The Geophysical Survey Database

The English Heritage Geophysical Survey Database was created in 1995 to provide a publically accessible index of all the geophysical surveys of archaeological sites undertaken by English Heritage. Shortly after its inception its remit was expanded to include information about all surveys carried out over scheduled monuments and protected for which a licence is required under Section 42 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas act 1979. A further pilot project in the late 1990s to record details of surveys in England carried out in the commercial and academic sectors added details of over a thousand new surveys to the database. However, it was not possible to continue this project and make the database a fully comprehensive record of English geophysical surveys. Nevertheless, by the end of 2011 the database contained records of more than 2700 surveys stretching back to the late 1960s.