Geophysical Surveys and Digital Elevation Modelling at the Roman Military Complex of Ardoch
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-10-09

The Roman military complex of Ardoch (Braco, Perth & Kinross) is one of the most important archaeological sites for the study of Rome’s military expansion in northern Britain. It comprises the remains of a main fort with a rectangular area of around two hectares, and at least five, partly overlapping marching camps dating between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD. They constitute one of the best-preserved series of military earthworks in the whole of the Roman Empire. During the course of a fieldwork campaign carried out in March 2016, a geomagnetic plan of the entire main fort was completed, providing new insights into the internal organisation and the defences. Some selected areas were also analysed by means of geoelectric. This research was complemented with a drone flight of the main fort and some adjacent areas, producing a high-resolution digital elevation model of the archaeological site. The large-scale combination of drone flight and geophysical surveys represents an innovative research project in the archaeology of the Roman Gask Ridge Frontier.

Manuel Fernández-Götz1 and Felix Teichner2

1 School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, UK

2 Faculty of History and Cultural Studies, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany