The Archaeometry Blog

Happy 2012!

2012-01-05T00:28:00.000+11:00

I'd like to wish everyone out there on the web a happy and productive 2012.

My new year is shaping up well with some really exciting research projects planned in collaboration with some fantastic people. I've also got some great field courses scheduled through Precipice Training in the middle of the year and most importantly, a PhD getting very close to being completed. I hope to share all of this (and hopefully much more) with you through this blog and via Twitter.

PhD Retreat at Port Moorowie

2011-10-09T22:57:00.000+11:00

Clearly, I've been a very slack blogger lately. This has been driven by me going into extended retreat at the small coastal town of Port Moorowie on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia to get my PhD written. Amazingly, it's working really well. The town has a permanent population of about 20 households (with another 80 or so arriving during the holidays), no shop or pub and is perched on some of the most spectacular and isolated coast that South Australia has to offer. In other words, there's no distractions other than the surfing, diving, fishing and long walks on the beach, which seem to help me with my work (or so I tell myself...). Until I submit at the end of the year I expect that this blog will continue to be a little quiet, but I can't wait to start discussing my plans for next year soon.

In the meantime, here's the view from the end of my street to make those of you that have to wear shoes to work jealous.

Appearance on Catalyst discussing the Teouma Lapita site

2011-06-07T16:12:00.000+10:00

I featured in a very minor way in a recent episode of the Australian science television show Catalyst. The episode focuses on the Lapita site of Teouma in Vanuatu that has been excavated by Professor Matthew Spriggs and Dr Stuart Bedford over the last few years. While I only appear briefly, there's great shots of laser ablation analysis in action, that were shot using the tooth of noted electron spin resonance dating specialist (and my supervisor) Professor Rainer Grün.

You can find the complete episode at http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3234011.htm

Posters at the INQUA conference, Bern, July 2011

2011-04-21T21:46:00.000+10:00

I've had a two abstracts accepted for poster presentations at the INQUA conference which is being held in Bern in from 20-27 July 2011. I had hoped to be able to present the strontium paper as a presentation, but perhaps the poster format will give me more of a chance to interact with people and get some good feedback. If you're coming the conference, please drop by during the poster sessions and say hi!

Here's the details:

Mofat, I., Grun, R. and Aubert, M., Strontium Isotope Tracing of Migrations in the Levant, Session 79: Open Session, Thursday 21 July.

Milani, J., Moffat, I., Roberts, A. and Aubert, M., Seeing Beneath the Skin: An Experimental Study of the Effectiveness of Magnetic Susceptibility at Imaging Rock Art, Session 34: Geoarchaeology, Monday 25 July.

Abstracts:

Strontium Isotope Tracing of Migrations in the Levant:

Strontium isotope methods have become a ubiquitous part of migration tracing in archaeology, due to their ability to resolve post tooth mineralisation movement between provinces with distinct bio-available strontium values. Many studies simply address the question of “local vs non-local” however if large scale regional surveying is undertaken, opportunities exist to document distance and vector of migration. We present the results of a large scale sampling program in Israel, covering all accessible major geological units. The values obtained demonstrate that regional geological provinces can be well discriminated by bioavailable strontium isotopes however more local variations between similar rock types are far more difficult to resolve. The results from this regional soil analysis are compared to Palaeolithic archaeological material in a number of case studies.

Seeing Beneath the Skin: An Experimental Study of the Effectiveness of Magnetic Susceptibility at Imaging Rock Art

The use of geophysical techniques in archaeology has become wide-spread; however these methods have rarely been applied to rock art research. There is a need to record and document rock art images as they face deterioration from environmental, industrial and human impacts. This research trialled the use of a magnetic susceptibility (MS) meter to non-invasively detect and spatially resolve ochre rock art images. Ochre is frequently used in rock art production and previous research in other contexts has shown that it emits a MS signature due to its inherent magnetic characteristics. These ochre images can be hidden behind silica or carbonate crusts or may deteriorate over time limiting their visibility. The rock art images that lie behind such crusts are likely to be protected from weathering and are amenable to dating using such techniques as uranium-series and radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS).

Based on our experimental studies we have demonstrated that, if present in sufficient abundance, hematite ochre can be imaged and spatially resolved with a MS meter when applied to a rock face in a variety of geological environments. The type of binder used, pre-application heating or the rock type has no significant effect on the viability of the technique. More important to the success of a survey is the use of the correct equipment settings, a fine spatial resolution and using a correction to control instrument drift. Imaging ochre beneath a proxy crust was trialled without success; however this is attributed to poor survey design rather than a fundamental problem with the technique. The success of this trial demonstrates the validity of continuing investigations in the emerging field of rock art geophysics and highlights the importance of future trials on field sites.

ERA and building an academic career

2011-03-24T13:52:00.000+11:00

As an early career researcher (ECR) hoping to get a postdoctoral fellowship or teaching position I have a significant interest in the manner in which academic output is measured and how decisions on grant funding and jobs are decided. The ERA (Excellence in Research in Australia Initiative) is a recent attempt by the Australian government to measure the quality of research in this country compared to international standards. This process leads to a departmental ranking according to their research output, which is expect to have a signficant effect on future research funding. As might be expected of a system ranking research performance this rating system excludes any consideration of teaching load

This topic seems to be the subject of much water cooler discussion and was recently the focus of a characteristically perceptive blog post by Mick Morrison. The ERA documents are available through the ARC website, although they are quite a dense and confusing read. You might find pages 6-14 of this summary from the University of Sydney a better introduction. The system is broadly based on awarding a number of "points" to academic papers, which includes a consideration of the ranking of the journal the article is published in and the number of co-authors. Citations also appear to play a (poorly defined) role in ranking output.

This process is having a significant (if anecdotal) effect on the way in which academics spend their time. It seems to have a particularly strong effect on early career researchers, as they are most likely to be applying for departmental or ARC (Australian Research Council) funded positions. I've been told many times by senior academics that "If you don't publish in A or A* journals, you don't have any chance of getting a job". This is naturally not explicit policy, but is simply a reflection of academic departments trying to pick the staff who are most likely to boost their rankings. On one level this is perfectly understandable however is ECR productivity really the best indicator of long term research potential. I would argue that, in many cases, the publication list of a recent PhD graduate is more controlled by the productivity of their broader research group and their supervisor's attitude to co-publication. In some cases those students who develop their research independent of a productive research group (which includes the entire team on every paper) may be better equipped to develop long term research of their own at a new institution.

Despite all of this, my principal concern about the ERA system is that it has pervaded the academic conscious without accessible information on how it actually work being available. Many people seem to understand the importance of publishing in A* and A journals but no-one has been able to explain (to me anyway) how much better an A ranked journal is than a B journal. Similarly, many people seem to understand that having multiple co-authors leads to a dilution of the ranking of a publication but nobody seems to understand by how much. The end result is confusion. For example I have no idea how to quantify the difference between my 2010 principal authored paper in A rated Geoarchaeology with 5 other authors compares to my 2008 second authored paper with 3 authors in A rated Antiquity.
The lack of clear information on this, probably reflects the ARC's desire to retain flexibility in the system. In a recent interview at the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism Liz Visher from the ARC said "ERA's methodology accommodates flexibility of evaluation using discipline-specific practices and expert knowledge, so there is no formulaic way of enforcing the use of ranked journals to each discipline". This inclusion of this flexibility is admirable however still leaves me with no concrete information on which to base my publication strategy in the future.

Perhaps the fact that academics in Australia seems so willing to make publication decisions based on small amounts of anecdotal information is telling of the state of research in Australia of itself. Ironically, comment on the ERA process seems confined to boasts about a particular university's performance or comment on the rankings of a particular journal, rather than critical analysis of the process itself.

It seems inevitable that society will continue to demand that academic performance be measured and I accept that how I measure up to the assessment criteria will determine how my career progresses. On this basis I call on the ARC to provide more clear, easily accessible information on exactly how my papers are assessed so I can make informed decision on how best to undertake and disseminate my research in the future.

Garmin Dakota 20 Review

2011-03-13T23:51:00.000+11:00

I recently got the chance to play with a Garmin Dakota 20, and thought I'd put a few thoughts down here. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to use it in the field, so my comment should be taken with a grain of salt at this stage. Despite this I'm really impressed with this little unit and would probably buy one myself if I was looking for a small, easy to use, field GPS.

The Dakota 20 is marketed by Garmin as being an "entry level, rugged, touchscreen handheld" but despite it's entry level status comes with great features like a full colour touchscreen, micro SD card slot and a barometric altimeter and can hold 1000 waypoints and 10 000 track log points. In essence, it's a smaller and slightly lower spec version of the Oregon series. The great advantage of these GPS units to me is that you can load any raster data, including aerial photography or geophysical data on to them and refer to this in the field. Anecdotally the GPSMAP 62 series (which retail for about the same as a Dakota) can achieve satellite lock in more challenging environments, but I doubt this would affect too many users.

Overall, a nice little GPS that's easy to use and has most of the features you need for field work. I would probably think hard about buying an Oregon to get a larger screen and a inbuilt camera, but would probably baulk at the extra $200 for this small benefit.

There's some useful reviews at GPSFix, About.com and Trusted Reviews

Snowed under in the lab

2011-02-10T19:39:00.000+11:00

I've been neglecting this blog a bit as I've been snowed under with a few projects in the lab. I've been doing laser ablation analysis of strontium isotope and some element abundances from some bovid teeth from the Palaeolithic Israeli archaeological sites of Qafzeh, Skull and Holon. I've also working on some rocks samples from Israel to augment my bio-available soil strontium isotope map of the region. I haven't published any of this stuff yet but I've had a poster acepted for the INQUA conference in Bern in July in which I'll show some of it off for this first time with papers to follow once I'm done with my thesis!

Dig it Up Fieldwork Supplies

2011-01-26T13:55:00.002+11:00

I'd like to let you all know about my experience with Dig it up an online supplier of field equipment run by Dr Gilbert Price, a postdoc in geochronology at the University of Queensland with a background in palaeontology. I ordered one of Gilbert's custom photo boards before Christmas. Gilbert happily endured my endless requests for changes and I couldn't be happier with the final results, shown below next to some Bowen Basin drill core. Dig it up also stock a great range of field equipment including Estwing rock hammers and Rite in the Rain notebooks. Gilbert's prices seem very reasonable, the products are great and the service is outstanding so I'd urge you all to support this great enterprise.

Post PhD Life

2011-01-23T14:46:00.005+11:00

2011 is the year I'll finally finish my PhD (Strontium Isotope Tracing of genus Homo mobility in the Levant and Southern France), hopefully by my brother's wedding in November but more realistically by the end of December. As a result I'm planning to spend 2012 travelling, doing some contract teaching, maybe a short fellowship or two and undertaking a few consulting jobs before looking for a postdoc or lecturing position in 2013. All of this seems a very long way away with a thesis to complete but if anyone has any opportunities for short term fellowships, collaborations, work, postdocs or teaching positions pop up in the areas of archaeological geophysics, isotope geochemistry, geoarchaeology or sedimentology I'd be delighted in you could visit my website for a better idea of what I do or contact me via email at ian.moffat@anu.edu.au so I can provide you with a full resume.

Atlas of South Australia

2011-01-16T16:21:00.004+11:00

I've just come across the Atlas of South Australia which is an on-line GIS with lots of information about the geography, demography and economics which may be of interest to those working in the area. There's a lot of easily selected layers and your can produce maps as image files. This is a great resource for providing background information for projects, particularly the sections on soils and plant provinces.

Ramac GPR Processsing in Reflex

2010-12-19T17:45:00.002+11:00

Professor Steven Sheriff from the Universty of Montana has posted a really nice introduction to processing Ramac GPR data using ReflexW software on this website. This is a great resource because, as those of you've ventured down this path know, Reflex (while a fantastic program) is very intimidating to the beginner. There are so many processing options that's it's easy to get lost so you really need a concise guide like this to help you get started. Enjoy!

AAA Conference Review

2010-12-15T12:08:00.007+11:00

Image: Larry Conyers taking his own advice in NW QLD, 2009

I've just returned from the Australian Archaeological Association conference at Bateman's Bay. This, predictably social, gathering threw up some very interesting papers as well as lots of sitting in the sun next to the water drinking beer!

Larry Conyers gave an inspiration keynote address on the applications of geophysics in archaeology, with a particular focus on moving beyond simply using these techniques as a way to find targets but rather to consider them a way of answering questions about human behaviour. Larry finished his presentation by exhorting Australian archaeologists to start applying GPR much more regularly, a sentiment very close to my heart.

Other interesting papers included those by Daryl Wesley, Colin Pardoe and Mick Morrison on earth mounds and Ben Shaw's work on strontium isotopes on burials from the site of Nebira in PNG.

Paul Bladon Presentation at the AAA Conference on Saturday

2010-12-09T14:56:00.003+11:00

Paul Bladon, my directed studies student from Flinders University is giving a presentation in the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeology session on the afternoon of Saturday 11 December at the Australian Archaeological Association conference at Bateman's Bay on Saturday. Paul has been working on developing a methodology for using subsurface site disturbance as a means of clearing a site of burials based on data I collected searching for the grave of Mokare in Albany, West Australia and has come up with some very interesting cross overs between the use of GPR in archaeology and in engineering and environmental applications. Full title and abstract below.

Mapping Anthropogenic Fill with GPR: A New Approach to Unmarked Grave Detection

Paul Bladon¹, Dave Guilfoyle², Alice Beale³ and Ian Moffat^4,1

Department of Archaeology, Flinders University
Applied Archaeology
Anthropology and Archaeology, Western Australian Museum
Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University

Geophysical techniques are commonly used for the location of unmarked graves despite these techniques rarely being able to locate burials directly. Most studies rely not on imaging skeletal material but instead on distinguishing the subsurface disturbance created by grave digging. This approach can only be effective when sufficient contrast exists between detectable properties of the grave fill and the surrounding sediment, such as soil structure mineralogy or porosity. This is particularly problematic where anthropogenic fill is in place, as it is often complex in character and lacks a natural stratigraphy.

Many archaeological investigations are more concerned with avoiding the disturbance of burials rather than locating them allowing a modification to the standard methodology. We suggest that ground penetrating radar (GPR) can be used to locate modern anthropogenic fill as and so provide evidence that these areas of the site can not contain burials older than the fill that a site is clear of burials. This approach, common in the engineering and environmental literature, is trialled on a site thought to contain the grave of Mokare, a significant historical figure in the Albany area. The delineation of a package of modern fill in the shallow subsurface and a consideration of the probable earthworks on the site demonstrates that Mokare is not buried in the surveyed location. By avoiding the need to detect burials by grave digging disturbance this approach could allow wide application of geophysical techniques to suitable sites in Australia

Presentation to the Association of Environmental Archaeology Conference, Kyoto

2010-11-30T14:20:00.004+11:00

I'm a co-author (along with Grun, Fitzsimmons, Pappin and Doyle) on a paper being presented tomorrow by Tegan Kelly at the Association of Environmental Archaeology conference in Kyoto entitled "Interactions between humans and the environment in semi-arid Australia: from Australia's earliest occupants to European pastoralists".

Tegan will be discussing her work using sedimentology and isotope geochemistry at Lake Mulurulu, one of the lakes in the Willandra Lakes system which have an astonishing assemblage of archaeological and palaeontological material.

Ichnology and Archaeology

2010-11-06T17:28:00.006+11:00

I've been very fortunate to collaborate and teach with Associate Professor Steve Hasiotis (pictured above with abundant Skolithos traces) since meeting him at Lake Eyre as part of the LEBARG project, around 2005. Steve is one of the premier proponents of continental ichnology internationally and has really opened my eyes to the potential of this technique. For the uninitiated, ichnology is the study of the traces (such as burrows) left by organisms in the rock or sediment record. The nature and abundance of the traces can provide an indication of the depositional environment of the sediments and of the prevailing physiographic conditions during deposition.

I believe that the recognition of these features in archaeological sites could provide some information (probably in conjunction with magnetic susceptibility or some other indicator of pedogenesis) of the relative rate of sediment deposition and, in particular, indicate periods of non-deposition. The recognition and explanation for periods of non-deposition is a critical concern for rock shelters in Northern Australia as discussed by O'Connor et al. 1999.

I hope that Steve, Mark Reilly (Spinifex Geology) and I will be able to use our mutual associate with Archaeology at Flinders University to pursue this question over the next few years, as soon as I get my PhD finished!

Near Map Image of Souter Park Geophysical Survey

2010-10-27T22:09:00.007+11:00

Many of you would be aware of Near Map, a Google Earth like website which offers high resolution satellite photography of Australian cities indexed by the date of acquisition. I was astounded recently when Martin Wimmer, a PhD candidate in the Department of Archaeology at Flinders University pointed out that my ARCH8307 "Introductory Archaeological Geophysics" students have been captured during the acquisition of magnetometer and ground penetrating radar data at Souter Park in South Australia by Near Map during one of their in class exercise. You can pick their location by the rectangular survey grids laid out in two areas of the site.

For those interested in the results of the survey, I've included an article from the Eastern Courier Messenger describing our work.

Geophysics Field Day at Souter Park, Goodwood

2010-09-18T19:53:00.002+10:00

I'm taking my intrepid "Introductory Archaeological Geophysics" students to Souter Park, on the corner of Albert and Hardy Streets in Goodwood, South Australia to assist Flinders PhD candidate Martin Wimmer in investigations of a number of possible WWII air raid shelters in the park. Martin believes that large concrete pipes, which were commonly used as shelters in Adelaide, may be present in the subsurface in the mounds in the park. We're going to do some GPR and EMI to try to chase this up for him and the help the students get some experience using these techniques. Interested spectators are welcome to join us in the park between 10am-4pm to observe the survey.

Limited places still available in Introductory Archaeological Geophysics 2010

2010-09-09T17:17:00.003+10:00

I still have a limited number of places available in my Introductory Archaeological Geophysics topic running 20 Sept-1 Oct. Students from other institutions or industry professionals are welcome to attend.

This innovative topic, unique in Australia, aims to introduce students from a non geophysical background to the emerging field of archaeological prospection.

I will introduce students to a variety of techniques and you'll have the chance to collect, process and report on data from a historic Adelaide Hills cemetery. The course is delivered in a series of lectures, demonstrations, practical hands-on sessions and computer based labs ensuring a diverse exposure to the many facets of archaeological prospection.

For more information please visit the website or contact me via email (ian.moffat@flinders.edu.au)

Viner et al. paper on cattle mobility in prehistoric Britain

2010-09-01T14:29:00.005+10:00

Viner et al. have published "Cattle mobility in prehistoric Britain: strontium isotope analysis of cattle teeth from Durrington Wells (Wiltshire, Britain)" in issue 37 of the Journal of Archaeological Science. This research compares the strontium composition of the enamel and dentine from a number of cattle teeth to local values obtained from plants in the area surrounding the Neolithic site of Durrington Wells. The results, obtained using TIMS, show that 11 of the 13 molars came from cattle sourced from geological environments other than the local chalk. The most interesting part of this research is the variation of strontium values by up to 0.002 within some of the individual teeth (a shown in Figure 3 from the text reproduced below), which the authors attribute to the cattle moving through different geological environments during the maturation phase of their enamel in a similar fashion to Balasse et al. (2002). If these results can be replicated using the less robust but faster and better spatially resolved LA-MC-ICPMS technique it could open up a some very interesting avenues for further study in archaeozoology.

Balasse, M., Ambrose, S. H., Smith, A. B., and Price, T. D. 2002. The Seasonal Mobility Model for Prehistoric Herders in the South-western Cape of South Africa Assessed by Isotopic Analysis of Sheep Tooth Enamel. Journal of Archaeological Science, 29 (9), 917-932.

Viner, S., Evans, J., Albarella, U., and Parker Pearson, M. 2010. Cattle mobility in prehistoric Britain: strontium isotope analysis of cattle teeth from Durrington Walls (Wiltshire, Britain). Journal of Archaeological Science, 37 (11), 2812-2820.

Lens Scratches

2010-08-17T14:45:00.004+10:00

Fieldwork is tough on camera lens. I use a Nikon D300 with a 18-200 VR Nikkor lens for most of my fieldwork and always protect it using a UV filter to keep out the dust and try to protect it from scratches. I also carry my camera in a Pelican case in transit to try to protect it from damage. Despite this precaution, accidents will happen and after fieldwork last week my filter got smashed (see photo above) in my pack somewhere. It got me thinking about how much damage the actual camera lens could sustain and still be serviceable. After a bit of web searching I found this informative blog post by Mike Sweeney, which I think will surprise you as much as it did me!

New Article in Geoarchaeology

2010-07-26T14:05:00.003+10:00

My latest article "Geophysical Prospection for Late Holocene Burials in Coastal Environments: Possibilities and Problems from a Pilot Study in South Australia" co-authored with Wallis, Hounslow, Niland, Domett and Trevorrow is now available on Geoarchaeology's Early View page. Please don't hesitate to contact me directly for a pdf version (ian.moffat@anu.edu.au) if you're unable to access this for any reason.

Co-authored Paper at Aqua Conference

2010-07-13T08:04:00.005+10:00

Lynley Wallis from UQ presented a paper that I'm a co-author on discussing the Gledswood Shelter 1 site at the Australasian Quaternary Association conference on North Stradbroke Island yesterday. Abstract is below:

Radiocarbon, OSL and sedimentary analyses at Gledswood Shelter 1, a late Pleistocene
aged rockshelter site from inland northwest Queensland

Lynley Wallis¹, Kathryn Fitzsimmons², Ben Keys³ and Ian Moffat⁴

1) Aboriginal Environments Research Centre, The University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD4072

2) Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

3) Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001

4) Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200

Despite a recognition that the tropical savannah regions of northern Australia have a very long and important role in the history of Aboriginal occupation (eg Horton 1981; O’Connor and Veth 2000; Veth 1989, 1993), only limited archaeological research has been carried out in these areas. A review of all dated archaeological sites in Queensland shows that less than 4% (n=10) are situated in the northern savannah (Ulm et al. 2001). Initial excavations during the 1980s at the sites of Cuckadoo Shelter (Selwyn Ranges) and Mickey Springs 34 (Porcupine Gorge) established that occupation of the broad northwest Queensland region extends to at least ca 15,000 bp (Davidson et al. 1991; Morwood 1990, 1992). However, beyond the Colless Creek and Gregory River 8 sites within the Riversleigh refugia (see Hiscock 1988; Slack 2007; Slack et al. 2004), sites pre-dating the LGM have not yet been located. The patterning of sites raised the question as to whether the wider northwest Queensland savannah corridor was indeed occupied in the pre-LGM period.

In this paper we present the results of radiocarbon and OSL determinations, and sedimentary analyses from the recently excavated Gledswood Shelter 1 site. This site is the first rockshelter outside a well-watered local refuge in the savannah corridor of northwest Queensland to produce evidence for human occupation in the pre-LGM period, thus fitting colonisation models presented by Hiscock and Wallis (2005) and Veth (1989, 1993). The presence of stone artefacts, ochre and charcoal at Gledswood Shelter 1 are testimony to its repeated use throughout at least the last 28,400 years, though it is not yet clear whether it was continuously occupied or abandoned through the height of the LGM before being reoccupied in the Holocene.

Tyre Choice for Remote Area Field Work

2010-07-12T12:58:00.005+10:00

I'm in the process of choosing a new set of tyres for my 80 Series Landcruiser (pictured above in a camp on the Darling River) that will cover me for remote area field work, as well as performing well around town and during long drives to field locations. I run 750R16 tyres on split rims and have previously used Desert Duelers or Road Grippers with moderate success. While these tyres work well in most conditions and allow most punctures to be easily repaired using tube patches and a appropriate bead breaker (I recommend Tyre Pliers) they are susceptible to stakes entering the side wall which can't be repaired. Based on the excellent advice offered by Mick Hutton from Beadell Tours I'm going to try a set of all steel radial tyres this time to see if I can avoid this expensive annoyance. I tried to get a set of MRF "Steel Muscle" or "Steel Muscle L" however they seem to impossible to obtain in Australia at the moment. MRF bias ply tyres are available, however they maximum speed of 100km/hr is too slow for me for long trips. Instead, I'm going to try out a set of 12 ply Hankook Z59's. Like all tyres, these will be a compromise. I expect they'll be ok on the road (although limited in speed to 120km/hr), great in the desert and off track and next to useless in the mud, however I'll update you with a review down the track.

Larry Conyers GPR Short Course

2010-07-07T17:05:00.004+10:00

Professor Larry Conyers from the University of Denver is presenting his well known GPR short course as a pre-conference workshop 7-9 December prior to the Australian Archaeology Conference being held in Bateman's Bay, NSW this year. Larry is well known for his book "Ground-Penetrating Radar for Archaeology" and his
course is fantastic hands on introduction to the GPR technique for the non-specialist. Highly recommended!

Please contact Dr Jack Fenner (jack.fenner@anu.edu.au) for more details or visit the AAA conference website.

Thesis Submission "UNVEILING ROCK ART IMAGES: A PILOT PROJECT EMPLOYING A GEOPHYSCIAL TECHNIQUE TO DETECT MAGNETIC SIGNATURES"

2010-06-15T12:28:00.002+10:00

Jenny Milani, my M.Arch student from the Department of Archaeology at Flinders University will submit her thesis entitled "UNVEILING ROCK ART IMAGES: A PILOT PROJECT EMPLOYING A GEOPHYSCIAL TECHNIQUE TO DETECT MAGNETIC SIGNATURES" tomorrow. Jenny's work is an innovative exploration of the potential of geophysical techniques to contribute to rock art studies. Please contact Jenny directly (after she's sobered up) at mila0013@flinders.edu.au for more information about this research.

Copix Photomapper

2010-06-09T17:51:00.002+10:00

I've been using Copix Photomapper, a free tool for combining GPS track logs and digital images for some time. The software uses the time stamps from the tracklog and photographs to work out the location that the photographs were taken. The interface is simple and intuitive and allows the export of photos by either updating the EXIF metadata to include positioning information or by creating a Google Earth file which displays the photos in their (hopefully!) correct location. Once the EXIF metadata contains position information you can apparently use ArcPhoto to import these into ArcGIS..

The biggest advantage of a tool like Photomapper is that you can avoid the need to take extensive field notes of photo locations where you're doing an extensive survey.

25th Birthday Issue of Geoarchaeology

2010-05-20T14:02:00.003+10:00

The journal Geoarchaeology celebrated its 25th birthday in April and has published a "best of" collection of papers available for free download. The collection includes the classic Dalan and Banerjee paper on soil magnetism and Woodward and Goldberg's excellent review of the geoarchaeology of Mediterranean rock shelters.

Archaeometry Virtual Issue "Diagenetic and Isotopic Studies of Bones and Teeth"

2010-05-12T13:16:00.003+10:00

I've just (belatedly given my PhD topic) discovered the Archaeometry virtual issue "Diagenetic and Isotope Studies of Bones and Teeth". This compilation brings together many classic papers from Archaeometry including the perennially popular Bentley et al (2003) paper on human mobility at Vaihingen using strontium isotopes, the very interesting Simonetti et al. (2008) paper on the possible isobaric interference of Ca, P and O on LA-MC-ICPMS strontium isotope measurements and an excellent 2008 review paper on isotopes and palaeodiet by Lee-Thrope.

Doc Savage's Old World Archaeology Page

2010-05-08T14:09:00.004+10:00

Anyone who's working in the Levant will find Doc Savage's Old World Archaeology Page an invaluable source of GIS data for the region. Dr Stephen Savage from Arizona State University maintains the site, which has data including scanned topographic maps, Landsat images and NIMA-Spot images available for free download as processed data. I've been using his 14.25m resolution Landsat images as a base map for plotting some of my strontium isotope data from the Israel and they look fantastic.

List of Free Geophysics Software

2010-05-05T16:39:00.001+10:00

I just found this Wiki list of free geophysical software. It's heavily geared towards seismic processing and interpretation however they may be something useful for archaeological applications in there.

Jones et al. paper combining geophysics, geochemistry and soil micromophology in Archaeological Prospection

2010-04-26T19:14:00.003+10:00

I've been very interested to read the recent paper "Exploring the Location and Function of a Late Neolithic House at Crossiecrown, Orkney by Geophysical, Geochemical and Soil Micromorphological Methods" by Jones, Challands, French, Card, Downes and Richards in volume 17 of Archaeological Prospection.

This kind of multi-techniques study is very much the direction I'd like to move in exploring Australian Indigenous archaeological sites. I was particularly impressed with the clear illustrations which allow the easy comparison between the gradiometer data and various element distribution maps generated using ICP-OES. I'd be very interested to see further work in this direction, particularly using a multi-techniques approach for the geophysics.

Dr Space Junk speaking to Canberra Archaeology Society tonight at 7:30pm

2010-04-21T16:23:00.005+10:00

Alice "Dr Space Junk" Gorman is speaking tonight to the Canberra Archaeology Society in Manning Clark Theatre 6 at the Australian National University at 7:30 on "Orroral Valley NASA Tracking Station: the archaeology of Australia's space heritage". Alice has a deserved reputation as a very entertaining speaker so I'd encourage you to come along if you're in Canberra.

I'll be presenting a very small portion of the talk about a magnetometer survey that I did on this site as part of Alice's research.

Poster at AAPG New Orleans

2010-04-10T21:29:00.003+10:00

Those of you with an interest in the application of GPR to sedimentological investigations might like to check out my co-authored poster with Steve Hasiotis and Mark Reilly entitled "Preliminary Report on the Neoichnology, Sedimentology, and Geomorphology of Pointbar and Levee Deposits of the Darling River on Bindara Station, Pooncarie, New South Wales, Australia" at the AAPG conference in New Orleans from 11-14 April.

The GPR worked exceptionally well to resolve both erosive surfaces and cross bedding within the pointbar deposit and correlated well with exposure created by a monster trench in the river bank.

Free Geography Tools Blog

2010-04-08T12:00:00.003+10:00

Check out the Free Geography Tools blog by Leszek Pawlowicz which is currently running an excellent series of posts on tools for creating custom vector maps for Garmin GPS units. This allows you to create maps of (for example) geology, topography, vegetation etc. and load them onto your Garmin GPS for display in the field. This provides a cheap alternative (although with a lower quality position) than units like the Trimble Nomad.

Multi-Bands Raster Clipper for ArcMap

2010-03-18T09:15:00.005+11:00

I've always had more trouble than seems appropriate with clipping multi-band raster images in ArcMap. Fortunately my problems have been solved by discovering the Multi-Bands Raster Clipper v1.2, a free download from the ESRI support center. It lets you easily clip rasters with a drawing tool and opens the resultant image as a new layer. Great! The only possible downside is that you will need the spatial analyst extension.

Ecophyte Technologies Prize in Archaeological Geophsyics 2009

2010-03-11T15:07:00.004+11:00

Congratulations to Paul Bladon for winning the Ecophyte Technologies Prize in Archaeological Geophysics in 2009. Paul's project work on locating unmarked burials at the Meadows' Wesleyan Cemetery was of an exceptionally high standard which allowed him to just scrape past an exceptionally competitive field to top my subject ARCH8307 "Introductory Archaeologicial Geophysics".

Please don't hestiate to contact me for details about this subject in 2010.

New Archaeological Geophysics Consulting Company

2010-01-12T11:47:00.003+11:00

I've just been made aware of a new archaeological geophysics consulting company in Melbourne, Australia run by Dave Hunter. Dave did my short course in archaeological geophysics in Adelaide in December last year and is currently doing an undergraduate degree in archaeology at La Trobe University.

Dave seems to have particular experience in resistivity and image processing however he offers a comprehensive range of geophysics services. He's got a great website which includes a particularly useful explanation of the interpretation of infrared photography. To my knowledge, this is the first consulting company in Australia specific to archaeological geophysics which is a great step forward for the industry. Dave is available for work throughout Australia and can be contacted on 0488 501 261 or hunter.geofizz@gmail.com

Archaeomatica: New Journal about Cultural Heritage Technologies

2010-01-06T20:10:00.005+11:00

I received an email today from the editors of "Archaeomatica", a new journal about cultural heritage technologies.

They're seeking papers for four issues this year from a range of fields. You can find more specific information here.

Upcoming Short Course

2009-11-15T17:15:00.002+11:00

Just a quick reminder that my "Introduction to Archaeological Geophysics" short course is running on 10 December just before the Australian Archaeology conference being held at Flinders University.

The course is a great introduction to this topic, as you'll get a basic introduction to geophysical techniques and their application to archaeological problems followed by a hands on session collecting, processing and interpreting data from a range of methods. You'll come away with a good understanding of which geophysical techniques might be able to help out with your archaeological projects and an informed basis for the interpretation of this data.

The course costs $150 for students, $220 for non-students and includes lunch, morning and afternoon tea and a range of Flinders merchandise. The course is followed by the complimentary AA conference welcome BBQ.

You can register for the course here.

Please don't hesitate to contact me via email (ian.moffat@flinders.edu.au) if you require for any further information about the course.

Introductory Archaeological Geophysics

2009-08-14T11:01:00.003+10:00

Hi all,
Just a quick reminder that my Introductory Archaeological Geophysics topic is running from 21 September to 2 October this year at Flinders University. This course is designed to give archaeologists or other interested people without a geophysics background an introduction to collecting, processing and interpreting geophysical data with a particularly focus on archaeological sites.

External students are welcome. Please contact me via email (ian.moffat@flinders.edu.au) for more information.

Cheers,
Ian

ANRA Map Maker

2009-08-12T12:02:00.003+10:00

Hi all,
I've been using the online Australian Natural Resources Atlas quite a lot lately and thought that I'd bring it to your attention.

It's a sort of online GIS with lots of information about (amongst many other things) soil properties around Australia. Make sure that you head to the "More layers" section in the "Layers" menu, as that's where most of the good stuff is.

Cheers,
Ian

Shonky Maps for Garmin GPS

2009-06-25T14:15:00.002+10:00

Hi all,
I'm sorry for my long absence from blogging, I've been distracted with my thesis and other research.

I just wanted to post quickly about a great free product that I've just discovered. Shonkymaps produce a great basemap of Australia based on the Geoscience Australia 1:250000 maps which can be downloaded for free and easily loaded on to Garmin GPS units using the Garmin MapSource software.

The maps have a good level of detail for outback travel and very usefully include a list of UHF repeater stations.

I'd welcome any comments with information about similar products available elsewhere.

Cheers,
Ian

Flinders Seminar and Meadows 150 Presentation

2009-03-19T13:24:00.005+11:00

I'm giving two public lectures in Adelaide next week on the geophysical detection of historic graves.

The first talk is part of the Department of Archaeology Seminar Series at Flinders University. My seminar entitled "The Geophysical Detection of Historic Graves" will be happening from 3-5pm on the 26th of March in Room 133, Humanities Building at Flinders. All are welcome.

The second talk is part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the founding of the the town of Meadows in the Adelaide Hill. The presentation is entitled "Archaeology of Meadow's Wesleyan Cemetery" and will be held from 7:30pm at the Meadows Uniting Church Hall. Entry is by a gold coin donation and supper will be available at a nominal charge. All are welcome and bookings are not required.

Presentation to the Canberra Archaeological Society 18/3/2009

2009-03-16T15:04:00.002+11:00

I'm presenting to the Canberra Archaeological Society this week about geophysical techniques in archaeology. All are welcome to come along. I've listed the details and a short abstract below.

Wednesday 18th March 2009

"Application of Geophysical Techniques to Archaeology"

Where: Manning Clark Theatre 6, Australian National University

When: 7:30pm to 8:30pm

Cost: Gold coin donation

Bookings: Just come along

Phone: Not required

Archaeological geophysics is an emerging field of investigation which allows the subsurface to be imaged, assisting in site location and examination. The key benefits of this approach are that is non-invasive and provides information over large areas for a relatively low cost. In this presentation, Ian Moffat highlights the benefits of these techniques by discussing case studies in historical, maritime and indigenous archaeology. In particular, he describes projects in which historic burials, items of Indigenous material cultural and littoral shipwrecks are located successfully.

The Society of Archaeological Science Archaeometry Blog

2009-03-10T12:48:00.003+11:00

I'd like to draw your attention to the Society for Archaeological Science Archaeometry Blog which is principally maintained by Rob Sternberg from Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania.

The posts are a useful mix of archaeometry news, event announcements and brief technical pieces all written in an accessible and informative style. Most importantly, Rob is a far more active blogger than me with new posts available every few days. The site also contains a useful list of links which should be of interest to followers of this blog.

In summary, highly recommended!

The Geophysical Detection of Historic Graves

2009-03-03T12:39:00.009+11:00

Figure One: A gravestone in the Meadows Wesleyan cemetery, South Australia

The location of unmarked graves is an urgent concern for local councils, heritage managers and archaeologists. Every town has a cemetery or two and often these fall into disuse leading to the destruction or removal of headstones and the loss of burial records. These areas may subsequently become targets for development or the space may become required for additional burials. Obviously, if any graves are disturbed it is distressing and so should be avoided if possible.

Figure Two: Alice Beale and Louise Holt conducting a GPR survey.

I have been conducting research trialling the use of geophysical techniques such as ground penetrating radar, electromagnetic induction, magnetometry and direct current resistivity on these sites as a way of locating unmarked graves. These techniques are attractive because they don't require the ground to be disturbed however there are some significant problems with using them. Firstly, they have mainly been designed for use in mineral exploration and so the deployment methods normally used for them are not appropriate for the location of targets that are as small as human burials. Secondly, human bones are a difficult target for geophysical investigation as they are quite small in size and have similar material properties to the soil.

Figure Three: School children from the Meadows Primary School assisting with a GPR survey.

To remedy this deficiency, I have conducted surveys of cemeteries in different geological environments in Queensland and South Australia to try to develop a robust survey methodology that will allow graves to be located confidently in most cases. The results of these investigations clearly show that the location of graves with these methods is possible however it requires a specific methodology. The following approaches seem to be important: 1) the smaller the increments between survey lines and data points the greater the chance of success, 2) the better the quality of positioning information the more like the survey will be successful, 3) good site information is essential to data interpretation, 4) multi-technique surveys (while time intensive) are much more likely to locate graves regardless of the geological setting.

EAST: Online GIS Help

2009-02-15T18:25:00.006+11:00

I've been making some 3D videos in ArcScene lately which allow you to simulate flying over a landscape of detailed aerial photos draped over a DEM. These are surprisingly easy to make and definitely add to the impact of aerial photography in presentations.

As I hadn't done this before I used the 3D movie tutorial from the EAST Initiative to help out. If, like me, you're more enthusiastic than proficient with GIS I recommend their Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies page as a good starting point to find information that's not overly technical. In particular, the range of GIS tutorials seem a useful resource.

Otoliths: High Resolution Paleoenvironmental Records

2009-02-12T14:55:00.002+11:00

Otoliths, otherwise known as fish ear bones, have the potential to provide a high resolution record of paleoenviromental change through stable isotope geochemistry. These aragonite accretions grow continually through the life of the host fish and their stable isotope ratios and trace element composition are affected by the changes in the compositon of the surronding water thorugh time. These geochemical changes can be tracked most readily using high resolution geochemistry such as laser ablation ICP-MS or ion microprobe (particularly SHRIMP) techniques which can resolve compositonal change for induvidual growth bands. This kind of analysis has become a common tool for biological research and has been occasionally applied to archaeological sites. Another advantage of otoliths is that their size and form may allow the species of fish to be identified and the can be easily dated using the radiocarbon method.

These useful review papers may be of interest:

Campana, S.E., 1999, Chemistry and composition of fish otoliths: pathways, mechanisms and applications, Marine Ecology Progress Series, 188: 263-297.

Elsdon, T.S. and Gillanders, B.M., 2003, Reconstructing migratory patterns of fish based on environmental influences on otolith chemistry, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 13: 219-235.

Thresher, R.E., 1999, Elemental composition of otoliths as a stock delineator in fishes, Fisheries Research, 43 (1-3): 165-204.

Quaternary Forum Meeting, 20 February, 2009, ANU

2009-02-11T17:52:00.004+11:00

The first Quaternary Forum for 2009 will be running from 3-5pm on Friday the 20th of February in Room 2.04 (the main lecture theatre) in the Innovations Building (on the corner of Eggleston and Garran Rds) at ANU. This series is supported by the Centre for Archaeological Research and aims to bring together researchers from throughout the Canberra Quaternary community.

Featured speakers for the 20th of February include:

Professor Peter Hiscock "Small tools and big changes? Defining the environmental context of changing technologies in Holocene Australia"

Dr Andrew Glikson, "Pliocene-Pleistocene glacial-interglacial climates with reference to global warming"

Amy Prendergast, "Tsunami hazard in south-eastern Australia: preliminary findings from palaeotsunami investigations on the NSW coast"

The presentations will be followed by drinks and nibbles. All welcome.

New MALÅ Distributor in Australia

2009-01-30T10:49:00.006+11:00

Mala GPR Australia is a new authorised distributor of MALÅ Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems in Australia. This new company is run by Mads Toft, formerly senior geophysicist for Alpha Geoscience, who has significant experience in environmental geophysics.

MALÅ is the global leader in the design and manufacture of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems. They provide high quality, reliable and easy to use equipment to solve your subsurface investigation needs.

Mala GPR Australia aims to bring qualified GPR knowledge to the Australian GPR market by assisting new and existing companies with the technology. They will accomplish this by making the GPR technology affordable and easily accessible through training and distribution of our industry knowledge. They regard effective after-sales support as one of the most important factors for new users.

Mads has been a strong supporter of the teaching of archaeological geophysics at Flinders University and has always provided excellent after sales service and good advice to me. Please contact him for your GPR rental or purchase requirements.

Contact details:

Mala GPR Australia

Suite 4, 105A Ben Boyd Road

Neutral Bay, NSW, 2089

Australia

Mob: +61 (0) 43828902

Fax: +61 (0) 2 9908 1484

Archaeological Geophysics Course in Adelaide

2009-01-23T19:56:00.003+11:00

I'd like to let everyone know that I'll be running a course in archaeological geophysics at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia from 21 September to 2 October 2009.

This course is run as a masters topic within the graduate coursework program in archaeology/cultural heritage management within the Department of Archaeology and aims to give non-specialists an introduction to the applications of geophysical techniques to archaeology. Participants will get a chance to collect, process and interpret ground penetrating radar, magnetometer and electromagnetic induction data from a historic cemetery within Adelaide as well as being introduced to geophysical techniques in a broader way through lectures and practicals.

You're very welcome enrol in this subject as a short course if you're not a Flinders student and I particularly welcome industry professionals who are interested in acquiring some skills in the emerging area.

Please see the website for more information or feel free to send me an email: ian.moffat@flinders.edu.au

Geochronology Workshop in Adelaide

2009-01-13T09:39:00.003+11:00

I'd like to call your attention to a geochronology workshop being run through Flinders University in early February by my colleges Sarah Rittner and Renaud Joannes-Boyau.  Please note especially that some funding is available to support attendance early career research from Environmental Futures Network member institutions.

Please see the information below for more details.

Geochronology dating methods and their applications in Australasian
  palaeoenvironmental and archaeological research


  An EFN training workshop for ECRs to be held in Adelaide
  2-8 February 2009

Being able to determine the absolute or relative age of sediments,
rocks, artefacts and fossils within a given error range is critical for
the accurate reconstruction of palaeoenvironments and understanding late
Quaternary climate change, as well as interpreting archaeological
sites.  Being able to classify such events on a geological time scale
provides insights about past environmental processes that are critical
for understanding contemporary conditions, as well as for modeling
future conditions (e.g. climate change).

This 7 day training workshop is aimed at early career researchers (ECRs)
in archaeology, palaeontology, quaternary sciences, environmental
sciences and earth sciences and is being supported by the Environmental
Futures Network .  It will include four
days of lectures by visiting specialists, one day of hands-on laboratory
preparation of samples for radiocarbon and OSL/TL dating; and a two day
field trip to the Naracoorte region to experience first hand techniques
for OSL and TL sampling collection (participants can elect to attend
only some of the different components).  Places for the lecture
component are unlimited, however owing to logistical constraints there
are limited places for the laboratory training day and field trip (these
places will be filled on a first come, first in basis)

It has been specifically designed to provide ECRs and other participants
with the chance to learn from, and network with, leading experts in a
range of geochronology fields from around Australia and abroad.
Participants will gain a solid understanding of the basic theory and
methodology of a range of dating techniques (OSL, TL, ESR, U-series and
radiocarbon) useful for establishing chronological frameworks for the
reconstruction of palaeoenvironments and the interpretation of
archaeological sites, as well as hear case study presentations in which
applications of these dating techniques are discussed.

*Program (from 9 am til 5 pm each day)*

Day 1 - General introduction and housekeeping; *Radiocarbon Dating*,
with presentations from *Dr Fiona Petchey* (Waikato Radiocarbon Dating
Laboratory), *Dr John Tibby* (Geographical and Environmental Studies,
University of Adelaide - yet to confirm) and *Dr Lynley Wallis* (Dept of
Archaeology, Flinders University)

Day 2 - *OSL and TL Dating*, with presentations from *Sarah Rittner*
(Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University),
*Prof Nigel Spooner* (Defence, Science and Technology Organisation) and
*Prof John Prescott* (University of Adelaide)

Day 3  - *ESR Dating*, with presentations from *Sarah Rittner* (Research
School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University), *Renaud
Joannes-Boyau*  (Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian
National University) and *Prof Rainer Grun* (Research School of Earth
Sciences, The Australian National University).  Please note there will
be an informal dinner on this evening; further details will be provided
at the workshop

Day 4 -* U-Th Dating*, with presentations from *Renaud Joannes-Boyau*
(Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University),
*Dr Liz Reed* (Flinders University/ SA Dept of Environment and
Heritage), *Dr Gavin Prideaux* (School of Biology, Flinders University)
and *Prof Rod Wells* (School of Biology, Flinders University)

Day 5 - *Laboratory session* including a tour of the OSL/TL lab at the
University of Adelaide with *Prof John Prescott*, and sample
pre-treatment for OSL/TL and C14 with *Prof John Prescott,* *Sarah
Rittner* and *Fiona Petchey*

Days 6 and 7 - *Field trip* to Naracoorte Caves area led by *Sarah
Rittner *covering practical aspects of field sampling for OSL and ESR
dating of sediments.

*Confirmed case study presentations*

Prof Rainer Grun - The role of ESR dating in the reconstruction of
modern human evolution
Dr Gavin Prideaux - Dating megafaunal extinctions in southwest Western
Australia
Prof Rod Wells - Dating dilemnas at the Rocky River megafaunal site,
Kangaroo Island
Dr Lynley Wallis - OSL and radiocarbon sampling in archaeological sites:
case studies from the Coorong and northwest Queensland
Dr Liz Reed - title yet to be advised

*Location*:
Days 1 - 4: Flinders University Bedford Park Campus (room to be advised);
Day 5: University of Adelaide City Campus (room to be advised):
Days 6 and 7: Field Trip to Naracoorte Caves and dunes (depart from
Flinders University at 9 am Saturday morning, return by 7 pm Sunday evening)

*Dates:* This 7-day workshop will run from Monday 2 February until
Sunday 8 February 2009.
*
Costs: *A small fee will be charged for the different components of this
workshop (a discount will be offered for participants from organisations
that are members of the Environmental Futures Network - participant
organisations are listed on the payment form; in addition, a travel
rebate will be available to ECRs from participant organisations who
travel interstate to attend the workshop - more information on this
component is available by contacting Lynley Wallis).  The fee will
include lunch and morning/afternoon teas on lecture days, and costs
associated with the two day field trip to Naracoorte.

Please visit
http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/archaeology/postgrad_programs/master_classes/
to submit your expression of interest in attending this workshop and/or
to obtain a payment form (which includes a detailed overview of the fee
structure).

Vehicle Requirements for Remote Area Fieldwork

2008-12-22T11:54:00.003+11:00

I was asked recently for my thoughts about the minimum equipment requirements for a vehicle used for remote area fieldwork in Australia. This is a difficult request, because the specific requirements for different areas are different, as is the definition of what people consider "remote area" to be.

I have done most of my remote area field work in western New South Wales, northern South Australia and north west Queensland where you are generally no more than 2 hours from the nearest town and where the driving conditions are not overly difficult. Most driving is done on dirt roads or station tracks with infrequent deep sand and occasional shallow water crossings. Generally other people are around the area and can be contacted via UHF or satellite phone to arrange some assistance if necessary. If fieldwork is being conducted in areas where assistance is less likely, a rigorous equipment list than displayed here should be considered.

I would consider the following an essential list of basic requirements for vehicle accessories for remote area fieldwork:

Bull bar
Heavy duty tow bar
Second spare tyre
Cargo barrier if using a wagon
Recovery kit including snatch-um strap, tow rope, heavy duty u-bots, long handled shovel air compressor and winch cable dampeners
Basic tool kit including shifters, wrench set, screwdriver set, cable ties, breaker bars (if using split rims) and tyre repair kit.
Washable air filter

I would generally consider the following items "almost"essential

Dual battery system with isolation switch
Driving lights
UHF radio
EPIRB
Winch
Dual fuel tanks
Roof rack (if using a wagon)
Snorkel

I would also strongly consider getting a HF radio fitted for long distance vehicle to vehicle communication if you have multiple field crews working in different areas.

I'll discuss what type and configuration of vehicle to use and give my thoughts on basic field maintenance in a post soon.

All the best for Christmas and the New Year,
Ian

Researcher Profile: Ian Moffat

2008-11-07T11:36:00.010+11:00

I thought I'd make my first researcher profile an introduction to me and my research interests.

I'm interested broadly in applying techniques such as geophysics, geochemistry and sedimentology to archaeological sites. My research is strongly field focused and takes place around Australia and internationally.

I'm currently a PhD candidate within the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University doing research on applying strontium isotope geochemistry as a means of tracing human migrations in the Levant supervised by Professor Rainer Grun. Basically, I'm creating a map of the ratio of strontium 86 to strontium 87 in soil, rock and plant samples from the principal geological provinces in Israel. The analysis of this material is being undertaken in such a way as to try to mimic the strontium that might be taken up in biological systems.

Previous research has shown that the strontium isotope ratio in teeth reflects the ratio of where a person was born, provided that they ate local plants and animals and drank local water. I will be applying this by analysing teeth and bone from archaeological sites such as Amud, Tabun, Qefzah, Kebara, Skhul and Sefunim and attempting to match the strontium ratio of the teeth to a specific part of Israel based on the soil, rock or plant samples. Hopefully, this will provide some indication of where these individuals sampled grew up and hence how far they may have travelled in their lifetime

I also hold an adjunct appointment within the Department of Archaeology at Flinders University where I teach a masters subject in archaeological geophysics and do collaborative research in geophysics and sedimentology and their applications to archaeological sites. This includes projects in South Australia and in north-west Queensland with Dr Lynley Wallis using geophysical techniques on sites of interest to Australian indigenous archaeology including rock shelters, hearths, middens and burials which most recently has been published in the journals Antiquity and Australian Archaeology.

I am currently leading a project investigating the potential of geophysical techniques to locate historic graves in differing geological environments. This project involves undertaking geophysical survey with instruments such as GPR, mag, EMI and DC resistivity in a variety of cemeteries of various ages in different geographic locations in an attempt to develop robust survey methodology that is responsive to site conditions.

This work involves many collaborators from different institutions including Dr Lynley Walli s and Louise Holt from Flinders University, Alice Beale from the Western Australian Museum, Dr Nigel Chang and Steven Hall from the Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Sociology at James Cook University and Denise Schuman from the Norwood History Centre at the City of Norwood Payneham and St Peters as well as community groups including the Battunga Lions Club, the Charters Towers Host Lion Club and the combined Newland and Yilki church councils.

I also work with maritime archaeologist Jason Raupp on developing geophysical survey methodologies for littoral maritime archaeological sites. This work is ongoing but the most recently been published in the Technical Briefs in Historical Archaeology online series concerns a possible wreck at Port Elliot, South Australia.

I have also worked on a number of other interesting sites including Lake Mungo, Ban Non Wat, the Darling River, Lake Eyre, Kangaroo Island, Stuart Bay, the Tasman Penninsula and on the south coast of Papua New Guinea.

Prior to beginning my PhD I was Communications and Business Manager with Ecophyte Technologies one of Australia's premier high resolution geophysical survey companies. My undergraduate degrees were a Bachelor of Arts in History and English and a Bachelor of Sciences (with honours) in Earth Sciences at the University of Queensland. My honours research entitled "Holocene Evolution of the Offshore Burdekin Delta" supervised by Professor Chris Fielding (now at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln).

Ian

In Praise of Magpick: Free Gridding Software

2008-10-30T09:40:00.000+11:00

I'd like to use this post to draw your attention to Magpick, a free program for the gridding of geophysical (or any other) data. This program is available for download for free from Geometrics at this location.

Magpick was initially developed by Mikhail Tchernychev at the University of Hamburg in spring 1996 as a simple tool for the basic interpretation of magnetometer data. The program has undergone many significant upgrades since then and is now distributed as a free product by Geometrics.

I have used Magpick sporadically for consulting and academic work since 2005 and find it an effective, if simple, tool for gridding with any basic spatial data. While the software has been developed specifically for the interpretation of magnetic intensity data it is also effective as a way of gridding any other information such as topography making it a cost effective replacement for programs such as Surfer.

Despite these other benefits, the biggest strength of Magpick is as a teaching aid. Because the software can be downloaded by students to load onto their own computers for free it allows them to practise their skills out of class time. I use Magpick for my subject Introductory Archaeological Geophysics and generally find that students can become competent in basic gridding operations after only a few hours of practise. To aid in this process I have developed a rough guide to Magpick operation. This is intended as a very basic guide to enable new users to quickly make basic maps. For a far more comprehensive guide please see the manual.

The principle disadvantages of using Magpick are its lack of effective data editing functions (particularly when compared to more sophisticated and expensive software such as Oasis Montaj) and the less than seamless manner in which it interfaces with MapInfo and Arc GIS. Despite this, I consider it a worthwhile tool, particularly for research or teaching.

Ian Moffat

Welcome!

2008-10-24T12:32:00.000+11:00

I'd like to welcome everyone to the Archaeometry Blog!

I hope that this site will become a useful resource for everyone with an interest in applying scientific techniques to archaeology. I intend to discuss current research, profile researchers, research groups, companies or other blogs and most of all facilitate the sharing of useful information that might not otherwise be widely disseminated.

I'd also like to acknowledge the inspiration of Dr Alice Gorman and Mick Morrison who's blogging ("Space Age Archaeology" and "Mick Morrison's Archaeology Blog" respectively) has prompted me to venture down the blog path myself.

Ian Moffat