for my web site ... if the good RCHME people will let me.

I'm not very impressed with the rather outdated and conservative attitudes to archiving - virtually writing off any form of digital storage as a stable archiving medium. So much these days is generated by computers and held in digital form that this book makes the RCHME appear backward in this area, and for a 1999 book I would expect better.

Overall though this is a good introduction to earthwork surveying techniques, if necessarily shallow in some areas.

Review by Andy Burnham

An excellent review of archaeological survey methods
This book is the cumulative product of many years of archaeological surveying experience of various members of the RCHME's teams. Mark Bowden draws the various strands together in a clear and concise manner which is easily accessible. It is does not explain in great detail how to undertake surveys from a practical point of view (there are already a lot of surveying text books - no need to reinvent the wheel) but instead deals with how look at landscapes and read their past.

The book covers topics such as analytical earthwork survey, ground photography, aerial photography, special landscapes and touches upon methods such as geophysics and fieldwalking. It is well referenced through out and this makes it easy to follow up any points of interest.

In all an excellent piece of work.

Good book to start and learn
A good learning tool to have in your library. More for the beginer rather than profesional.