Aerial Archaeology in Ireland - The Heritage Council

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Photogrammetry, lidar, satellite imagery and other remote sensing techniques are becoming increasingly cost-effective options, with relative costs being reduced through technical improvements and increasing economies of scale fuelled by demand for more strategic coverage. So far, the use of these techniques has mainly been within the domain of special pilot studies and research projects, but this is changing. Cost-effectiveness is ultimately dependent not on the relative cost of different techniques, but on the quality of the data required and the uses to which it is put — including potentially large savings in replacing other groundbased methods. Understanding the different techniques which can be achieved and choosing the best way to meet specified needs are thus critical and will vary greatly with the nature of the type of work being done. Archaeological use of some of the more expensive techniques is most likely to become routine if these trends are also accompanied by cost-sharing based on close inter-disciplinary co-ordination with other user groups, as already exemplified by the Phase 2 Irish National Seabed Survey. 5.3 Resources Available for Aerial Archaeology in Ireland Because of the way in which aerial archaeology is integrated with other kinds of archaeological and non-archaeological work — and the varied organisational academic, conservation and development contexts in which it is carried out — it is not possible to give a realistic estimate of the overall resources available for carrying out aerial archaeology in Ireland. In terms of sorties flown by State heritage agencies in Britain and Ireland, NMS fly about 10-20 reconnaissance hours per year (E. Cody pers. comm.), together with a significant additional amount of flying for illustrative photography; DoE NI Environment and Heritage Service fly between 3 and 7½ hours; the Welsh Royal Commission fly c. 11-40 hours for both reconnaissance and monitoring. The Scottish Royal Commission fly c. 101 to 120 hours, and English Heritage 236-296 hours. All these bodies (and the Heritage Council in Ireland) grant-aid some freelance flying. In England, very substantial resources are devoted to mapping the results of reconnaissance, but this does not apply in Ireland, either north or south of the border. None of this takes account of the work done through development-led archaeology, or university or private research. Because of the additional work being commissioned for road schemes, the number of ‘practitioners’, in the sense of archaeologists who have taken air photographs, is probably now increasing, but a number of more experienced practitioners are now less involved. Respondents suggested that there is now rather less provision for mentoring and training, especially in the context of competitive tendering for development-led work than in the context of survey or research-led work. Nevertheless, companies undertaking development-led work do in some cases try to ensure that experience is more widely spread through mentoring by more experienced personnel. Overall, it appears that no individuals work in aerial archaeology full time, and there is no obvious problem of capacity for doing more aerial archaeology in terms of personnel — including experienced flyers. Current capacity appears to be limited by the priorities, and hence budgets are devoted to aerial archaeology, rather than the availability of expertise. In particular, there appears to be a particular shortage of resources devoted to strategic reconnaissance, and data management, mapping and enhancement. Yet the general amount of aerial photography and other remote sensing for other purposes, many of which are related to development and land-use issues of considerable relevance to archaeology, appears to be burgeoning. 5.4 Organisational Context and Support Needed to Sustain Roles As the foregoing sections indicate, a wide range of individuals and archaeological and other organisations spanning the State, academic, commercial and private sectors contribute in a variety of ways to the pursuit of aerial archaeology in Ireland. And as noted above, nobody is engaged in aerial archaeology as their sole occupation. This strongly reflects the way in which it is rightly viewed as just one element of the archaeological process, not a stand-alone technique. But this highly integrated approach also has a downside: in another sense, it is highly fragmented. Compared with Britain, there appears to be less overall co-ordination to share experiences, discuss methods and develop new approaches or maximise the value of lessons learned. The absence of support for experienced practitioners to contribute to a strategic programme of regional flying, such as existed some years 105
106 ago in England, may have meant that there was no catalyst for such collaboration, although individual efforts have made very important contributions, as in the Cork Survey. This is not to say that there is no discussion or interaction — especially at the cutting edge of aerial archaeology in Ireland. But most respondents commented on the lack of any formal or semi-formal public sharing of views and experiences rather than simply informal private contact, which clearly does occur in clusters of people with similar thematic or geographical interests. This lack of broader awareness of some of the developments and issues for aerial archaeology in Ireland is arguably apparent in some of the patterns of literature citation. There also appears to be rather little awareness (or membership) of bodies such as the Aerial Archaeology Research Group (AARG), which provides a forum for discussing issues and approaches to the technique. AARG’s useful website 24 provides many useful references to literature and links to other relevant internet sites. It describes their role as follows: ’The Aerial Archaeology Research Group (AARG) provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and information for all those actively involved in aerial photography, photo interpretation, field archaeology and landscape history. This also includes the use of aerial photography in defining preservation policies for archaeological sites and landscapes. The Aerial Archaeology Research Group (AARG) began life in 1981 as a small seminar called to discuss ideas raised by Paul Ashbee (then of the University of East Anglia) and David Wilson (of CUCAP). The critical issue was to examine ways of obtaining archaeological information from existing aerial photographs — problems that now tend to fall within “post-reconnaissance” work. Meetings of that group then continued to be held at least once a year — and those were exciting times. Computer rectification had become available and allowed, for the first time, rapid mapping of complex features and large areas. This was used by a small number of research students to study different areas of Britain, and many of the early AARG meetings were spent discussing ways of illustrating different kinds of features (see Aerial Archaeology 11) and of methods of classification of the mapped features and their results. The latter is a never-ending quest and recurs at intervals and as new areas (each of which has its own specific problems) are studied or new methods applied (see, for example, papers by Duncan and Redfern in AARGnews 14). More recently, the annual AARG meetings have become slightly more formal presentations of finished, or ongoing, projects, although our present chairman intends to reintroduce some more open discussion. Presentations have included some of the results from the National Mapping Programme for England (RCHME), and integration of different survey methods (such as comparing results from AP interpretation with geophysics, or adding field-walked data to AP-derived maps). Use of satellite images has been pursued as the special interest of one member but, with the increasing resolution now publicly available, this media is becoming a useful source of archaeological information (see Fowler in AARGnews 9-15, Comfort in AARGnews 14). As AARG enlarged in size, so it attracted aerial photographers as members and topics have arisen which pursue their interests. The merits of different types of hardware (cameras, films, filters, etc) have been discussed (see Crawshaw AARGnews 8-10; Jones in AARGnews 16) and our meetings tend to include an informal session at which members can show a selection of their latest photographs. Current interest, raised as an important post-reconnaissance question, asks whether the traditional archaeological oblique photographs provide reliable data on which to base archaeological survey. This continues to form part of discussions at the annual conferences… 24 http://aarg.univie.ac.at/
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A I R A N D E A R T H A E R I A L A
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© An Chomhairle Oidhreachta / The
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3.9 Integration with other Types of
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Figure 14: The Discovery Programme
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Figure 39: This vertical photograph
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10 Foreword One of the initiatives
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12 Acknowledgements It would not ha
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14 Key Priorities for Aerial Archae
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16 • A practical handbook in arch
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18 • A series of pilot studies co
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20 5. Any new strategy for reconnai
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22 As a means of discovering archae
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24 Drawing on the work of O.G.S. Cr
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26 2 PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF AIR PHOTO
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28 National Museum of Ireland While
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30 Other material held by the GSI i
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32 Figure 9: An infrared vertical i
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34 The aims and objectives of these
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36 2.5 Private Collections Dr Daphn
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38 2.6 Commercial Collections Two w
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40 Figure 18: Google Earth satellit
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42 3.2 Aerial Platforms The equipme
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44 Figures 20 a-b: The use of ballo
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46 Figure 23: The true form of the
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48 Figure 25: The cumulative impact
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50 3.4 Conventional Photography: Di
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52 Vertical versus Oblique Photogra
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Aerial Archaeology in Ireland - The Heritage Council

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