Overview of Terra Nova
Geoarchaeology Projects
This is a list of geoarchaeology projects which were either undertaken by Terra Nova Limited or carried out or directed previously by its Director, David Jordan. It is thus a record of the experience and expertise within the company.
Our practice is a team effort. Terra Nova Limited is very grateful for the hard work carried out for it by current and former employees, students and collaborators, to whom we owe much of the studies outlined below.
Please let us know if you want to find out more about any of these projects.
Geoarchaeology
Projects
Kebister, Shetland
A multi‑period study, including an extensive landscape and soil survey to map the distribution of archaeological activity.
Blackhouse Burn, Lanarkshire
A study of the effects of bog drainage on the mineral stratigraphy of a Neolithic enclosure bank.
Cloburn Quarry, Lanarkshire
A study of soil formation processes within a prehistoric occupation site.
Bannockburn, Stirlingshire
A broad geo‑archaeological study of a major prehistoric site.
Balfarg, Fife
A study of environmental change around an important group of prehistoric monuments.
Kinloch, Rhum
A broad geo‑archaeological study of a major Mesolithic site.
Soutra, Lothian
A study of the strata of a Medieval hospital site to identify where bio‑archaeological evidence might be preserved.
Blackhope Cairn, Lothian
A broad geo‑archaeological study of a minor Bronze‑Age site.
Eildon Hill, Borders
A broad geo‑archaeological study of a major Iron‑Age site.
Elginhaugh, Lothian
A study of the buried soils, rampart‑turf, and site formation processes producing evidence of major stratigraphic destruction by soil lessivage.
Machrie Moor, Arran
A study of the destruction of strata by podsolisation.
Hay Farm, Bridgnorth
A study to determine whether a prehistoric site had been altered by colluviation.
West Wood, Lyminge
A broad geo‑archaeological study which found substantial stratigraphic loss by lessivage
Lawn Farm, Stoke on Trent
A broad geo‑archaeological study intended to identify which of the strata were original to the site, which more recent and which had been contaminated by recent mixing.
Bettencourt, Amiens
A study of a very complex sequence of natural and archaeological strata, including extensive loss by lessivage.
Northern Dordogne
A complete agricultural soil survey of the northern Dordogne managed on behalf of the Bordeaux Agricultural College and the Dordogne Farmers Cooperative.
Motorway A77, Loire valley
A complete archaeological survey along 16km of motorway route, including soil survey which was used to develop a model of site‑destruction by past soil erosion.
Friar Street, Worcester
A general geo‑archaeological study to identify the origins of the strata and, in particular, the material used to construct the Medieval town defences.
County Hospital, Hereford
A brief geo‑archaeological study to clarify the relationship of natural and archaeological strata on the valley margins.
Beau Street, Bath
A major, continuing study of an important suite of strata recovered during excavations in central Bath.
Southgate Street, Bath
A brief study which identified changes in the Medieval course of the river Avon from strata revealed during deep excavations in central Bath.
Kemerton, Tewkesbury
A phosphate survey, carried out for Time Team, which appears to have located the limits of some key activities within a prehistoric site.
Castle Street, Worcester
A brief study to identify which possible features were due to human activity and which to natural, periglacial remains.
Lugg Bridge Quarry, Hereford
A preliminary study, part of a continuing project, to identify the palaeoenvironmental context of archaeological activity on the Lugg valley floor.
Wellington Quarry, Hereford
A continuing study of an important group of sites and their sedimentary context.
Redcliffe Warfe, Bristol
A first study of waterfront strata which identified the excellent preservation of such evidence in central Bristol.
Redcliffe St, Bristol
A continuing study of an adjacent site with well‑preserved evidence for parent materials and formation processes.
Beehive Yard, Bath
A brief study which explained the lack of strata as the result of post‑depositional soil formation.
Hay Bluff, Powys
A survey which located soil horizons suitable for path reconstruction on the badly eroded Black Mountains ridges.
Kingspool, Stafford
A study of natural strata at the edge of the Kingspool bog which showed that previous pollen studies need to be put into a wider sedimentary context if they are to be understood.
Newton St Loe, Bath
A geo‑archaeological study which clarified the likelihood of strata surviving within a site heavily reworked by soil fauna.
Bellotts Hospital, Bath
A study which identified the high potential for palaeoenvironmental research into a key multi‑period site.
Castle Pool Hotel, Hereford
A brief study of flood deposits associated with archaeological activity in the city centre.
Wychbold, Worcestershire
A study which suggested gravel spreads across a geologically complex site to have both a natural and archaeological origin.
Oldfield Boys School, Bath
A study of colluvial and archaeological deposits across a steep hillside in southern Bath. The study correctly predicted the nature of the stratigraphy which might be encountered.
Bury Castle, Lancashire
A broad soil study which showed that a number of strata interpreted as archaeology were buried natural horizons.
Keynsham, Bath
A broad geo‑archaeological study in the Medieval town.
Bridge Street, Hereford
A continuing study of flood deposits and their influence on the strata making up an important waterfront site.
Wadham Yard, Croydon
A broad geo‑archaeological study of a prehistoric site and its natural context.
Henrietta Road, Bath
A broad geoarchaeological study of Roman and Medieval strata on a complex urban site.
Perdiswell, Worcester
A geoarchaeological study of the strata preserved in prehistoric ditches and pits excavated in northern Worcester. The project concentrated on the relationship between the site formation processes and the results of previous geophysical survey.
St Thomas Street, Bristol
A geoarchaeological study of strata revealed during a complex urban excavation. This results of this study and those of other sites nearby shows how the sequence of soils and archaeological strata developed, during the Medieval period, within part of the city centre.
St Thomas Street, Bristol
This second study considered the processes by which a group of amorphous “garden soil” strata had formed in Medieval Bristol
Avonmouth Treatment Works
This study discussed the middle and late Holocene strata and buried soils revealed in a sequence of the Avonmouth Levels deposits.
West Wick
A combined geophysical and coring survey which investigated the late Holocene stratigraphy of the Levels near Weston-super-Mare.
College Square, Bristol
A preliminary study of complex construction and dump deposits found in a Medieval site.
Dimmer, Somerset
A study of a prehistoric site which described the relationship between alluvial deposits and the archaeological strata, thus clarifying the environment within which the site had been occupied.
Moreton on Lugg
A study of alluvial and archaeological strata at the edge of the Lugg valley. The study shows, in particular, the risk which modern drainage poses to the mineral, as well as organic, fabric of sites through the renewal of soil vertic mixing.
Courages Brewery, Bristol
A study of a sequence of Medieval waterfront deposits.
St Peter’s School, Hereford
A study of the development of archaeological stratigraphy within natural, glacial strata in central Hereford.
Avlon Works, Avonmouth
A combined geophysical and sedimentological study of estuarine strata carried out in order to place archaeological remains within their environmental setting.
Flood defence sites, Hereford
A study of deposits revealed in cores and excavations through the Wye alluvia at Hereford. The study reveals a previously unknown sequence of Holocene deposits.
Wellington Quarry, Hereford
Continuing studies of Holocene strata revealed during quarrying at Wellington. The study shows how parent material and post-deposition processes have compromised archaeological stratigraphy.
West Midland Pipelines
A major study of a 52km pipeline route which describes the natural and archaeological strata revealed by pipe-trench excavation and discusses the way in which such trenches may be examined in future.
New Crane Street, Chester
A study of alluvial and archaeological deposits which described, for the first time, the dynamics of the Medieval river Dee at Chester and its considerable significance for the archaeology of the city.
Freshford Mill, Bath
A geoarchaeological study of Medieval and later deposits.
River Kennet Rehabilitation
A sedimentological study of the Holocene river deposits.
Aldridges, Bath
A study of Roman strata revealed in excavation. This, and nearby sites, show how the hillside was terraced during the Roman period and how it subsequently developed through agriculture, horticulture and eventual burial under post-Medieval buildings.
Conder Building
A study of Roman and later industrial strata which concentrated on the complex origins of the deposits and the processes by which they had decayed.
Magistrates Court, Worcester
A study of complex Roman and natural deposits. The study considered, among other things, the effects of lessivage on the preservation of urban archaeological stratigraphy.
Peasdown St John, Bath
A study of archaeological strata which discussed the relationship between the formation of archaeological strata and the natural deposits within which they formed.
Pembridge, Herefordshire
A geoarchaeological study of a sequence of natural and Medieval deposits.
Wellington Quarry Villa site
A geoarchaeological study of complex Roman and Medieval deposits at the Roman Villa site in Wellington quarry. The study showed that the deposits preserve detailed evidence of occupation and agriculture as well as a previously unrecognised episode of Medieval flooding.
Najerilla Project, La Rioja
Two brief reports on geoarchaeological studies of natural and archaeological stratigraphy observed in excavation and natural section. The reports reach preliminary conclusions concerning the processes and sequence of landscape formation.
Raqchi, Peru
A study of the complex landscape around an important Inca site. The study considers the way in which the site and landscape has developed through the Holocene and the influence of a major volcanic eruption which probably took place at the site within the past millennium.
Sutton St Nicholas, Bath
A broad geoarchaeological study which showed the effects of lessivage and colluviation on a Medieval site.
Wisemans Dairies, Droitwich
A geochemical survey of a Medieval site.
Tallow Hill,
Worcester
A study of archaeological and natural alluvium carried out in order to determine if the alluvium of the Frog brook had allowed the preservation of significant archaeological and environmental evidence.
Home Farm, Ingestre
A geoarchaeological investigation which described the Quaternary deposits and their effect on the overlying archaeological remains. In doing so the report reconsidered earlier archaeological findings.
George Lane, Wyre Piddle
A geoarchaeological study which reported on the deposits of a prehistoric site and tested the potential for more detailed geochemical analysis. The study concluded that the probability of success was low.
Bath Road, Digliss
A geoarchaeological study, based on cores recovered by a geotechnical drilling rig, which described the archaeological and alluvial deposits of the lower Frog Brook. The area shows considerable potential for the preservation of such evidence.
The Ridge, Shirehampton
A geoarchaeological study which sought, but did not find, evidence of pre-Holocene artefacts and cold-stage fauna.
Trowbridge Mawr, Cardiff
A major geoarchaeological survey involving extensive and detailed geophysical survey and coring followed by detailed palaeoenvironmental proxy analyses and synthesis. The report details a very full and unusually well-tested 3-dimensional model of the area which is illustrated using a computer model. The project identified sedimentary structures indicating gradual, interrupted sea-level rise through the Holocene and provided a great deal of detailed information about the changing resources and environment of past societies living in the area.
Avon Gas Pipeline Crossing
A brief geoarchaeological study of the alluvium of the river Avon, and the fluvioglacial terraces nearby, revealed in a deep gas-pipeline trench. The sections showed the gradual accumulation of organic deposits and fine alluvium through the Holocene and provided an opportunity to recover samples for microfossil analysis.
Rhoose Sewer Crossing
A watching brief and geoarchaeological analysis of a small test pit dug during pipelaying. The pit revealed very little of interest.
Watts Dyke, Chirk
A geoarchaeological study of deposits buried by the bank of the Wats dyke in north Wales. The deposits include the material of the bank and a complete buried soil profile beneath, which is typical of the soils in this area and geology.
Roman Amphitheatre, Chester
A brief geoarchaeological study of deposits revealed by excavations at the roman amphitheatre. The deposits appear to have been laid down by sedimentation from very slow moving or standing water and there was evidence of periods of drying which resulted in thin accumulations of clay and the formation of organic mats over the deposit surface.
Windsor Castle Pub, Bath
A short report on two, heavily polluted, soil columns recovered from excavations on a site in Bath.
St Mellons, Cardiff
A major geoarchaeological survey, similar to that at Trowbridge Mawr, involving extensive and detailed geophysical survey and coring followed by detailed palaeoenvironmental proxy analyses and synthesis. The report details a very full and unusually well-tested 3-dimensional model of the area which is illustrated using a computer model. The results correspond closely with those from Trowbridge Mawr and show that this now land-locked area lay very close to the sea shore through most of the Holocene.
Corporation Road, Newport
A geoarchaeological survey of estuarine alluvial deposits buried beneath 2m of modern industrial waste. The survey combined geotechnical probing and coring from which we were able to record the 3-dimensional stratigraphy and identify any evidence of human occupation.
King Alfreds School, Burnham on Sea
A detailed geoarchaeological study of a Roman soil, and associated Roman industrial remains, buried beneath a post-Roman alluvium. Our analyses identified the main changes in the environment, including rapid post-Roman flooding as the sea-defences collapsed, and subsequent grazing of livestock on the encroaching saltmarsh.
Whittington Castle
A complex survey and analysis of an enigmatic monument. Our coring and geophysical survey revealed a series of deep, partly organic varved deposits as well as a number of interesting ditch fills. The survey also showed the probable arrangement of a Medieval garden but posed as many new questions as it answered – thus helping to sharpen the focus of future research.
Kwik Save, Hereford
A brief geoarchaeological study which described the nature and origins of archaeological deposits formed within the fluvioglacial terrace deposits in the city. The report describes the nature and possible origins of precipitates associated with Medieval industrial activity at the site.
Lugg Valley Scoping Study
A large scale study of the landscape of the river Lugg catchment commissioned by the County Council. The report discusses the way the catchment formed, the distribution of archaeological remains and the most appropriate methods of pursuing further archaeological survey and conservation.
Lowesmoor Estate, Worcester
A brief geoarchaeological study of the middle reaches of the Frog Brook which showed, as had earlier Terra Nova studies, that there was little depth of alluvium to protect buried archaeological remains.
Cheese Lane, Bristol
A detailed geoarchaeological study of archaeological strata and the natural alluvium around them which described the way in which this late Medieval and post-Medieval industrial site had formed under the influence of the tidal river Avon.
Union Street, Bristol
A detailed geoarchaeological analysis of the deposits filling and to the sides of a tributary of the Avon in central Bristol. The deposits contain archaeological remains and the report describes the origins, depositional processes and post-depositional changes which have produced the materials found by the excavations.
Third Way, Avonmouth
A study of deep, estuarine alluvium within which we found a series of thin, incipient buried soils representing brief episodes of surface drying, and perhaps marine retreat, between periods of more continuous inundation. This evidence was related to periods of human occupation in the area.
Roman East Baths, Bath
A brief study of deposits excavated from a Roman Baths building and which concluded that there was little evidence surviving to provide further information about the origins of the deposits.
RSW Malthouse, Bristol
The soils in a trench to the east of some 1830’s mill cottages were examined in order to establish their relationship with the orchards shown on early maps, and with a possible hollow way. The soils and alluvium at the base of the trench contained no evidence of the trampling and compaction that would be expected in a hollow way. A number of phases of soil building and dumping had occurred. Evidence of three phases of soil development survived, and each of these seems to be related to different uses of the land.
Jacob Street, Bristol
A geoarchaeological study of a site which had been heavily truncated by drains and cellars, leaving only a small section of deposits available for study. This section appears to be made up of a layer of redeposited marl containing 14th C pottery, overlain by a ‘garden soil’ formed from the marl and a series of anthropogenic additions. The soil had been heavily mixed by earthworms, and all depositional structure within it seems to have been lost.
Bedminster Glue Factory,
Bristol
A brief geoarchaeological study which described and discussed the origins of a truncated alluvial profile containing both archaeological remains and buried soil profiles.
Llandoger Trow, Bristol
A brief geoarchaeological study which described the formation of soils within an alluvial sequence and their relationship to a sequence of buried archaeological remains.
Somerset House, Glastonbury
A brief geoarchaeological study which suggests that the buried deposits are formed principally from naturally redeposited soil and sub-soil colluvium sealed by a series of cultivation soils built up through the addition of organic and cultural material, and further, natural colluvium.
Aust to Oldbury Pipeline
A very extensive and detailed geoarchaeological survey and study of natural and archaeological deposits in the northernmost part of the English Avon Levels. The project used a combination of test excavation, coring, geotechnical probing (CPT) and geophysics to build a detailed stratigraphic section through the Levels and then refined this by archaeological excavation and palaeoenvironmental analyses.
Margam Park Environmental Impact Statement
This report discusses the probable impact of proposed development on the environment of Margam Park, Port Talbot.
14, Trim Street, Bath
A brief geoarchaeological study of a well-developed urban soil, derived from archaeological as well as natural deposits.
Kingsmead Motors, Bath
A geoarchaeological study which revealed the considerable potential of a group of Roman industrial deposits to provide information about the development of the area.
Ripple,
Tewksbury
A geoarchaeological study of alluvial and archaeological deposits beside the river Severn. The study showed how the deposits had formed and how the archaeological and natural deposits related to each other.
Dales Works, Leominster
A geoarchaeological study of a complex sequence of Medieval deposits, including metalworking debris, over and within a sequence of palaeochannels some of which contain much earlier deposits. Our study described the sequence of processes which produced these deposits and their relationship to the valley in which the site lies.
Lyonshall, Herefordshire
A brief description of a series of strata filling a Roman ditch.
Alstone, Somerset
A geoarchaeological study which showed that the archaeological and natural reworking of the site has further complicated an already complex sequence of Holocene deposits. Mixing due to soil processes has destroyed boundaries between archaeological features and overlying layers, resulting in the displacement of archaeological deposits. The complex variations in colour between the strata appeared likely to be due to the effects of water movements and chemical reduction-oxidation processes.
Cross Leys Quarry, Peterborough
A geoarchaeological study was carried out to clarify the origin of deposits at Cross Leys Quarry, Peterborough. The deposits were dark mostly because they contain a high proportion of finely divided charcoal derived from some, possibly industrial, process which has occurred elsewhere, since the deposits do not appear to have formed in situ. Some post-depositional soil development, weathering and mixing has occurred.
Dial Street, Warrington
A short geoarchaeological study which described the development of deep urban deposits in the town centre.
Swan Hotel, Lichfield
A geoarchaeological study carried out to clarify the origin and characteristics of pit deposits at the site of a former tannery at the Swan Hotel in Lichfield. The deposits were found to be too mixed and their origins too dificult to determine for precise conclusions to be reached.
Johnny Ball Lane, Bristol
A brief study of urban deposits which showed why they were likely to be derived from dumping, as part of deliberate ground levelling, rather than the gradual accumulation of domestic debris.
Redland Court Road, Bristol
A geoarchaeological study which described and discussed a sequence of natural and archaeological deposits. It showed, in particular, that the line of a former hedge had come to resemble a buried ditch because of the soil processes encouraged by the hedge roots.
Priory Hospital, Bristol
A geoarchaeological study of deposit profiles, including a buried soil, which were associated with archaeological activity and might reveal the effects of subsequent soil erosion.
Selly Oak, Birmingham
A study of a sequence of natural and archaeological deposits formed on a sequence of Holocene and quaternary terraces in a shallow river valley.
Bristol Road, Keynsham,
A brief geoarchaeological study which demonstrated that the deposits overlying archaeological remains were likely to be alluvium.
Fosse Way, Shepton Mallet
A geoarchaeological study which described a series of eroded Roman deposits and their relation to the natural soil and landscape of the site.
Walpole Landfill
Site 
A geoarchaeological report discussing the relationship between the natural alluvial profile and a sequence of buried deposits containing artefacts and other archaeological remains. The project showed the way in which post-depositional soil formation had influenced the deposits, making it much more difficult to distinguish those colour changes due to natural and archaeological stratigraphy.
Blind Yeo, Clevedon
A brief study of natural alluvial estuarine deposits which described a sequence of marine transgression and retreat through the Holocene.
Old Port, Chester
A geoarchaeological study which discusses the origins of riverine deposits built up and dumped around the structures of the Old Port on the river Dee.
Longbridge, Birmingham
A brief study of heavily contaminated soils and archaeological strata underlying a modern industrial wasteland undergoing reclamation.
Temple Back, Bristol
A geoarchaeological study of a series of boreholes through the fills of a former creek running off the river Avon in central Bristol. The study showed that the creek had been filled, first by natural tidal deposits and then by deliberate dumping of archaeological deposits derived from elsewhere.
Western Approaches Business Park, Avonmouth
A brief geoarchaeological study which described a sequence of estuarine alluvial deposits and discussed their origins.
Flaxley Valley,
Gloucestershire
A short geoarchaeological study which recovered a series of cores through the Holocene alluvial and colluvial deposits on the valley floor and discussed their origins and relations to the later Quaternary terraces on the valley sides.