Participating in the Past: Other Field Survey

4.8.2 Other Field Survey

Survey covers a wide range of non-interventionist activities. The importance of earthwork survey has long been recognised both for monument management and monument understanding, and a number of relatively simple techniques are described in the literature. It is also an area where training is being offered by a number of bodies. In some areas it has been successfully linked with botanical study, for instance when earthworks survive within woodland or areas of ancient heath or pasture. As the technology becomes more available – for example low-cost resistivity meters – some groups are equipping themselves with the means to carry out geophysical survey also. In some cases surface survey work may be usefully linked to ‘adopt-a-monument’ work (see below). Other kinds of field survey include churchyard survey with monument and botanical recording, extraction industry surveys linked to geological studies, boundary studies, foreshore survey, air survey, and woodland survey where detailed surface investigation can produce some surprising results.