During the augering James has done a great job of conveying the shape of the valley and the river and carefully linking this to the auger cores we were bringing up. We are now looking at the landscape in a very different way thanks to James, we look at sand banks in the peat and think that they maybe good spots to find flint and more generally understand more of the processes that have and are shaping the land.

After each hole has been completed we disassembled the auger poles and packed up ready to move onto the next hole, which after a few of these we soon became quite efficient at the whole process.

After each transect is complete, Rachael would travel over to record the exact position of the auger holes. The transects are recorded so that they have an exact 3D position on the landscape. The device Rachael is operating is called an EDM or Electronic Distance Measure. The EDM uses laser or infrared to measure the distance between itself and the place that needs recording, the EDM (I believe) is also built into a Total Station this allows for three dimensional recording of finds or in this case the auger holes. What this allows James to do is to draw out a profile of the valley and its varied makeup, as the exact location and elevation of the holes are recorded (amongst many other variables).

This is a picture of what the EDM uses to measure distances from finds, holes or points that need plotting. If you look carefully you should be able to see Jo holding the pole with a yellow head (contains the mirrors).

I hope to soon be able to show what the valley in certain areas looks like in profile, once James has had a chance to draw them out for us.

After we’ve completed the augering, there should be a chance to do a walkover from Five Mile Lane to Washingborough, looking at the landscape in detail and as we go James will be able to create a picture of the landscape, this is not limited in size and the more that can attend the better.