Back in 2018, I was asked to do a radar survey over part of the Roman town of Petuaria. I returned in early 2019 to do a second season of geophysics, in peoples gardens surrounding the site, which unfortunately I cannot show here. I also resurveyed the possible theatre building at a higher resolution, and walking perpendicular to the first survey, which showed a number of changes to the original layout. Second GPR survey over the possible theatre building Now in 2020, part of the possible threatre has been excavated by Hull University, with a long trench across the building. Excavatio ..read more

Much of my geophysics work over the past 13 years has been done, working with various groups, for a project mapping the Roman road between Hardham and Pevensey in Sussex. This encompassed Ivan Margary's "Sussex Greensand Way" (M140) and the road between Arlington and Pevensey (M142). I surmised that the two actually joined together, and set out to look for the missing piece. Starting at the Arlington end bore little fruit, so I changed to the Barcombe end, where I found the roadside settlement there, and traced the Roman road from there back to Arlington with a combination of geophysics and Li ..read more

Sometimes I get asked to survey a bit further afield than my home county of Sussex. I will pop over the border to Kent, Surrey or Hampshire. Recently I was asked to do a survey in Yorkshire! Despite being a very long way, it seems odd for someone from the south coast to be asked to do a geophys survey so close to Bradford, but apparently my results from Chichester made me famous. I'm glad I did though, as the site is very interesting. My contribution is only a small part, as part of a larger project involving Petuaria Revisited, Elloughton cum Brough PFA, the Roman Roads Research Association ..read more

It's been a while since the last version of Snuffler was released. At this stage, the software does most of what I need it to do for my own geophysics work, so this release, version 1.3, is mostly about requests from other people. Apart from the usual bug fixes, the new features mostly deal with hardware changes, especially relating to the RM85 and its use of the earth resistance multiplexer and the FGM650 magnetometer. It's difficult to test these things properly without having the hardware, so I have to rely on my users to help me get it right. It seems my last attempt at dealing with the mu ..read more

It's not often I leave my comfort zone of doing geophysics surveys on Roman sites in the south-east of England, but my latest survey was definitely outside, being on a WWII site in France. At Hébécrevon was part of the German main line of resistance against the allied advance into France after D-Day. It was designed to slow down the advance rather than completely stop it, and in that regard was successful. The section being looked at near Hébécrevon came under attack by US forces, and is being investigated by the Battlefield Archaeology Group. The first site is a small hill overlooking a stre ..read more

I was recently asked by the owners of Quarry Farm, Bodiam, to look at the Roman roadside settlement on their land, which is right up my (Roman) street. They were kind enough to put me up in their fantastic glamping site, with views across the settlement to the castle : View to the castle from the glamping hut The site was excavated back in the 1960's, when the Battle and District Historical Society dug up a Roman building with Classis Britannica stamped tiles associated with it. The Roman road broadly follows the modern road across the floodplain, and the presence of the CL:BR stamped tiles ..read more

A couple of years ago, I did some radar surveys in Priory Park, Chichester. After a small test pit dug by CDAS last year, there was an official press release by Chichester District Council, which then led to an awful lot of press coverage (some of them actually managed to spell my name right), and me appearing on South Today briefly. Then this year, there was a bigger excavation run by the council and CDAS that produced even more press coverage. Here are a few more details about it all than you may not have heard about in the press. Click for larger image If you look at the above image, the ..read more

Recently, I realised that there were currently five sites undergoing excavation, all in Sussex, that had targetted geophysics I had done. With my ego approaching dangerously unsafe proportions, I resolved to go on a quest, to visit all five sites in one day, and make a blog post about it. All of these sites have volunteer positions, so if you fancy a dig next year, you can join up and join in. Site 1: Priory Park, Chichester After the GPR survey in 2015, and a successful first season of excavation in 2017, CDAS returned for a second season of excavation looking at the east site of the bath h ..read more

Earth Resistance Meters – A Review Introduction The twin-probe earth resistance meter, being relatively cheap, is often the first piece of geophysics equipment purchased by local archaeological societies. While it may not be the first port of call if you have access to a magnetometer or GPR, there are many situations where it is superior. I've found that earth resistance is the most reliable method for finding Roman roads. Recently, I've had access to multiple pieces of equipment, so I have decided to do a review. The first of the three machines is the Geoscan RM15. Now replaced by the RM85 ..read more

It's been a few months since the NSGG conference in December 2016, so it's about time I did my usual post about my favourite bits. Erica Utsi, whose name is on my GPR and is shortly to publish a book recently became a TV star after appearing on a program about William Shakespeare's grave, and given we were a specialist audience rather than the TV viewing public, we got a slightly more in depth explanation of what it was all about, which was that Shakespeare's head may have been nicked due to a fashion for collecting the skulls of famous people. Adam Booth treated us to some technology not of ..read more