Why Is Geophysical Survey Important To Excavation?

Geophysical survey is arguably an essential part of planning an archaeological excavation. It acts as a guide to archaeologists, showing them areas of interest in the landscape that would be worth excavating, that would otherwise be impossible to detect. It could also help archaeologists decide which areas of a site would be best to excavate, and whether or not the site would be worth excavating in the first place. Planning applications are important in preparing to excavate a site, as without them, the excavation cannot take place.

Geophysics can help when it comes to making considerations for planning permission, as it can help determine many factors that would need to go into the aforementioned planning permission, such as how much of the

Geophysics can determine changes in the physical property of a piece of land, showing us areas of archaeological interest, which might not be visible using only an aerial map of the landscape (Geophysics & Remote Sensing 2014: 60). Geophysics is a fairly fast method of surveying (Geophysics & Remote Sensing 2014: 61), which also helps when planning applications need to be completed quickly in order for excavations to begin on

GPR is a time consuming method of geophysical surveying (Geophysics Techniques n.d.), but it is detailed, and also allows for three dimensional maps of an area of potential archaeological interest to be produced, showing the depth of an area, and at what depth the archaeological features can be found (Renfrew and Bahn 2012: 98). Like ground resistivity surveys, this method of geophysics can be used in more urbanised areas with great effect (Geophysics Techniques n.d.), making it a more useful method of geophysical survey than magnetic surveys for more urbanised