Geoarchaeology:Monitoring

From SASSA

SASSA Home Page ⇒ Geoarchaeology Home Page ⇒ Geoarchaeological Research Questions ⇒ Site Monitoring

1 Monitoring

[edit] Monitoring

Monitoring is usually undertaken to study the effects of disturbance or other "threats" on site preservation. It's aim is usually to inform decisions regarding site management and wider policy relating to the conservation of cultural remains. Monitoring projects range in scale from the national level to site-based monitoring. Whilst landscape changes are commonly monitored at a regional or national level, the complexity of interpreting changes at the artifact-soil interface means that most archaeological monitoring projects are site based or regional in scale.

Soils and sediments act as the matrix for archaeological artefacts and remains, and are themselves an important archaeological resource. Soil conditions are a key factor in the preservation of archaeological materials, and any changes in the prevailing soil conditions can accelerate or even alter the degradation processes.

The questions addressed by monitoring include:

The effect of disturbance events such as construction or dewatering on soil propeties relevant to the preservation of buried archaeological remains on indivdual sites. Typically this may involve monitoring changes in compaction, water table levels, redox potential, and / or pH of the soil.
The effect of disturbance events such as dewatering on the regional soil properties with a view to potential effects on unidentified buried resources and regional archaeological potential.
The effect of diffuse atmospheric inputs, such as acid rain, or land use practices, such as cultivation (Oxford Archaeology, 2002), on soil properties (e.g. soil pH) across a regional or national scale.
To assess the efficacy of site based management plans on site preservation.

[edit] Analytical techniques

The analytical techniques used depend very much on the nature of the disturbance, the soil properties expected to change and the reason for monitoring. These can range from national level monitoring schemes of changes in landscape character for example (reference), through in-situ monitoring of soil conditions affecting buried remains, to site based condition monitoring of upstanding monuments.

More information about the analytical techniques used to monitor soil conditions in archaeological sites and landscapes can be found here