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Oblique aerial photograph
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Oblique aerial photographs are taken at angles of less than 90 degrees to the ground. They are usually taken by a photographer through the window of an aeroplane. Oblique aerial photographs are particularly useful for identifying archaeological sites that survive as earthworks, standing monuments and cropmarks. See also vertical aerial photographs.
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Vertical aerial photograph
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Vertical aerial photographs are taken from immediately overhead using a camera fixed to the underside of an aeroplane. The camera points directly downwards at 90 degrees to the ground. Vertical photographs are particularly useful for identifying sites that survive as cropmarks. See also oblique aerial photographs.
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Cropmark
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Cropmarks appear as light and dark marks in growing and ripening crops. These marks relate to differences in the soil below. For example, parched lines of grass may indicate stone walls. Crops that grow over stone features often ripen more quickly and are shorter than the surrounding crop. This is because there is less moisture in the soil where the wall lies.
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Aerial Photograph
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Aerial photographs are taken during an aerial survey, which involves looking at the ground from above. It is usually easier to see cropmarks and earthworks when they are viewed from above. Aerial photographs help archaeologists to record what they see and to identify new sites. There are two kinds of aerial photographs; oblique and vertical.
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Bronze Age
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About 2500 BC to 700 BC
The Bronze Age comes after the Neolithic period and before the Iron Age.
The day to day life of people in the Bronze Age probably changed little from how their ancestors had lived during the Neolithic period. They still lived in farmsteads, growing crops and rearing animals.
During the Bronze Age people discovered how to use bronze, an alloy of tin and copper (hence the name that has given to this era). They used it to make their tools and other objects, although they continued to use flint and a range of organic materials as well. A range of bronze axes, palstaves and spears has been found in Warwickshire. more ->
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SITE *
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Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible.
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FEATURE *
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Areas of indeterminate function.
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DITCHED ENCLOSURE *
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An area of land enclosed by one or several boundary ditches. Double index with a term to indicate the shape of the enclosure where known.
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CHURCH *
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A building used for public Christian worship. Use more specific type where known.
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PIT *
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A hole or cavity in the ground, either natural or the result of excavation. Use more specific type where known.
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FIELD *
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An area of land, often enclosed, used for cultivation or the grazing of livestock.
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ENCLOSURE *
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An area of land enclosed by a boundary ditch, bank, wall, palisade or other similar barrier. Use specific type where known.
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RING DITCH *
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Circular or near circular ditches, usually seen as cropmarks. Use the term where the function is unknown. Ring ditches may be the remains of ploughed out round barrows, round houses, or of modern features such as searchlight emplacements.
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QUARRY *
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An excavation from which stone for building and other functions, is obtained by cutting, blasting, etc.
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MACULA *
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Area feature visible as an earthwork or cropmark with no known function.
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FARM *
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A tract of land, often including a farmhouse and ancillary buildings, used for the purpose of cultivation and the rearing of livestock, etc. Use more specific type where known.
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* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)