Offshore Scotland and archaeology: the challenge of big data
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 23/12/2018

Offshore development work, undertaken for the developers of windfarms, aggregate dredging, ports and cables and pipelines, now accounts for the bulk of commercial marine archaeological work carried out in the UK. This work depends very heavily upon access to the often huge quantities of marine geophysical and geotechnical data acquired by offshore survey companies for these schemes. With a particular emphasis on offshore Scotland, this paper will examine when and how this data is processed and interpreted by archaeologists and how the results are used by archaeologists to inform mitigation measures put in place by regulators and developers to protect and preserve archaeology during the construction phases of these schemes.

Stephanie Said, Abby Mynett