Hi Samantha,
It is certainly possible, and the best technique I know of is (topsoil) magnetic susceptibility (Mag Sus). In effect this can be combined with aspects of field walking - to identify what is there - and you can cover up to 10 hectares a day, and it will work well for ironworking sites of all periods. This can be backed up with detailed magnetometry to look at the features - furnaces etc - below the topsoil. A really good example is a medieval iron smelting site at Stanley Grange in Derbyshire, on the site of a proposed open cast coal mine (I think) which I don't think it has been excavated, and as far as I know the coal mining plan was shelved. I could send you same images of this site but it would be best if it came from the person who did this particular survey so I suggest you contact Tony Johnson of Archaeotechnics (Noke, Oxon) who I work with and who may be able to give you other examples. We are working on using this combination of geophysical techniques to look more specifically at suspected ironworking sites.
I would think it is going to be fairly unusual to find sites like (the Roman equivalent of) Stanley Grange which have been surveyed, identified but not excavated. A particular problem is that a lot of the results of survey like this will exist only as 'grey literature' and so be difficult to find and get access to.
Good luck,
Brian
(Dr Brian Gilmour,
University of Oxford)
________________________________________
From: Arch-Metals Group [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of SR Rubinson [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 21 June 2010 15:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Geophysical survey of smithing and smelting sites
Hi,
I am trying to identify smelting and smithing evidence at Roman sites
that have undergone geophysical survey using various techniques but
have not been excavated. Is this possible? Has anyone excavated a
smithing or smelting site where geophysical survey was conducted
before excavation? Any information you could provide would be greatly
appreciated.
Thank you,
Samantha Rubinson
PhD Archaeometallurgy
AGES
University of Bradford
[log in to unmask]
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