Staff Research Interests

Prof. Bill Hanson
My research interests in aerial archaeology are focused primarily on the principles, methods and practice of aerial archaeology and the applications of aerial and satellite remote sensing in archaeology, particularly in relation to the elucidation of settlement patterns and the archaeology of the Roman period in Britain and Romania.  Programmes of aerial survey have been undertaken across SW Scotland, focusing in the Upper Clyde Valley, and in central Transylvania.

Dr Kenneth Brophy
My research has largely focused on working with cropmark sites, especially Neolithic sites and monuments. My focus has been on the characterisation of the cropmark record, through interpretation, excavation and site visits, with my main concern being the integration of cropmark information with more traditional narratives related to Neolithic Britain and Ireland. More recently, I have begun to develop a theoretical strand of aerial archaeology, reflecting on the practice of reconnaissance and the nature and aesthetics of cropmarks.

Research Activities

Aerial archaeology is not just about discovering sites from the air, but involves integrating those sites into the wider picture of the archaeology of the period or region concerned.  This may involve various other forms of survey or excavation.

Thus over the last two years the Centre has been involved with various elements of the Strathearn Environs and Royal Forteviot Project (SERF), based in central Strathearn, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. This Project focuses on the village of Forteviot, the location of a major cropmark complex representing two different ‘boom’ periods for this location. The earlier is a huge Neolithic complex, with a large palisaded enclosure and several other enclosures apparent. Adjacent to this are the traces of an early medieval cemetery, with long graves and square barrows. One key element of this Project is the characterisation of these cropmarks, in the form of updated photo-interpretation, and a new set of transcriptions produced by RCAHMS. This has been accompanied by a programme of excavation, uncovering archaeological as well as natural features that show as cropmarks (such as palaeochannels and tree throws). We are also developing ways of monitoring the deterioration of the cropmarks (and so of the site) through repeat ploughing. Thus cropmarks, and how we deal with them, are an important element of the Project.

Most recently work by the Centre has involved collaboration with the Römisch-Germanische Kommission des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts and the RCAHMS to survey the interior of two ambiguous Roman military sites in south-west Scotland originally discovered from the air, using a new16-channel geophysical probe array pulled by a 4x4 vehicle.  The double-ditched, two-period enclosure at Dalswinton Bankfoot, the larger phase covering some 21.6 acres (8.7 ha), has long been suspected to be an early Flavian fort, while the smaller  9.4 acre (3.8ha) enclosure at Ward Law, with its multiple tituli at one entrance, has been variously interpreted as a camp or a fort.   Survey suggested that both were indeed camps, as no buildings were detected in their interiors, nor any gate structures at their entrances, while a range of possible ovens was identified at the latter.  The enclosure at Dalswinton also lies within a c. 59 acre (24ha) Stracathro-type temporary camp, within which a series of ovens was detected, including a line just inside the NW perimeter.  The ditch on the NW side was traced further S than has previously been recorded on aerial photographs.

  DALSWINTON: The most prominent features in the centre of this aerial photograph are the positive cropmarks of two sides of the large, two-phase, double-ditched Roman military enclosure at Bankfoot. Faintly visible towards the top of the photograph is one side of the Stracathro-type temporary camp.

The 16-channel geophysical probe array in use, being pulled by a 4 x 4 vehicle during survey at Dalswinton.