Research
PhD Title: The assessment and application of historic stereo aerial photographs for evaluating archaeological earthwork reconstruction
My research rigorously tests topographic models created from archive aerial stereo-photographs for the purpose of archaeological reconstruction. The methodology I have developed utilises airphoto archives from the UK dating back to the early 1940s, providing a seventy year record from which to extract the metric data, consisting of earthwork dimensions and volumes, required to reconstruct damaged and destroyed earthworks.
Archival photography is readily available to researchers and the public from local authorities and heritage bodies across the UK. My research will demonstrate to national and international archaeology professionals and to the public the hitherto unrealised ability of archive aerial stereo-photography to reconstruct damaged and destroyed earthworks around the world. Further it will demonstrate the ability to quantify the effects of change to this resource by different factors, i.e. mechanised ploughing, cliff erosion, urbanisation, sea level rise etc. for the first time. This has the potential to influence government policy (e.g. agricultural, planning, transport and environmental policies) at scales from local (e.g. county councils) to global (e.g. UNESCO).
My research will address the issues raised by earthwork loss by providing a means by which to retrieve lost metrics and provide the tools necessary to plan for future loss mitigation.
