Recceology
Encyclopedia
Recceology is the archaeological term for a group of non-invasive studies, such as topographical evaluation, surface examination, aerial observation, spall measurement, fortification tracing, and environmental measurements.
Recceology is conducted both in a technical fashion and in a non-technical fashion. Principally applied to battlefield archaeology and broadly to any area specifically involved in warfare, the technical form is based on surface finds of artefacts
and spalls from impact—as well as tracks and matching of photographic and other paper evidence
. The non-technical form is opinion-driven; assessing where strategic points are based on theory and experience of the military behaviours during the period of history in question.
Recceology is a practice generally employed to avoid random invasive sampling
. The latter has low success rates in military archaeology and it is accepted by many that random sampling can cause unnecessary damage.
Related disciplines are military archaeology, battlefield archaeology
, aerial photography, and magnetometry or resistivity
testing.
Recceology is conducted both in a technical fashion and in a non-technical fashion. Principally applied to battlefield archaeology and broadly to any area specifically involved in warfare, the technical form is based on surface finds of artefacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
and spalls from impact—as well as tracks and matching of photographic and other paper evidence
Scientific evidence
Scientific evidence has no universally accepted definition but generally refers to evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientific theory or hypothesis. Such evidence is generally expected to be empirical and properly documented in accordance with scientific method such as is...
. The non-technical form is opinion-driven; assessing where strategic points are based on theory and experience of the military behaviours during the period of history in question.
Recceology is a practice generally employed to avoid random invasive sampling
Sampling (statistics)
In statistics and survey methodology, sampling is concerned with the selection of a subset of individuals from within a population to estimate characteristics of the whole population....
. The latter has low success rates in military archaeology and it is accepted by many that random sampling can cause unnecessary damage.
Related disciplines are military archaeology, battlefield archaeology
Battlefield archaeology
Battlefield archaeology is a sub-discipline of archaeology that began in North America with Dr. Douglas D. Scott's, National Park Service, metal detecting of in 1983...
, aerial photography, and magnetometry or resistivity
Resistivity
Electrical resistivity is a measure of how strongly a material opposes the flow of electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allows the movement of electric charge. The SI unit of electrical resistivity is the ohm metre...
testing.