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Where DART discusses sub-projects

DART – end of year 2 report to Science and Heritage

Friday, April 13th, 2012 by

Aims and Methods of the Project

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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:

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  • 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)?

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 The DART project is being conducted according to the terms of the initial contract with AHRC with the following exceptions:

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  • 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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 Armin Schmidt (Bradford University) has been replaced by Dr.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 Due to work commitments Prof Michael Stevens (Nottingham University) has been replaced by Dr.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]

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 DART is continuing to collaborate with external organizations:

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  • 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 DART aims to deploy the field sensors/probes at each site in perpetuity (described below).

Grant applications

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 A range of academic/specialist and popular material have been published (see publication section below).

Permalink for this paragraph 0 On the 27th April the first DART community workshop was held at Leeds University (see ‘events held’ section below).

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Papers and posters were presented at the ISPRS 2011, AARG 2011, ISAP 2011 and CAA 2012 conferences

Permalink for this paragraph 0 A presentation and press conference was given at the British Science Festival in Bradford

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Field and lab based procedures have been documented and agreed with the DART consortium.

Probe installation

Permalink for this paragraph 0 We have installed TDR, temperature and weather sensors at our Harnhill and Diddington study areas.

Field Surveys

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Dr. Anthony Beck, Research Fellow (Project Champion), University of Leeds, 1/4/2010 – 30/9/2013.

Project Partners

Academic Consultants

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  • 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

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  • 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

County Councils

Instrument Manufacturers

Other academics

Contribution to the Programme

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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).

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

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  • 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

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  • 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Publications available on scribd http://www.scribd.com/dart_project

Academic Publications

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  • 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

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  • 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

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  • 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

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  • 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

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  • 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 ISAP Conference 19th-24 September, Izmir, Turkey

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  • 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/)

Permalink for this paragraph 0 All others are available through the website and on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dartproject/)

Conference Presentations For 2011-2012

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Computer Applications in Archaeology (CAA) 26th-29th March 2012 Southampton

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  • 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Joint AARG EASeL 2011 Conference 21st-23rd September, Poznan, Poland

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  • 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”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 ISPRS Conference York, UK, 17-19th August 2011

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Other consortium presentations are available on slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/DARTProject).

Other Presentations For 2011-2012

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Exploring New Archaeological Worlds: The British Science Festival Monday 12th September

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Other consortium presentations are available on slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/DARTProject).

Invited Lectures/Workshops

Indicators of Esteem

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  • 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Academic references to the Open Science nature of the project:

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  • 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

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  • 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 DART Workshop 2: TBC 2013

Training

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  • 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

Permalink for this paragraph 0 July 30 2010 PI event, London; September 14 2010 Research Student meeting Oxford; November 10 2010 PI/CO-I event, Birmingham.

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