Fieldwork project details

Location of fieldwork

Harnhill, Cirencester

Quarry field: 51.705438,-1.901665, https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=51.705438,-1.901665&num=1&t=h&z=16

Cherry Copse: 51.704062,-1.885244, https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=51.704062,-1.885244&num=1&t=h&z=18

Brief description of fieldwork activity and purpose:

To take quantitative and qualitative thermal imaging measurements throughout a diurnal (daily) cycle and to evaluate the thermal masking effects of crop on soil thermal emmittance.

Fieldwork itinerary

•  Mon 18th (arrive, co-ordinate erection of scaffolding, check equipment, check generator, set up tent, gazebo. agree working arrangements, identify and resolve any outstanding issues)
• Tuesday 19th: measurements at first field
• Wednesday 20th measurements at second field, strim crop in first field
• Thursday 21st measurements at first field, strim crop in second field
• Friday 22nd, measurements at second field. Dismantle equipment, Debrief

Organiser details

Dr. Anthony Beck, a.r.beck@leeds.ac.uk, 0113 343 5433

Fieldwork activity organiser/ Course leader:

Dr. Anthony Beck, a.r.beck@leeds.ac.uk, 0113 343 5433

Departmental co-ordinator:

Dr. Anthony Beck, a.r.beck@leeds.ac.uk, 0113 343 5433

Nature of visit:

To collect thermal imaging data

Participant details

Contact details(name, email address, telephone, next of kin contact details)

Ant Beck, a.r.beck@leeds.ac.uk, 0113 343 5433, Maria Beck, 01924 824045

David Stott

Graham Ferrier

Rosie and John Wells

Doreen Boyd

UCL person (to be confirmed)

High risk hazard identification and control measures

Identify all hazards specific to fieldwork trip and activities, describe existing control measures and identify any further measures required.

Nature of site

Farm and associated fields.

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

It is a working farm (plant, livestock)

CONTROL MEASURES:

The farm is a project partner. No machinery will be used other than that described in this assessment. No other farm machinery will be used within a close radius of the research activities. A close liaison will be maintained with Mr Tony Norris (Farm manager). Livestock will not be an issue for this work.

Environmental conditions

24 hour operation.

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

Exposure to full range of environmental conditions.

CONTROL MEASURES:

Rain and sun shelter (gazebo will be provided).

All participants have been advised to bring warm clothes and full PPE.

A tent will be provided (with sleeping bags, blankets, etc.)

Adequate water will be provided.

Site specific conditions

Working farm

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

Livestock or machinery issues associated with a working farm

CONTROL MEASURES:

Full liaison with the farm (they are a project partner).

Process

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

Scaffold tower

Generator

CONTROL MEASURES:

Scaffold tower will be erected and dismantled by trained contractors with appropriate stability and access needs.

A generator and UPS will provide power. An appropriate generator will be hired with waterproof couplings.

Transport

Van, cars

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

Getting stuck in a field

CONTROL MEASURES:

No vehicles will be driven onto the fields

Manual handling risks, operation of machinery, tools, use of specialist equipment, etc.

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

Climbing scaffold tower

CONTROL MEASURES:

Appropriate means to climb the scaffolding tower will be requested of the contractors.

Equipment will be lifted to the working platform using a rope and transport box.

Violence

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

None identified

Individual(s)

Medical condition(s), young, inexperienced, disabilities etc.

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

None identified

Work Pattern

Time and location e.g. shift work, work at night, etc.

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

Working at night

CONTROL MEASURES:

Halogen lights

No loan working

Permissions Requires

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

None identified

Contact details, restrictions and details of permissions

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

None identified

Other specific risk assessments

E.g. Is COSHH, manual handling, lone working identified? Are there training requirements? (Cross reference where appropriate)

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

None identified

Health questionnaire completed

Is it required and has it been completed, who by and where is it recorded

Health surveillance required

Is it required and has it been completed, who by and recorded

Vaccinations required

Obtained and certificate where applicable

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

None identified

First aid provision

Requirement for first aid or specialist first aid equipment, access to medical equipment and hospitals

HAZARD(S) IDENTIFIED:

None identified (out of the ordinary)

CONTROL MEASURES:

A first aid kit will be provided

Tony Norris will be contacted for local first-aiders

Cirencester Hospital

Tetbury Road

Cirencester, Glos

GL7 1UY

Tel: 01285 655711

ADDITONAL SUPPORTING INFORMATION:

Pre-departure briefing

Carried out via personal communication and telephone

Training

None required

FCO advice

Not applicable (UK work)

Supervision

Not applicable

Other Controls

Not required – working with the land owner

Identify Persons at Risk

None

Additional Information

None

Residual risk

Is the residual risk acceptable with the identified controls? YES

Communication of risk assessment findings to those involved

Local induction: YES

Details of risk assessment discussed and agreed: YES

Copy of risk assessment available: YES

Controls covered by local protocols and procedures: YES

Safety Handbook location notified: No (Not applicable)

Briefing talk (toolbox talk): YES

Team meeting: YES

Email circulation: YES

Other method of communication: YES – website http://dartproject.info/WPProjects/?p=18

People involved

Assessment carried out by:

Signature:

Date:

None specified

Names of person(s) involved:

Signature:

Date:

None specified

NB: if this is a large group, please add the class register as a related document

Fieldwork activity organiser/

Course leader (e.g. PI, etc) :

Signature:

Date:

None specified

Related risk assessment IDs

Please record the ID numbers of any risk assessments that have been attached in the Related documents element of this form:

Related documents

Project Design - http://dartproject.info/WPProjects/?p=18

Related tasks

No related tasks

The programme of research has been designed specifically to identify physical, chemical and biological contrast factors that may allow the detection of archaeological residues (both directly and by proxy) using sensing devices. To determine contrast factors samples and measurements will be taken on and around different sub-surface archaeological features at different times of the day and year to ensure that a representative range of conditions is covered. Field measurements will include geophysical and hyperspectral surveys, thermal profiling, geotechnical parameters, soil moisture and spectral reflectance. Laboratory analysis of samples will include geochemistry and particle size. Models will be developed that translate these physical values into spectral, magnetic and geophysical measures in order to determine detection parameters. This will allow DART to address the following research issues:

• What are the factors that produce archaeological contrasts?
• How do these contrast processes vary over space and time?
• What processes cause these variations?
• How can we best detect these contrasts (sensors and conditions)?

The key will be to understand the dynamic interaction between soils, vegetation and archaeological residues and how these affect detection with sensing devices. This requires understanding how the archaeological features differs from, and dynamically interacts with, the localised soils and vegetation and how these differences can be detected.

Confirmation statement / explanation of variance

The DART project is being conducted according to the terms of the initial contract with AHRC with the following exceptions:

• The project duration has been extended and will now conclude in October 2013 to coincide with the completion of the PhD studentships.

Changes to original award

Due to voluntary severance Dr. Armin Schmidt (Bradford University) has been replaced by Dr. Chris Gaffney (Bradford University). Due to work commitments Prof Michael Stevens (Nottingham University) has been replaced by Dr. Doreen Boyd (Nottingham University) as the main Co-I at Nottingham; Stevens remains a Co-I at Nottingham. Schmidt has been retained as a consultant to the project.

Highlights of the research /important findings [where applicable]

The 2011-2012 year saw DART achieve a number of major milestones. We have installed TDR probes, temperature and weather sensors at our Harnhill and Diddington study areas. The regular monitoring surveys have started. At present the geophysical surveys geotechnical sampling and spectro-radiometry have a monthly baseline interval. Further, two weekly, spectro-radiometry surveys are taken at Diddington at specific periods in the crop cycle. EAGLE, HAWK and CASI hyperspectral surveys have been flown and augmented with LiDAR, high resolution vertical photographs and multi-temporal oblique photographs (captured by local aerial archaeologists). Four further hyperspectral, thermal and LiDAR flights have been commissioned for 2012.

The measurements in 2011 coincided with the driest spring in Cambridgeshire since 1910. This provided ‘ideal’ localized stress/vigour responses which leads to the formation of vegetation marks: even in the ‘heavy’ clay soils. By comparing the aerial imaging (see below under grant applications) with the multi-temporal ground spectro-radiometry measurements we were able to determine underlying crop variations that led to the formation of the localized marks. Initial research has shown that the Near Infra-red region provides the greatest contrast and allows for improved detection of archaeological remains. The contrast is greater in particular wavebands/lengths (for example at 1156nm which is attributable to lignin in the leaf). This is due to both spectral sensitivity (being able to see the wavelength) and spectral resolution (being able to observe a small enough part of the wavelength to capture the contrast). This demonstrates the potential of wavelengths outside the visible spectrum. Further research is needed to identify other detection characteristics and to determine if the window of opportunity for detection is enhanced. The aerial imaging data from 2011 will form a benchmark for the project as due to the extreme soil moisture deficit conditions it will, theoretically, exhibit the maximal range of archaeological features.

Further diurnal and multi-temporal variations in soil and vegetation responses were established with the permittivity, conductivity, temperature and spectro-radiometry readings. Initial geophysical results indicate that different probe spacings and sensor configurations can significantly enhance the detection of archaeological features at different times of the year. Linking the sensor variations through to the local weather conditions, land management techniques and stages in the crop-cycle will potentially allow the identification of process which in turn will lead to more effective ways of using remote sensing that will improve the future management and curation of archaeological sites.

The project is Open Science. This means that, where practicable, all science objects (data, algorithms, illustrations etc.) will be made openly available for public re-use and exploitation. By openly sharing journal articles, data, code, online software tools, questions, ideas, and speculations we can open up the scientific process. This has the potential to revolutionise the research process and the way we engage with peers, policymakers and the public. This has seen re-use of data for a range of non-archaeological reasons by researchers, organizations and individuals outside the DART consortium. This will increase impact.

A number of spin-out experiments have been undertaken, or are planned. This includes a plant biology growth experiment, evaluation of the impact of land-management techniques on signal attenuation, a thermal emission experiment and the evaluation of an induced saturation event on sensor measurements.

Progress of the project

Active Collaborations outside the consortium 2011-2012

DART is continuing to collaborate with external organizations:

• Allied Associates Geophysics Ltd, loan of geophysics equipment
• Dr Gary Llewellyn, NERC, thermal experiment
• Dr Graham Ferrier, University of Hull, FTIR and Remote Sensing
• Dr Kay Smith, BGS, thermal experiment
• John and Rosie Wells, West Lothian Archaeology Group, thermal experiment
• Leica Geosystems, loan of GNSS equipment
• Prof Christine Foyer, Simon Driscoll and Raghavendra (Reddy) Mohan, University of Leeds, Plant biology experiment
• Royal Agricultural College and Thornhill Estates, site access
• Van Walt Ltd, loan of TDR equipment

DART aims to deploy the field sensors/probes at each site in perpetuity (described below).

Grant applications

Due to the exceptionally dry conditions in Cambridgeshire a responsive mode request was submitted to the NERC ARSF team for a hyperspectral survey over the Diddington site in June 2011 with the support of Mr. Quinton Carroll (the County Archaeologist). This was submitted on Friday 10th June, approved on Monday 13th June and flown on Tuesday 14th June. Many thanks to NERC ARSF for agreeing to this request.

The DART team submitted a grant application to the NERC Airborne Remote Sensing Facility (ARSF) for 4 hyperspectral flights during 2012. This was in collaboration with Dr. Graham Ferrier (University of Hull) and Mr. Tom Overbury (RAC). This application was successful. After a meeting with the NERC team at Gloucester airport on the 13th February it was agreed that the EAGLE and HAWK hyperspectral, Leica RCD105 camera, Fullwaveform LiDAR and, if working, the thermal Airborne Thematic Sensor would be flown.

Publications, conferences, workshops and outreach

A range of academic/specialist and popular material have been published (see publication section below).

On the 27th April the first DART community workshop was held at Leeds University (see ‘events held’ section below).

Ant Beck and Chris Gaffney were invited to present respectively at the Aerial and Geophysical heritage workshops convened by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Vienna.

Papers and posters were presented at the ISPRS 2011, AARG 2011, ISAP 2011 and CAA 2012 conferences

A presentation and press conference was given at the British Science Festival in Bradford

Ant Beck gave DART presentations to the Cambridge Archaeologists Forum, Bradford University, University College Dublin and the Royal Agricultural College.

Website delivery and dissemination framework

In line with its Open Science agenda DART hosts a range of digital objects in a variety of publically accessible content specific repositories (images in flickr, documents in scribd, presentations in slideshare, videos in youtube etc.). All the digital objects are made available under a creative commons licence to encourage re-use. The project website was established soon after project kick-off. Project updates are generated as blog posts. In addition metadata about the digital objects, described above, are automatically harvested and accessible through the website (essentially making the website a portal on the research outputs).

Development of methodology and technical approaches

Field and lab based procedures have been documented and agreed with the DART consortium.

Probe installation

We have installed TDR, temperature and weather sensors at our Harnhill and Diddington study areas.

Field Surveys

The regular monitoring surveys have started. At present the geophysical surveys geotechnical sampling and spectro-radiometry have a monthly baseline interval. Further, two weekly, spectro-radiometry surveys are taken at Diddington at specific periods in the crop cycle.

The community stakeholders requested that we include a CMD-Mini explorer in the data collection suite. The CMD-Mini Explorer simultaneously maps magnetic and conductivity at three different depths 0.5 m, 1.0 m, 1.8 m and is marketed for use in agriculture and related tasks. This has been purchased.

Laboratory Analysis

Preliminary soil testing has been conducted on both the disturbed and undisturbed samples from Diddington. These tests include moisture content, Particle Size Distributions (PSD), density and Ph at various depths for both the soils collected from within and outside the archaeology. Calibration and testing of each TDR probe was conducted in the laboratory prior to installation. Furthermore, the data loggers and multiplexer systems with all the probes were tested. Computer scripts were developed to allow automatic logging of the probes.

Monolith samples taken from the Harnhill and Diddington sites have been sub-sampled at Winchester in order to measure moisture content, magnetic susceptibility, organic content and grain size. Analyses of the first three were completed in November 2011. Grain size measurements are ongoing, but are scheduled for completion before the end of April 2012.

Aerial Surveys

EAGLE, HAWK and CASI hyperspectral surveys have been flown and augmented with LiDAR, high resolution vertical photographs and multi-temporal oblique photographs (captured by local aerial archaeologists). Four further hyperspectral, thermal and LiDAR flights have been commissioned for 2012.

Data and Analysis Environment

Instigation of a Method Store

After community consultation (including feedback from Aerial Archaeology Research Group, the Council for British Archaeology, and the Institute for Archaeologists) DART has collaborated with the Open Knowledge Foundation and established a methodology repository (http://methods.okfn.org). It is envisaged that the repository will capture the development of methodologies (capturing data for the history of science) and host methodologies. Future incarnations may allow the chaining of methodologies via workflow enactors.

Data Environment

We have purchased a data server. This will be used to share the project data between the consortium. In addition, deposition and resource discovery metadata will be associated for each data object.

Integration, Visualization and Analysis Environment

A web based Content Management System is being implemented to make the range of raw data collected available publically over the web. It will maintain the metadata for each deposited object which will be used for resource discovery and subsequent deposition in a domain data repository (likely to be the Archaeology Data Service). An integrated spatial-database will be developed to hold all the measurements, probably based on PostGres, which will contain structured facsimiles of the raw data in the CMS. Scripts will be generated that convert and import the raw data into the database. A web-visualization interface will be implemented (using a pre-existing framework) to allow users to undertake simple querying, data mining and data extraction from the database. Some of the data may be made available as Web Services that can be accessed by individuals or geosensor web harvesting engines.

Affiliated MSc project on Plant Phenology

In 2011 an MSc student project was developed under the primary supervision of Prof Foyer (School of Plant Biology) at Leeds University. Studies on wheat plants grown under controlled environment conditions on four clay soils from different points close to archaeological features revealed that plant germination and growth parameters such as shoot biomass and number of tillers were useful markers of soil type. Of the range of physiological markers measured in this study, photosynthetic CO2 assimilation rate was found to be the most sensitive marker of soil type under both water-replete and drought conditions. Similarly, the dark adapted Fv/Fm measurement (chlorophyll fluorescence: light that has been re-emitted after being absorbed by chlorophyll molecules of plant leaves), which is related to the quantum yield of CO2 assimilation, was a good marker of soil type, particularly under conditions of limited water availability. Soil strength was shown to be an important factor. A follow up experiment is being conducted in 2012 with the aim for a publication in the autumn.

Research staff

Dr. Anthony Beck, Research Fellow (Project Champion), University of Leeds, 1/4/2010 – 30/9/2013.

Project Partners

Academic Consultants

• Armin Schmidt, GeodataWIZ
• Roger Boyle, School of Computing, University of Leeds
• Derek Magee, School of Computing, University of Leeds
• Keith Challis
• Chris Rogers, School of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham
• Kenny Brophy, Department of Archaeology, Glasgow University
• Ioana Oltean, Department of Archaeology, Exeter University
• Simon Price, British Geological Survey
• Robert Evans, Anglia Polytechnic University
• Graham Ferrier, University of Hull

Industry Stakeholders

• Peter Barker, Stratascan and IfA Geophysics SIG
• Rog Palmer, AP services
• Dave Cowley, RCAHMS
• Roger McCullagh, Historic Scotland
• Toby Driver, RCAHMW
• Dave Strachan, Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust
• Annie Calder, Scott Wilson
• Giovanni Alli, IDS Ltd
• Peter Horne, English Heritage

Post application partners

Test Sites

• Tom Overbury -Royal Agricultural College
• Vicky Dickens – Thornhill Estates Diddington

County Councils

• Quinton Carroll – Cambridgeshire County Council
• Tim Grubb – Gloucester County Council

Instrument Manufacturers

• Vincent Van Walt – Van Walt Ltd

Other academics

• Prof Christine Foyer – University of Leeds (Plant Biology)

Contribution to the Programme

The consortium itself consists of key heritage and industry organisations which work in (heritage) remote sensing and a range of academic consultants and researchers who conduct research in the areas of computer vision, geophysics, heritage and traditional remote sensing, knowledge engineering and soil science. The breadth and depth of the heritage, industry and specialist domain expertise in the consortium is the key strength of the DART project.

In general, the consortium, outside the students and investigators, provide feedback on the approaches, methodologies and results at the quarterly meetings and via the website. The consortium breadth means we can get feedback on research design, instrument manufacture, education, implementation and policy issues. This type of feedback will improve any impact resulting from DART.

DART is now in a data intensive phase of data collection and manipulation. Consortium feedback may prove to be critical and will help to determine the visualization and analytical approaches. Once the data-server is in place we hope to produce a dynamic analysis, integration, modelling and visualization environment. This will help the whole to consortium to focus on processes, problems and analytical workflows. The consortium meetings are now more discursive than descriptive as the stakeholders provide detailed advice.

In addition, the consortium provide in-kind access to equipment (geophysical and geotechnical), data and other heritage resources. Thornhill Estates and the Royal Agricultural College are providing access to study areas. The School of Plant Biology (Prof Foyer) at Leeds University is providing the funds for an associated MSc plant phenology project to establish induced crop stress/vigour dynamics under laboratory conditions. Dr. Graham Ferrier is providing access to his range of monitoring equipment. Furthermore, Van Walt Ltd. have kindly installed one of their 3-segment TDR profile probes at the RAC site (c. £4,000 contribution in kind) which allow comparison of our specially constructed probe array with an “off the shelf” industry array.

Engagement with non-academic stakeholders

All consortium members are invited to provide steer at either the quarterly or half yearly meetings. These meetings provide an opportunity for review and to debate progress and aim to ensure that the investigators are deploying the appropriate research techniques, have a clear understanding of the heritage problems and understand the stakeholder, end-user and policy issues.

The first DART workshop, described below, was primarily aimed at engaging with and getting feedback from the practitioner and policy community. This workshop has enhanced the network and the research direction. It is hoped that this will lead to a longer term dialogue which in turn will have more influence project direction, outputs and any follow on project.

The web-site and on-line dissemination strategy (including data and digital learning objects) has been designed so that they are accessible to the public as a whole. The project members liaise closely with both the Aerial Archaeology Research Group (AARG) and the International Society of Archaeological Prospection (ISAP) and is committed to delivering teaching and learning material to the practitioner community and delivering research outputs which will impact on practice. For example, the DART flickr pages (and the associated open access DART group) provide access to a variety of digital objects which have been licensed to encourage re-use. DART is now an affiliate member of the ArchaeoLandscapes EU wide project and is liaising with this team on the educational and data outputs. Access to research objects will only improve as the data server is populated with both raw data and resource discovery metadata. We will liaise with the ADS on harvesting of this metadata through their discovery portal.

The RAC data day, described below, was established to promote the open data available as a direct result of the DART project. The data from DART has a wide number of uses outside the archaeological and heritage domain and outside academic heritage. As a result of this day DART data will be used in community archaeology projects, estates management, improving local mapping (in Open Street Map) and environmental research.

The project champion has been in communication with curators, scientific advisors and policymakers (at local and national levels) to determine effective ways to both inform and get feedback from their networks. We have also been in contact with both the Council for British Archaeology and the Institute for Archaeologists.

We are in discussions with a number of local stakeholders to negotiate the long-term deployment of the in-situ TDR probes, temperature sensors and weather stations. In principle the RAC are prepared to take over these sensors. We will approach the Diddington estate once a local champion can be established (Dr. Bob Evans is undertaking the local liaison). Longitudinal data collection of this nature is novel and has implications for soil science, environmental modeling and heritage applications.

Other issues

Constructing all the TDR monitoring stations (6 in total) took significantly longer than envisaged (12 months). Issues related to data collection from these stations needed resolving post installation and took another two months. Unanticipated rodent attacks have required the retrofitting of shielding.

In the original application we stated that we would do the following in respect of public access to research objects: “DART is committed to sharing the primary data, syntheses, web services, and other tools and aims to act as an exemplar for how data, tools, and analysis can be made available to the wider academic, heritage and general community. Data, software, and services developed throughout the project will be made available with appropriate licences (Open Source licences for software, ccZero for data and CC-BY for text resources and other documents) to enable and support re-use for any purpose, as soon as practicable after generation.”

Interestingly, the interpretation of this goal has proved to be different in different academic disciplines, and in fact it has become clear that the term ‘Open Science’ is interpreted differently in the different disciplinary bases. The different interpretations arise from the term “as soon as practicable”’ – from an engineering perspective it could be argued that it would only be practicable once the IP has been secured (were it development of a widget being aimed for) or intellectual IP has been protected. But in other domains, researchers regularly release, for example, software prototypes for reuse without restriction, at least for non-commercial use, as soon as the prototype has been completed. Moreover, recent experience of one member of the consortium serving on the editorial board of the premier journal in geotechnical engineering (Geotechnique, which is where the geotechnical engineering collaborators on the grant aspire to publish their findings from the project) has revealed that if interpreted data have been published in the public domain, they are not eligible to be published in the journal; all other journals in this field take their lead from Geotechnique. This naturally gives rise to a concern for the DART geotechnical researchers that they may be precluded from publishing their findings in journals if they release data on the web openly. The other disciplines represented in DART do not share these concerns, as they are confident that simply releasing data does not in itself preclude subsequent journal publication. The precise position on the issue of how these traditional engineering journals accommodate ‘Open Science’ is being explored.

A second issue that differs across disciplines concerns the different interpretations placed on the ideas of data, information and ultimately rigorous data sets. Creating experimental equipment and taking readings does not mean that the outcomes are what are intended. Considerable refinement of the equipment and the methods of interpretation (i.e. via modelling) is typically needed before confidence can be placed in the outcomes, i.e. before the data are known to be accurate. Different positions can be taken as to whether it is sensible to release such unverified data or not. Once more these issues are being explored within the project.

Until both of these processes of exploration have been completed, the situation within the consortium is as follows: all of the datasets being generated in this disciplinary area are being made openly available within the team, and will be made available to consortium partners to publish their work as required (and with bespoke analysis to ensure their veracity as required). Some datasets will be made available outside the consortium immediately, but others (where the domain issues about publication referred to above apply, or where it is determined that accuracy studies must be performed before release), will only be made available openly outside the consortium once they have firstly been verified as accurate and/or publication issues have been appropriately addressed; the consortium is currently still negotiating whether a time limit should be placed on how long data can be withheld in order to address publication issues. Whilst such data retention may well affect impact in the short term, and may regrettably mean that some data is still not in the public domain by the end of DART, in the medium to long term, when all data is in the public domain, the effect should be negligible.

Given the recent moves by RCUK and EPSRC on improving access to research objects (the EPSRC recommendation about open publications and the expectation that research objects should be in the public domain) this may be a good opportunity for the research councils and the programme to learn more about the barriers affecting multi-disciplinary, multi-domain Open Science. Frank discussions of the issues surrounding engagement, or not, in the Open Science process, and indeed how Open Science is interpreted in different domain areas, could be very beneficial for future policy decisions by the research councils, RCUK and the government. We would like to invite representatives from AHRC, EPSRC and the Science and Heritage Programme to conduct a 360 degree, or other, survey of the DART academic partners to profile these issues. In addition we would suggest Ann Grand (Ann2.Grand@uwe.ac.uk EPSRC funded researcher looking at Open Science and Public Engagement) joins any interview team. She is already well versed in the DART project and has specific domain experience and expertise. In addition Ms Grand would be interested in determining how to value the intellectual contributions of researchers who share key datasets.

Forward plans

The research focus for the next 12 month period will be to complete the field data collection programme, to complete ancillary experiments, to continue data analysis and integration, to publish the research and to make progress on the submission of a follow-on project.

The field data collection programme is due to conclude in September 2012. This will be followed by the induced saturation event experiment followed by a strip and record of each of the areas of geophysical survey to verify the nature of the subsurface remains. At this point the in-field sensors will either be handed over to new owners or decommissioned. Sensor data can still be sent to the DART servers using the telemetry system.

The plant biology growth experiment will be concluded over the summer. Further evaluation of the impact of land-management techniques on signal attenuation will occur on an ad-hoc basis dependent upon the respective land-owners. The thermal emission experiment is likely to occur in June.

The integration, visualization and analysis environment will help the students and researchers mine and analyse the data. It is intended that much of the analysis will be accessible on-line and can be shared with the consortium members and stakeholders for feedback and refinement.

The publication strategy has been discussed at meetings. The current approach to publication is on the project website (http://dartproject.info/WPBlog/?page_id=1704).

The Gantt chart supporting the application was based on a starting date of 1st April 2010. The project has been extended to coincide with the PhD student funding. Hence the start of the real work on the project was 1st October 2010. Our current progress maps well with the original Gantt chart. Probe installation is slightly early and the first workshop is slightly late. Due to the delay in the installation the analysis component is delayed. However, this is a long task and can be picked up. We are currently reviewing the location and approaches for the evaluation (case study) packages to maximize the scientific component.

Dissemination

2011-2012

• British Science Festival Bradford – DART gave a press conference to approximately 40 journalists. Nothing was picked up at the time although there were expressions of interest from BBC (local and National) and the Guardian. The feedback from New Scientist is that this will be picked when there are more solid results.
• BSF Press pack – http://dartproject.info/WPBlog/?p=1471
• AHRC Press release – http://dartproject.info/WPBlog/?p=1474
• Coverage on ‘Past Horizons’ – http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/09/2011/seeing-beneath-the-soil-to-uncover-the-past

2010-2011

• Leeds press release
• Beck was interviewed by “The Reporter” (Leeds University Periodical) April 2011
• Public WebSite – www.dartproject.info
• WordPress Blog infrastructure
• Synthesis
• Youtube – Videos http://www.youtube.com/user/DARTProject
• Scribd – Documents http://www.scribd.com/dart_project
• Mendeley – Bibliographies http://www.mendeley.com/profiles/dart-project
• Slideshare – Presentations http://www.slideshare.net/DARTProject
• Flickr – Images http://www.flickr.com/photos/dartproject/
• Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/DART_Project
• Prezi – Presentations
• Mindmaps – On the website

Impact

Publications available on scribd http://www.scribd.com/dart_project

Academic Publications

• Beck, A. R, “Archaeological applications of multi/hyper-spectral data: challenges and potential” in Cowley, D. (Ed), Remote Sensing for Archaeological Heritage Management, EAC Occasional Paper No. 5

Popular Publications

• Beck, A. R., 2010, The DART project: Developing the roadmap for archaeological remote sensing in the 21st century, AARG News (40)
• Beck, A. R., 2010, The DART Project, RSPSoc ArchSIG
• Beck, A. R. and Fry, R., 2011, The DART Project: A major new investigation into what lies beneath our soils, Council for Independent Archaeology Newsletter
• Fry, R., 2011, The DART Project – an update, RSPSoc ArchSIG
• Fry, R., Stott, D., Pring, L. and Boddice, D., 2011, AARG 2010 Conference, Bucharest, Romania, AARG News (42)

Internal reports

• Beck, A. R., Boddice, D., Fry, R., Pring, L. and Stott, D., 2011, DART progress report – July 2011
• Fry, R. 2011a. Diddington, Cambridgeshire, Geophysical Report on preliminary fluxgate gradiometer survey. Bradford, UK (unpublished)
• Fry, R. 2011b. The Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester: Geophysical Report on preliminary fluxgate gradiometer survey Bradford, UK (Unpublished)
• Wilkinson, K., 2011, DART: Excavation and probe installation at Harnhill, Cirencester and Diddington, St Neots in April and June 2011

Publications in press

• Beck, A. R, “The Practice of Collaboration” in Cowley, D. and Opitz, R. (Eds), “Interpreting archaeological topography – airborne laser scanning, aerial photographs and ground observation”

Publications in prep

• Beck, A.R., Stott, D., Boyd, D., Llewelyn, G., Ferrier?, G. and Carrol, Q., “The driest spring in 100 years: hyperspectral imaging and multi-temporal ground based spectro-radiometry of vegetation over known archaeological features.”, Archaeological Prospection (?)
• Beck, A. R. and Neylon, C., Open Approaches in archaeology, World Archaeology
• Beck, A. R., Wilkinson, K., Boddice, D., Boyd, D., Cohn, A. G., Fry, R., Gaffney, C., Metje, N, Pring, L., Schmidt, A., Stott, D., “The medium of archaeological detection: The importance of the physical matrix, formation processes and environmental events on detection dynamics”, Antiquity (methods section)
• Stott, D., Fry, R., Cowley, D., Beck, A. R., Gaffney, C., and Cohn, A. G. “Common problems, shared methodologies, developing science based projects that engage different communities: the DART approach” European Journal of Archaeology

Posters For 2011-2012

ISAP Conference 19th-24 September, Izmir, Turkey

• Rob Fry: DART Poster (http://www.flickr.com/photos/49053676@N02/6059159886/in/pool-dartproject/)
• Rob Fry: FlashRes 64 Poster (http://www.flickr.com/photos/49053676@N02/6059161688/in/pool-1578450@N20/)

All others are available through the website and on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dartproject/)

Conference Presentations For 2011-2012

Computer Applications in Archaeology (CAA) 26th-29th March 2012 Southampton

• D. Boddice, L. Pring, N. Metje, D.N. Chapman: Using Time Domain Reflectometry to monitor the geophysical properties of archaeological residues
• Rob Fry, Ant Beck, Chris Gaffney, David Stott: The effects of seasonal variation on archaeological detection using earth resistance: Preliminary results from an ongoing study
• David Stott, Doreen Boyd, Ant Beck and Anthony Cohn: Seeing the unseen: Archaeological detection outside the visible spectrum

Joint AARG EASeL 2011 Conference 21st-23rd September, Poznan, Poland

• Ant Beck and David Stott: “An archaeology method store”
• David Stott: “Head in the Clouds: Improving knowledge by engaging with the web”
• Ant Beck: “The DART project: Improving the science underpinning archaeological detection”

ISPRS Conference York, UK, 17-19th August 2011

• Ant Beck: “The DART project: Improving the science underpinning archaeological detection”

Other consortium presentations are available on slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/DARTProject).

Other Presentations For 2011-2012

Exploring New Archaeological Worlds: The British Science Festival Monday 12th September

• Ant Beck: “I’m sure I left it somewhere: discovering our heritage through scientific prospection”

Other consortium presentations are available on slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/DARTProject).

Invited Lectures/Workshops

• Chris Gaffney – Vienna
• Ant Beck – University College Dublin
• Ant Beck – Bradford
• Ant Beck – Vienna

Indicators of Esteem

• Ant Beck invited to review Anaghlia project
• DART awarded associate partner status on ArchaeoLandscapes
• Beck invited to provide article for World Archaeology on Open Approaches

Other

Academic references to the Open Science nature of the project:

• Grand, A. et al. (2010) Muddying the waters or clearing the stream? Open Science as a communication medium In Science Communication without Frontiers: 11th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST-2010) New Delhi, India, December 6-10 2010. New Delhi: INPCST http://goo.gl/JLfLd
• Grand, A. et al. (2010) On Open Science and Public Engagement with Engineering, European Association for the Study of Science and Technology Engineering Practice; performing a profession, constructing society, Trento, Italy, September 2-4 2010 http://goo.gl/ksLdM

Additional funding

• NERC ARSF Flight GB12-06 Four hyperspectral, vertical photographic, full waveform LiDAR and possibly thermal ATM flights over Diddington and Harnhill. March, April, June, August 2012
• MSc student project in Plant Biology, University of Leeds. Prof. Christine Foyer, Lab equipment, consumables and lab time. Summer 2012.
• NERC ARSF Flight GB11-01 Hyperspectral and vertical photographic flights over Diddington. June 2011
• MSc student project in Plant Biology, University of Leeds. Prof. Christine Foyer, Lab equipment, consumables and lab time. Summer 2011.
• Van Walt Ltd., loan of IMCO 3-segment TDR profile probes. Summer 2011 – ongoing.
• Allied Associates Geophysics Ltd, loan of geophysical survey equipment. Summer 2011 – ongoing.

Events Held

Community Workshop

On the 27th April 2011 the first DART community workshop was held at the University of Leeds. Given the time of year, it was well attended with 29 community participants and the DART team bringing this up to a total of 40 people. We managed to get a good cross-section of academics (5), curators (7), environmental (3), heritage practitioners (8) and community groups (6). The morning was spent providing an overview of DART. The afternoon was spent getting feedback from the delegates focusing on project pitfalls and how best to exploit the results.

RAC Data Day

On the 14th February 2012 Anthony Beck ran a data day at the RAC Cirencester. The aim was to encourage use of the open access resources available from DART. In addition to staff and students from the RAC audience members included parish representatives and the estate manager from the defence facility adjacent to Harnhill. Ant Beck gave an introductory presentation which included an overview of DART, a technical description of the data, the data formats, software and a rationale as to why we are sharing the data. After lunch there followed an open question and answer session.

Events planned

DART Workshop 2: TBC 2013

Training

• LBI ArchPro Aerial archaeology workshop (Beck, Fry and Stott) Vienna 28th-30th, ZAMG Vienna, November 2011
• LBI ArchPro Geophysics workshop (Boddice, Fry and Stott) Vienna 27 th-29th February 2012, ZAMG Vienna)
• Research skills for Engineers – November 2011 (Pring)
• Vibracorer training – September 2011 (Pring, Boddice)
• Field Spectroscopy Facility (NERC sponsored) training (Beck and Stott, NERC FSF Facility, Edinburgh University, 28th/29th March 2010)
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning course (Beck, Fry and Stott, School of Computing, University of Leeds)
• Respective university induction courses (Boddice, Fry, Pring and Stott)

Programme Events Attended

July 30 2010 PI event, London; September 14 2010 Research Student meeting Oxford; November 10 2010 PI/CO-I event, Birmingham.

DART have proposed a thermal imaging experiment at the RAC in Cirencester. This was originally instigated after viewing the diurnal temperature variations from the embedded probes and wondering what the impact of the vegetation canopy would be on any sensor. This was given life with follow up conversations with John and Rosie Wells.

For reference we have included the temperature profiles of Cherry Copse and Quarry Field from the April-May 2012 readings from both 10 and 20cm depth probes.

Proposed Consortium

• British Geological Survey (BGS): Kay Smith
• DART: Anthony Beck, Doreen Boyd, Tony Cohn, David Stott and Teresa Honore (Leeds and Nottingham Universities)
• NERC Airborne Research and Survey Facility (ARSF): Gary Llewellyn
• Royal Agricultural College (RAC): Tony Norris (Farm Manager), Tom Overbury (Lecturer), John Conway (Principal Lecturer) and Nicola Cannon (Lecturer)
• University of Hull: Graham Ferrier (and UCL colleagues)
• West Lothian Archaeology Group (Kite and thermal remote sensing): Rosie and John Wells

• Emerald Crop Science: Simon Fox (soils, crop and precision agriculture)
• DART: Rob Fry and Chris Gaffney (Bradford University: 24 hour ERT readings)

Experiment Overview

The aim of the experiment will be threefold:

• to determine the temperature variations throughout a diurnal cycle to understand the impact on temperature dynamics on archaeological detection.
• to determine the impact of the crop canopy on the detection of archaeological features.
• to compare the imaging measurements with the results from in-situ subsurface and ambient temperature sensors.

Thermal imaging measurements will be taken at two sites at the Royal Agricultural College (Cherry Copse and Quarry Field). A low cost thermal imaging camera and a quantitative thermal imaging camera will be set up on a cherry picker to take vertical measurements over an archaeological feature and its immediate surroundings whilst the field is under crop. Concurrent thermal images will be collected at a minimum of 5 minute intervals over a 24 hour period (really?). The area of the field of view will have the crop removed (strimmed) and the measurements re-taken without the crop-canopy so that the impact of any thermal canopy effect can be determined. The imaging data will be compared against the data from both sub-surface thermal probes (buried between c. 10cm and c. 1m and an ambient temperate probe from a weather station (data points collected at c. 1 per hour). In addition, if working, a thermal imaging flight using the NERC ARSF ATM scanner (at 600m flying height – 1m resolution at nadir and 2m resolution at edge) – daily/project configuration to be determined

Dates and Timeline

We would hope to undertake the experiment the 18^th and 22^nd June 2012 (all please confirm) with the following activities

• Day1 erect scaffolding, strim/prep area in field2 (quarry field), erect tents/gazebo etc. check over equipment etc.
• Day2 take measurements with canopy in field1 (Cherry copse)
• Day3 take measurements with canopy in field2, remove crop c. 5x5m field1
• Day4 take measurements without canopy in field1, remove crop c. 5x5m field2 (possible NERC flight)
• Day5 take measurements without canopy in field2 (possible flight from Bob Bewley)

Logistics

Quarry field issues (John Conway/Nicola Cannon)

There are issues concerning damage and the impact this has on the crop trials already established in Quarry Fields. To minimise this in quarry fields we would propose to place the scaffold tower within the geophysics grid and include 2.5m pre-strimmed and 2.5m under crop. This will reduce the amount of strimmed crop to a 5 x2.5m area. We would prefer this strategy as we are close to the subsurface temperature probes.
If this unacceptable then we can re-position the experiment. We are constrained by the requirement to keep any area over ‘known’ archaeology. We can follow the intersecting ditches North West or East North East of the area of current installation.

After conversations with Nicole Cannon, John Conway, Tom Overbury and Tony Norris we have decided to position the thermal experiment outside the trial area following the ditch to the East North East.

Imaging Equipment

• Low-cost thermal imaging camera (provided by West Lothian Archaeology Group)
• Quantitative thermal imaging camera (provided by Graham Ferrier (via UCL)
• FTIR (provided by Graham Ferrier)
• ASD (provided by DART)
• LOTS of spare batteries and battery chargers

Mounting hardware

Each instrument will have different mounting requirements- but the two thermal cameras may be operable using standard ¼” tripod mounts. Tony Norris will provide further equipment if we are short.

• Jubilee clips
• cable ties
• tripod heads
• ¼”, ?” & ?” whitworth bolts
• clamps
• other bolts
• sockets
• drill
• hammer
• duct tape
• screwdrivers
• knife because a degree of improvisation will probably be necessary
• Rope and box (for raising equipment to the scaffold tower)

Other sensors

• In-Situ thermal sensors (provided by DART)
• LP-80 ceptometer (provided by DART)
• UAV(provided by DART)

Data transfer

• Cables etc.

Survey equipment

• GPS/Total Station (Provided by DART? Rob? RAC?)

Power

• Portable generator (Hired through RAC)
• Fuel can (supplied by RAC)
• UPS/De-spiker
• Extension leads
• Connectors for equipment
• Ensure waterproof sealing

Support structure (All hired through RAC and including erection and dismantling)

Two temporary scaffolding towers will be erected. One in each field

Scaffolding to 7m platform height (with additional safety rail)
Scaffolding platform
Mounting hardware (get a few extra scaffold clamps & bars in case we need to cantiliever anything out)
Ladders
Scaffold poles and clamps to create cantilever for the equipment for the equipment

Scaffolding will be erected and dismantled by the hire company. Final details will be discussed on site.

Required height

The height of the scaffolding tower is dependant on the Field Of View (FOV) of the instruments and the size of area we need to cover. This should take in the ditch itself and some of the surrounding area. A minimum size of 5m has been discussed (1m for the feature and 2m either side).

FOV measurement for 5m ground width: Height = 2.5/tan(FOV/2)*
for a 10m ground width the height is doubled
*note spreadsheets tend to use radians rather than degrees

The heights for the instruments covering 5m ground width are:
Low-cost thermal imaging camera, 36 degree FOV: 7.7m
Quantitative thermal imaging camera,

The FOV of the FTIR instrument is so narrow that this will require multiple on / off feature readings.

Data Collection

We intend to put the instruments on a boom over the scaffolding tower. This may cause problems:

Re-establish Field of view

It is likely that the mount will need to be retracted and re-established. This will mean that the boom will need to be set at a fixed distance and rotation. We can use gaffer tape as guides, however, we will never get it perfect (especially if we unmount the sensors). To ensure that we can get a comparative fix on the same IFOV after ever remount operation a calibration reding is taken which includes two candles in glass jars placed over known points.

• Candles
• Jars
• Lighter

Strimming equipment (supplied by RAC)

• Strimmer
• Hat, googles, visor
• PPE

PPE (supplied by individuals)

• Hard hats
• Gloves
• Hi Vis
• Coat
• Blanket
• Safety boots

Living (approved by RAC)

• Water canteen
• Cooking thing
• Gazebo (dry area)
• Tent
• Local toilet facilities (on the farm – we are OK to use)
• Handwashing equipment (provided by DART)
• First aid kit (provided by DART)

Accommodation

Who is staying and needs accommodation (3 rooms booked at the Travel Lodge) . Please put your names on the left. I assume:

• Ant
• David
• Graham
• Person from UCL
• Rob (associated only)

Risk assessment

Ant and Teresa (Leeds University) are on the case with this. A working draft can be found here.

Issues to Consider

• Wind Shear as a factor
• The time between strimming and measurement (1 day) may not be enough for the temperature profiles to settle. If we split the imaging space between the pre-strimmed geo-physics area and the area with crop then we should have resolved this problem.

References:

Smith, K. (unknown) Review of Thermal Remote Sensing in Earth Science: Science Drivers and Applications http://dl.dropbox.com/u/393477/SharedReferences/NERC_ARSF_TIR_Review_Earth_Science_KSmith.pdf