Tuesday 9 October 2012

Community involvement project to monitor archaeological sites

Tom Dawson (School of History), managing director of SCAPE (Scottish Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion), is working on the prioritisation of action at archaeological sites threatened by coastal erosion. Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Scotland and the Crown Estate will enable project staff to work with the public to record and monitor sites using a specially designed smart phone app and an interactive website. The three-year project will involve communities from around the entire coast of Scotland. As well as monitoring known sites and recording new discoveries, local groups will also tell the project team which sites they feel are most deserving of further work. At least twelve of the sites selected by the public will be subjected to more detailed study. A range of follow-up projects will record the threatened remains in both conventional and new ways. This could include archaeological excavation, making films about sites, laser scanning, constructing 3D models from aerial photographs or recording sites through photography and art.