Flights of fancy uncover our history

Despite the return to rain and thunderstorms in recent days, farmers might still be worried about parched and burned up areas of their crops. However, for archaeologists the dry July provided the best conditions for carrying out aerial photography of crop marks since the mid 1970s.

Speaking yesterday, Dave Cowley, aerial survey projects manager with the Royal Commission of Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) said that the recent dry conditions had led to the differential crop growth which was excellent for highlighting the remains of everything buried beneath the soil – from ancient farmsteads to Roman forts and iron-age monuments.

“Between 75 and 80 per cent of what we know about the past comes through the use of aerial photography – and the past few weeks have provided a fantastic opportunity to add to that knowledge,” said Cowley.

He said that in arable areas especially the bulk of archaeological remains which were beneath a farmers’ feet – or tractor tyres – were invisible for 90 per cent of the time – and conditions like those during the recent dry spell were few and far between:

“Last year was a bit of a write-off as it was so wet. We got some half-decent finds in 2006 – but for anything that compares with the glorious detail we’ve been finding in East Lothian, Angus and around Moray over the past few weeks you’d need to go back to 1976 or 77.”

He said that some of the finds had been individually spectacular – but added that sometimes the smaller “patchwork quilt” elements sometimes provided even more important parts of history’s jigsaw, adding that what had been found so far was probably only the tip of the iceberg.

The use of aerial photography to archaeological ends had begun after the First World War – but had really got into its swing between 1945 and 1950:

“Back then aerial photography revolutionised the field of archaeology – and created a sea-change in the amount of information we had on ancient sites around the country.”

And, according to Cowley, the discipline is currently on the brink of a new revolution.

“Until recently satellite imagery didn’t have sufficient resolution to allow us to make much use of it as anything under a metre across was blurred,” he said.

“However, imaging abilities have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years and are now on the brink of giving us another fantastic resource.”

He added that the use of sensors that recorded in near infra-red and other areas of the non-visible spectrum – which were currently considered cutting edge and only available to the few – would soon be used routinely, giving another huge boost to the archaeologist’s bank of knowledge.

However, there was a degree of frustration with current technology – as he had been having technical problems with the light aircraft he currently uses for the aerial photography.

“Every missed day is a day wasted – so I’ve been trying to beg steal or borrow as much flight time as I can get” said Cowley.

Anyone out there got a spare aeroplane?