Archaeology and landscape

Archaeological finds often reveal just a handful of clues about what went on at a particular site in the past, with even the best-preserved or spectacular artefacts sometimes providing at best only a partial picture. However, some of the most prominent features of the activity of our ancestors can be seen in the way they interacted with the landscape. Agriculture, boundary markings, monuments and burials can all leave traces as crop marks or earthwork features.

Our predecessors altered the landscape further when they created settlements. Even when there is nothing left of the original settlements, the plans of towns and villages, and their interconnecting roads, can reveal how an area has developed over time. The investigation of such things is the domain of the landscape archaeologist.

Stewart Ainsworth

Time Team's landscape archaeologist, Stewart Ainsworth, has a full time job as an English Heritage inspector in their Landscape Investigation Team. English Heritage has just over 20 landscape specialists in this unit, which has to cover the whole of the country. With his highly tuned observational skills, Stewart can notice subtle changes in the landscape and analyse how features may have appeared. He started in the second series of Time Team, which was screened back in 1995, and he's still picking the answers to Tony Robinson's archaeological questions out of the ground today – without ever having dug a trowel's worth of dirt.

How's it done?

It takes a long time to recognise all of the different types of features on the ground and understand which archaeological periods they belong to. On Time Team Stewart usually spends his time studying maps from different periods, walking the landscape and getting an aerial perspective from a helicopter. He gradually builds up his theory of how an area developed and then presents it to the team. Nine times out of ten the geophysics results and trenches end up confirming Stewart's original bits of detective work – even if the initial impressions on the ground seem to conflict his theories. Then, like Sherlock Holmes, he appears at the end of the three days to explain it all with a slight air of 'I told you so'.

Can anybody do it?

If you've got a map you can have a go. 'You can understand an awful lot about the development of an area without even looking at the ground,' says Stewart. 'If you've got a map and know what to look for, it's amazing what you can find. Large-scale maps show you the route ways into a settlement; and the way they follow the landscape or change direction can indicate different uses of the landscape. When you get into the closer, more detailed maps you can see field and property boundaries and even trace how a settlement has grown over time.'

Boots are made for walking

If you can combine exploration on a map with walking on the ground you can really start having fun with some investigations. The odd sharp bend on a track on the map can lead you to a host of lumps and bumps on the ground that can indicate underlying archaeology – revealing the original cause of the road changing direction. Other features can become more obvious when you're out walking the landscape and understanding how the real world relates to the map. And of course sometimes not every feature on the ground is represented on even the best maps.

It's all about learning to read the land, according to Stewart. 'Walking the fields with a map and trying to understand the lumps and bumps is great,' he says. 'You just can't beat it!'

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