Trent Valley GeoArchaeology

Experimental Mapping of the Risk of Encountering Buried Archaeology on Aggregate Landscapes

The project builds on a number of significant aggregate related projects funded in the Trent Valley under previous rounds of the ALSF.  The significant corpus of archaeological knowledge gathered for this valley floor provides arguably the best (national) opportunity to develop and test a model for archaeological decision making with respect to risk and for the direct transfer of this knowledge to planning authorities and the minerals industry. 

In simple terms, the proposed project will build GIS-based spatial models which will allow a first level of understanding of the likely archaeological value of land parcels within the study area. 

The proposed research aims to begin by reviewing attitudes to risk and risk management in relation to cultural heritage within the aggregates industry in order to identify appropriate metrics for quantifying and describing risk. 

Research will work to develop a set of robust algorithms that are based on personal perceptions and empirical scientific data to quantify the archaeological risk at the level of individual land parcels.  It is anticipated that the completed models will provide per parcel scores for: 

• The predicted archaeological potential of all land parcels.

• The aggregate bearing potential and value of all land parcels.

• The susceptibility of individual land parcels field evaluation techniques.

• The likely physical condition of buried cultural remains.

• The risk of encountering buried waterlogged organic remains.

• The level of impact that different forms of extraction may have on the archaeological record

• The importance of archaeology in the light of regional priorities.

• The likely mitigation needs in the light of PPG 16 guidance. 

Models will be validated through feedback from stakeholders. Project results will be disseminated to the wider stakeholder and academic community.