Method of archaeological evaluation used to estimate the archaeological potential of a site
Archaeological trial trenches
Trial trenching is a rapid and relatively inexpensive method of archaeological evaluation used to estimate the archaeological potential of a site.[1]
Trenches are located at intervals across a site leaving the rest untouched. A mechanical excavator is used to dig down to archaeological features or natural geological deposits and any archaeology is recorded. No further excavation takes place at this stage. The results of the trial trenching are used to inform any future stage of work which may extend to full excavation of the rest of the site if the evaluation reveals significant finds.
There is some argument over the sampling strategy to be employed in trial trenching, especially in evaluating sites that are intended for development. Issues such as the effectiveness of certain trench layouts or the percentage of the site to be dug (normally around 5% at present) are widely discussed. Whether an effective picture of past human activity on a site can be truly estimated through this methods is widely debated. Development can destroy buried archaeology forever and a reliable evaluation methodology is very important. Whilst it is difficult to quantify the number of false negative results there have certainly been examples of evaluations suggesting a relatively limited amount of past activity which has had to be upwardly revised during the excavation.
In the UK the results of the trial trenching will be used to inform the decision on the need for any further archaeological work to be undertaken prior to development. This process is enshrined in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).[2]
^Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) (2020). Standard and guidance for archaeological field evaluation(PDF). p. 4.
^"National Planning Policy Framework". GOV.UK. 20 July 2021.
Trialtrenching is a rapid and relatively inexpensive method of archaeological evaluation used to estimate the archaeological potential of a site. Trenches...
management planning. The main difference between Trialtrenching and watching briefs is that trialtrenches are actively dug for the purpose of revealing...
craft pipes or construct buildings. Quarries were often built through trialtrenching and they used tools such as wedges to break the rock apart, which would...
incorporate into a development programme. Prior evaluation through trialtrenching can overcome these problems by having the archaeology examined and...
Antonine Wall in Scotland. Its postulated existence was confirmed by trialtrenching in 1979. Evidence of building work on Cleddans and on the Wall by units...
sediment excavated from a trench. spoil heap A pile of sediment from an excavation, usually located next to a trench. trialtrenching A method of archaeological...
are archaeological field surveys, watching briefs, shovel test pits, trialtrenching, and excavation. Guidance and standards of practice in the UK are largely...
and Southeast Asian cultural affinities, Hoabinhian in particular. The trialtrench revealed that the site was single habitation—an unbroken two and a half...
interviews with informants in the community, a wide-area survey, or trialtrenching. In North America, survey normally includes either walking ploughed...
study or archaeological geophysics and/or a more direct method such as trialtrenching. Following the results of the initial evaluation, PPG 16 offered two...
croft houses sit on a much older and extensive archaeological site. Trialtrenching has shown that the bank upon which Brotchie's Steading sits is largely...
investigation of the garden area of Sayes Court, and only limited trialtrenching of part of the manor house. In October 2013 Deptford Dockyard and Sayes...
collaboration with the now defunct Castlemilk Local History Group. Two trialtrenches to the west of the tower discovered a defensive ditch which had been...
Archaeological Unit. It proved a difficult site to excavate. Sea tides restricted trialtrench excavating work to between one and four hours per day.(pp 17–21) A Dendrochronological...
but nothing supported Evans' theory. In 1964, Yannis Sakellarakis dug trialtrenches at the Tourkoyeitonia site and uncovered the first evidence of a palace...
terrain prior to an archaeological dig. In a narrower sense it is a "deep trialtrench for inspecting stratigraphy". In doing so, several approximately 1 m2...
Archaeological Cultures of the Sarmatians with a Preliminary Note on the Trial-Trenches at Gyoma 133: a Sarmatian Settlement in South-Eastern Hungary (Campaign...
2017 – via Academia.edu. "Collecting samples from a Lakhueen-jo-daro trialtrench". Archived from the original on 22 April 2008. Ross, David (1883). The...
Trench fever (also known as "five-day fever", "quintan fever" (Latin: febris quintana), and "urban trench fever") is a moderately serious disease transmitted...
Thanikaimoni had taken soil samples in 1974 and again in 1977 from trialtrenches that had been dug into the hill, as well as from the plain immediately...
Baghdad and the British Museum. The process was begun in 1922 by digging trialtrenches, in order for the archaeologists to get an idea of the layout of the...
but was not on the same site, see D. Graham, A. Graham & D. Taylor, 'Trialtrenching on a probable moated site at Downside, Cobham', Surrey Archaeological...
providing a terminus post quem for its construction. In 1955, Wace dug trialtrenches in the area around the tomb, containing large quantities of Mycenaean...
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