Trial trench dug to control geophysics data
There is an urgent need for testing the validity of some of the survey approaches, for refining survey strategies during the process, for performing much needed ground-truthing of surface and sub-surface evidence and for full exploitation of the potential of the archaeological datasets. An efficient methodology of ground thruthing consists of a set of field operations, involving a combination of more traditional stratigraphic excavation work on crucial areas of the town site (e.g. public buildings defense system, selected housing blocks) with more geo-archaeologically driven types of ground-truthing, such as the digging of a series of test-pits and sampling by way of systematic augering. Especially when archaeological structures are still visible above ground a direct confrontation is possible with remote sensing operations and other types of non-destructive survey in the same area.
Coring on a site to establish the erosion processes and to delineate the stratigraphy
