When we first set up in the UK – a little over a year ago now – promoting our services as a ‘nationwide company for archaeology,’ it seemed only fitting that one of our first projects would be at Lands End.
Where better place to start our company than the UK’s most southern tip – the beginning of many an epic journey! Onwards and upwards, we thought to ourselves, wondering how long it would take us to dig our way to John O’Groats.
Just a couple of weeks as it happens, because soon after finishing work on the wind turbine in Cornwall, we found ourselves in the remote reaches of the Scottish Highlands, undertaking a geophysical and topographical survey for Forestry Commission Scotland.
One of the most complex projects we’ve been working on this year is the Heysham to M6 link road (appropriately enough – the main route to Scotland!). We specialise in helping developers and clients navigate an increasingly complex planning system, working alongside management teams to design and implement investigation and mitigation works, ensuring that our projects regularly finish up to 50% under time and budget.
On the M6 to Heysham Link we helped Lancashire County Council to evaluate the proposed road corridor with a geoarchaeological, topographical, metal detecting and trial trench survey. With so much public attention, it was vital that we worked quickly and competently – and our successful approach has just been featured in The Archaeologist Magazine. Read more about our survey innovations here…
We’ve also been profiled in Current Archaeology, Britain’s most popular archaeology magazine, for our survey at Rubha Na Fidhle, an isolated promontory on the northern shore of Loch Awe, West Argyll. Using a combination of geophysics and topographic survey, we revealed traces of an Early Medieval monastic settlement, lost for almost 50 years.
The detailed survey was required to provide a baseline record prior to extensive tree removal by Forestry Commission Scotland. By locating and recording areas of significant archaeology, our client could plan temporary access route for harvesting vehicles, protecting the site for the future.
It seems that in just one year, we’ve completed enough projects up and down the land to fill a book. There and Back Again: An Archaeologists Tale. With so many miles under our belt, we’ve really got to know the UK well over that last 12 months.
Can’t wait for the next 12!
