Radar of the lost Kirk
19/05/08
The public are invited along to St Nicholas Church this week to watch real-life Indiana Jones’ as they conduct a ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the transepts of the Kirk in Aberdeen on Wednesday, 21 May and Thursday, 22 May, 2008.
Visitors to St Nicholas Church will have the chance to ask lead archaeologist, Carmen Cuenca-Garcia and the other archaeologists about the research being undertaken and what they hope to uncover at the site.
St Nicholas Church will be open to the public:
Wednesday, 21 May - 12noon to 4pm
Thursday, 22 May - 12noon to 4pm
Carmen is currently studying for a MSc in Archaeological Prospection at the University of Bradford and was one of the original staff who worked on the excavation of the St Nicholas site back in 2006.
GPR is the transmission of high frequency radar pulses from a surface antenna into the ground. It measures the time taken for this energy to be transmitted and reflected by buried remains, sediments and soil deposits and returned back to the surface. Reflections are measured and recorded in real-time by dragging the antennae along parallel lines.
Buried features are mapped, creating high quality 2-dimensional maps and 3-dimensional images.
Carmen Cuenca-Garcia, lead archaeologist, said: “The flat floor within the church, the high sand content of the soil and the depths of known deposits, suggest that GPR is a suitable technique for use in St Nicholas East Kirk.”
In 2006 remains were revealed of at least four previous churches on the site including an apse or semi-circular wall, the remains of the east end of a church which is early medieval in date. 930 burials were uncovered, up to 40, of which were associated with the early church.
A large amount of information about the dig can be found in the weekly blog, which was produced during the dig at www.aberdeencity.gov.uk.
The blog is updated as new ‘discoveries’ are made in the post-excavation process.
If you have any queries regarding this, or any other news story, please contact Aberdeen City Council on: 01224 522000.
