Site Discovery and Evaluation Through Minimal Interventions: Core Sampling, Test Pits and Trial Trenches

Abstract

Non-invasive techniques for mapping archaeological remains and related characteristics of the soil are becoming cheaper, easier to apply and generally more successful. But these techniques still have a major drawback: they do not provide direct information about what is in the ground. What does a geophysical anomaly tell us about soil conditions at a certain depth? How should we interpret the features recognized on an aerial photograph, a satellite image or a LiDAR-based elevation model? At some point we need ancillary data to support the interpretations made on the basis of non-invasive survey data. In practice, the majority of archaeological surveys nowadays are still done using techniques that rely on direct observation of the soil and the archaeological remains found in it. This is either in the form of a field survey, which does not enter the soil, or in the form of ‘minimal interventions’: invasive techniques like core sampling, test pitting and trial trenching that allow us to observe a limited portion of the subsoil. This chapter gives an introduction to the existing invasive minimal intervention techniques, together with a description of their potential and limitations, and discusses best practices for using them in conjunction with non-invasive techniques.