Underwater archaeological surveying using PhotoModeler, VirtualMapper: different applications for different problems

Techniques of underwater photogrammetry discussed include accuracy measurements and survey techniques.     

A Late Holocene Tsunami at Basta Voe,Yell, Shetland Isles

A distinctive sand layer enclosed within Holocene peat is described from Basta Voe, Isle of Yell, Shetland Isles. The sand layer, that can be traced considerable distances inland and up to a maximum altitude of c. + 9 m OD, is here interpreted as having been deposited by a former tsunami. AMS dating appears to indicate that the tsunami occurred between 1300 – 1570 cal years BP. At present, the tsunami has no known source mechanism although the most likely mechanism is thought to have been an offshore slump or slide. The available information would presently seem to indicate that this tsunami was restricted to the eastern coastline of Shetland. The relatively young age of this inferred tsunami is of considerable importance to planners and engineers concerned with estimating coastal flood frequency and magnitude.     

Practical surveying in schools

Analysis of detailed geomorphological mapping enables a sequence of glacial events to be established. An ice sheet whose source was to the west of the area of study is shown, by the suites of fluvioglacial landforms produced, to have down‐wasted in situ; meltwaters escaped beneath or through the ice, moving uphill across certain areas. Finally, a sub‐aerial drainage system was established and outwash terraces were spread down valley.     

Underwater Excavations at the Etruscan Port of Populonia

Abstract

The 1987/1988 field season at the U-shaped civic ceremonial center of Cardal in the Lurin Valley, Peru, included mapping and excavation of public and domestic architecture. Occupied from 1150 to 800 b.c., Cardal provides evidence of a more elaborate ground plan than was previously recognized, including dual causewayed plazas, and 10 semisubterranean circular courts. Excavations of the public architecture revealed the periodic burial and construction of ritual buildings, including a steep central stairway and an atrium whose exterior wall was decorated with a polychrome mural of a gigantic mouth band with massive fangs and interlocking teeth. The investigations on the pyramid summit also yielded evidence of a free-standing building with a dual altar, and a burial area. Information on domestic architecture and subsistence recovered from behind the public complex is also discussed. Finally, Cardal is compared to Garagay, a coeval U-shaped center in the neighboring Rimac Valley, and it is argued that the evidence available does not support the hypothesis that these monumental centers were constructed by “complex societies” in the traditional sense of the term.     

The coastal landslides of Shetland

Little is known of hard-rock coastal landsliding in Scotland. We identify 128 individual coastal landslides or landslide complexes >50 m wide along the coasts of Shetland. Most are apparently translational slides characterized by headscarps, displaced blocks and/or debris runout, but 13 deep-seated failures with tension cracks up to 200 m inland from cliff crests were also identified. Thirty-one sites exhibit evidence of at least localized recent activity. Landslide distribution is primarily determined by the distribution of coastal cliffs >30 m high, and they are preferentially developed on metasedimentary rocks. Analysis of 16 landslides on Fetlar (NE Shetland) indicates that most are translational dip-slip failures; 3 represent deep-seated failures and several exhibit active frontal erosion attributable to basal sapping by storm waves. As these landslides terminate in shallow water, failure was probably initiated when rising sea level resulted in footslope erosion and upslope propagation of instability, causing downslope displacement of landslide blocks on upper slopes. ¹⁰Be exposure dating of two headscarps yielded ages of 4.8?±?0.2 ka and 4.4?±?0.2 ka, consistent with the onset of footslope erosion as sea level rose. Our results suggest that landslides have played a hitherto undocumented but important role in retreat of cliffed coastlines in Scotland.     

Timothy Pont's map of Shetland

The Dialect and Place‐Names of Shetland. Two Popular Lectures. By Jakob Jakobsen, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Copenhagen. Lerwick: T. and J. Manson, 1897.

Three Years in Savage Africa. By Lionel Dècle. With an Introduction by H. M. Stanley, M.P. With 100 Illustrations and five Maps, from original Photographs, Sketches, and Surveys by the Author. London: Methuen and Co., 1898. Pp. 503. Two Appendices and Index. 21s.

Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies. By the Abbe J. A. Dubois. Translated from the Author's later French ms. and edited by Henry K. Beau‐champ. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1897.

L'Algérie. Par Maurice Wahl, Docteur ès lettres, Inspecteur‐Général honoraire de l'Instruction publique aux Colonies. 3^ème édition, revue et augmentée. Paris: Félix Alcan, 1897. Pp. 442. Price 5 Frs.

L'Italie: Géographique, Ethnologique, Historique, Administrative, Economique, Beligieuse, Littéraire, Artistique, Scientifique, etc. Paris: Larousse, 1897. Pp. 608. Price 5 fr.

The Pioneers of the Klondyke: being an Account of two years’ Police Service on the Yukon. Narrated by M. H. E. Hayne, N.C.O. of the N‐W. Mounted Police, and recorded by H. West Taylor. London: Sampson Low, Marston, and Co., 1897. Pp. xii + 184. Price 3s. 6d.

The Gold Fields of the Klondike. Fortune‐Seekers’ Guide to the Yukon Begion of Alaska and British America. By John W. Leonard. London: T. Fisher Unwin, N.D. Pp. 216. Price 2s. 6d.

Imperial Defence. By Lieut.‐Col. Sir George S. Clarke, K.C.M.G., F.E.S. London: The Imperial Press, Limited, N.D. Pp. xv + 251. Price 5s. net.

With Nature and a Camera: being the Adventures and Observations of a Field Naturalist and an Animal Photographer. By Richard Kearton, F.Z.S., Author of British Birds’ Nests; Birds’ Nests, Eggs, and Egg‐collecting, etc. Illustrated by 180 Pictures from Photographs, by Cherry Kearton. 8vo. London, Paris, and Melbourne: Cassell and Co., Lim., 1897. Pp. xvi + 368.

La Face de la Tern (Das Antlitz der Erde). Par Ed. Suess. Traduit avec l'autorisation de l'auteur et annoté sous la direction de Emmanuel de Margerie avec une préface par Marcel Bertrand, de l'Académie des Sciences, Professeur à l'École nationale supérieure des Mines. Tome I^r, avec 2 cartes en couleur et 122 figures dont 76 exécutées spécialement pour l'édition française. Paris: Armand Colin et C^ie., 1897. Pp. 835 + xv.

Anthropologische Studien über die Urbewohner Brasiliens, vornehmlich der Staaten Matto Grosso, Goyaz, und Amazonas (Purus‐Gebiet). Nach eigenen Aufnahmen und Beobachtungen in den Jahren 1887 bis 1889, von Dr. Paul Ehrenreich, Berlin. Mit zahlreichen Abbildungen und Tafeln. Braunschweig: Druck und Verlag von Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn, 1897. Pp. 165. Bibliography and 30 plates, 96 in text and 9 plates of vertex curves. Price 25 M.

Kleinasiens’ Naturschätze, Seine wichtigsten Tiere, Kulturpftanzen und Mineral‐schätze. Von Karl Kannenberg. Berlin: Bornträger, 1897. Pp. xii + 278. Price M. 14.

Thessalien und Epirus: Reisen und Forschungen im nördlichen Oriechenland. Von Dr. Alfred Philippson. Berlin: W. H. Kühle, 1897.

North America. Vol. I.—Canada and Newfoundland. By Samuel Edward Dawson, Litt.D. (Laval), F.R.S.C. Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel (new issue). London: Edward Stanford, 1897. Pp. xxiv + 719. Price 15s.

Geografia Commercial de la America del Sur. Por Carlos B. Cisneros y Romulo E. Garcia. Entregas 1 y 2. Lima: Imprenta de la Escuela de Ingerieros, 1897. Pp. 100.

Egypt. Handbook for Travellers. Edited by Karl Baedeker. 4th Eemodelled Edition. Leipsic: Karl Baedeker, 1898. Pp. cciv + 395. Price 15 M.

Spain and Portugal. Handbook for Travellers. By Karl Baedeker. Leipsic: Karl Baedeker, 1898. Pp. lxxxvi + 618. Price 16 M.

Ceylon. Von Emil Schmidt (Leipzig). Mit 39 Bildern und 1 Karte. Berlin: Schall und Grund, 1897. Pp. 323 + viii.

A. Hartleben's Kleines Statistisches Taschenbuch über alle Lander der Erde. Nach den neuesten Angaben bearbeitet von Professor Dr. Friedeich Umlauft. Wien, Pest, Leipzig: A. Hartleben's Verlag, 1898. Pp. 98.

Verhandlungen des Zwölften Deutschen Geographentages zu Jena, 1897. Heraus‐gegeben von dem ständigen Geschäftsführer des Centralausschusses des Deutschen Geographentages, Georg Kollm, Hauptmann, a.d. Berlin: Verlag von Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen), 1897. Pp. lviii + 252.     

Palaeoenvironments, the archaeological record and cereal pollen detection at Clickimin, Shetland, Scotland

The Loch of Clickimin, Shetland, is well known for its broch and associated monuments supposedly of the Bronze and Iron Ages, although the former date is disputed. Pollen, diatom and sedimentological investigations permit fresh insights into the landscape and economic impacts of those who constructed the monuments, reveal that the environs of the site experienced environmental change from Neolithic times onward and provide the first Holocene radiocarbon dates from the immediate locality. The broch-building period witnessed a continuation of pre-existing pastoral husbandry for which heather burning may have exacerbated the natural spread of blanket peat. Initially, no evidence was adduced for local arable activity in the present investigation, and this was thought to be consistent possibly with the low numbers of excavated querns and the absence of cereal macrofossil finds when compared with other Shetland broch sites. The application of ‘rapid scanning’ techniques, however, led to the discovery of a consistent cereal-type pollen representation from Bronze Age times onwards. The discrepancies between the palaeoenvironmental evidence and the environmental and palaeoeconomic inferences made by the excavator of the site are explored. Evidence is presented that both supports and contradicts previous assumptions surrounding an important archaeological site.     

Joined-Up Archaeology at Old Scatness,Shetland: Thin Section Analysis of the Site and Hinterland

Abstract

Excavations on the multi-period settlement at Old Scatness, Shetland have uncovered a number of Iron Age structures with compacted, floor-like layers. Thin section analysis was undertaken in order to investigate and compare the characteristics of these layers. The investigation also draws on earlier analyses of the Iron Age agricultural soil around the settlement and the midden deposits that accumulated within the settlement, to create a 'joined-up' analysis which considers the way material from the settlement was used and then recycled as fertiliser for the fields. Peat was collected from the nearby uplands and was used for fuel and possibly also for flooring. It is suggested that organic-rich floors from the structures were periodically removed and the material was spread onto the fields as fertilisers. More organic-rich material may have been used selectively for fertiliser, while the less organic peat ash was allowed to accumulate in middens. Several of the structures may have functioned as byres, which suggests a prehistoric plaggen system.     

石棉县龙头石水库淹没区古遗址发掘简报

石棉县龙头石水库所处的石棉县海尔洼是大渡河上游为数不多的冲击扇形地带,调查发现有重要早期遗址数处.本次对海尔遗址、新民小学遗址进行了大面积揭露,发现房址、灰坑等重要遗迹数十处.出土有战国中晚期及明清时期的陶、瓷、石、铜等文物.它的发现对全面了解大渡河中游的考古学文化面貌,特别是对藏彝走廊内民族的迁徙、融合、文化的交流提供了新的重要资料.     

Evaluation of underwater surveying techniques

The paper discusses the application of a number of manual trilateration surveying systems, an acoustic surveying system and a photogrammetric system applied to a rigid test frame. Results and relative merits are compared and discussed.     

Report on Underwater Excavation at the Phoenician Harbour,Atlit, Israel

Atlit is a small Phoenician settlement on the Carmel coast, with an artificial harbour, built during Iron Age II, before the Assyrian occupation, and used until the end of the Persian era. There are no remains of any later construction, in contrast to other Phoenician ports such as Sidon and Tyre. The study of Atlit harbour has therefore provided invaluable information on the positioning, planning and construction of Phoenician harbours in the Levant. This article is a summary of the most recent underwater excavation seasons at the harbour, and presents our conclusions on construction techniques and their historical implications. © 2009 The Author