ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 explained how antiquaries like Cyriac of
Ancona, and Stukeley, or the tell-diggers of the
Near East, relied on straightforward visual inspec-
tion to find ancient sites – and emphasised the fact
that they frequently saw them as components of
a landscape (15). Standing structures or earth-
works obviously attracted more attention than
building materials or artefacts lying around on the
surface. Some antiquaries travelled to investigate
unknown areas, others made systematic attempts
to increase knowledge about regions that had
already proved productive; limitations of transport
My aim in this chapter is to introduce non-destructive methods used for discovering, investigating and
recording archaeological sites and landscapes. Much can be learned about individual sites from surface
observations alone, without the irreversible physical intervention of excavation (the subject of chapter
3), which should be used as a last resort. In densely populated, intensively cultivated countries well-
preserved ancient sites and landscapes still survive, but are easily damaged; indeed, many prehistoric
sites in western Europe must already have been ploughed flat before the end of the Roman period. In
these circumstances any approach that can ‘see beneath the soil’ has a particularly important role, from
broad-scanning aerial photography that takes in extensive landscapes to geophysical devices that detect
buried structures on individual sites.
