23rd September 2010, 04:00 PM
Mike.T. Wrote:On the other hand an excavation might well just tell us that someone dug a ditch in the Roman Period which later silted up. Whoopsee Doo.
Isn't Archaeology is the study of man though surviving material remains, of which this Helmet is one ? Presumably once the findspot has been identified Geophysical survey could possibly reveal an unknown Roman settlement, one that wouldn't have been discovered if not for the MD user.
Hi
Study of human...human activity, you risk a real dressing down with that definition.
Do you see the MD paying for a geophysical survey to investigate the potential site? No. So this "site" has no more or no less potential than any field anywhere that somebody has ever found an artefact in. In fact most hoards and other finds of treasure of this type are isolated and not associated with sites so it can be argued that statistically there is less possibility of this find indicating a potential site. Put that together with the fact that the findspots from Treasure and those reported to the PAS are kept deliberately secret from most people there is even less chance of the site's potential ever being investigated.
Why should this particular artefact find get more archaeological investigation than a Roman pottery scatter found in a field? In fact the pottery is a much better indicator of a potential site than an individual metal artefact. Does this particular artefact's economic value mean that it is evidence of a site of higher significance than a potential site recognised from a monetary valueless pottery scatter? I don't think so.
I wouldn't call the investigation of a single ditch an "excavation" but I get your point that detailed investigation can also provide very limited data of somewhat dubious value but...and a very big but...at least that data is properly recorded and as the silt may well have preserved environmental data the potential for adding to a larger picture is there because ALL relevant information pertaining to the ditch has been recorded. Also the presence of the ditch indicates activity associated with land management so that in turn implies agriculture or drainage of a nearby activity area, it also means that the ditch filled up naturally rather than being deliberately filled and it DIRECTLY proves that Roman period activity took place at that place. A stray metal find doesn't even prove that, all it shows is that a helmet was at that spot when it was found, no info on deposition, no info on potential of find spot to be a site.
Steven