During an unseasonably cold snap for the final days of November 2017, Jigsaw ran two days of introductory training on geophysical survey in the field using a magnetometer and a resisitivity meter. Twelve members of eight different Jigsaw-affiliated groups attending the training, which was run by Karl Taylor of Oxford Archaeology. Now a Project Manager for OA's North office in Lancaster, Karl has worked for some of the the largest and most respected geophysical survey contractors in the UK.

The geophysical survey equipment used was purchased with the Jigsaw Heritage Lottery Fund grant five years ago and Jigsaw affiliated community groups are eligible to borrow the magnetometer, resistivity meter, a laptop for downloading and processing the data, and tapes and lines for setting out grids. In 2017, at least one of the geophysical survey instruments was on loan for twenty-seven weeks of the year. Step-by-step guides for using the magnetometer and resistivity meter, and setting out the survey, are available to download from the Jigsaw website here.

The field-based training was followed by a half-day session on the 1st December which covered how to download, process and interpret geophysical survey data. Karl demonstrated how to do this using the free geophysics software package Snuffler.

Jigsaw would like to thank Karl for another excellent training course which was very well received by the attendees. We are also grateful to the Histon and Impington Archaeology Group for offering a site to survey and for providing welcome refreshments and a venue for shelter.