ARCA can formulate a geoarchaeological strategy for site investigation, both at the outset of a project and prior to its individual stages. A first stage of works commonly comprises an examination of the existing geological resources pertaining to an area, such as maps and archives held by national and/or regional geological agencies, together with geotechnical borehole records collected by similar bodies or developers. These can be used to develop an outline geomorphological map against which human activity can be mapped and thereby correlated with landscape processes. Although geotechnical and other geological borehole data are rarely of sufficient resolution to address archaeological questions directly, they can be manipulated to provide outline deposit models for sites that are to be developed. ARCA has extensive experience of using geotechnical and other borehole data to generate such deposit models (using Rockware ™ RockWorks and ESRI ™ ArcGIS software), as well as composite stratigraphic cross sections. Geomorphological maps and knowledge of the three-dimensional distribution of stratigraphic units are essential source material in the development of the site location and archaeological preservation models that are the culmination of desktop studies.

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To discuss your desktop geoarchaeological requirements, contact Keith Wilkinson