News

The survey questionnaire for next year's Jigsaw Training Programme is now CLOSED. Thank you for your votes and suggestions: we had a record number of 70 responses, and we are aiming to meet the requests of the majority. We are now in the process of booking trainers and venues. The new training programme will be announced in the New Year.

We've just uploaded another new Best Practice Guide: Step by Step Guide to Dumpy-Level Survey. Feel free to download and use when using the Jigsaw Level-Mark 32 YSSC Level. The dumpy-level kit can be borrowed from the Jigsaw office in the same way as the rest of the Equipment Resource.

Other Jigsaw Best Practice Guides can be downloaded here. We are creating and uploading Guides based on notes from this year's training programme throughout the winter, so do check regularly for updates.

Training programme 2014: We are starting to think about next year's training programme! We need your help to decide which courses to run, so please complete this very short online questionnaire a.s.a.p. - fixed deadline of Monday 2nd December, but the sooner we receive answers the better:

http://surveys.thehumanjourney.net/index.php?sid=42197&;newtest=Y&lang=en

Due to limited time and budget we can't run all of the course suggestions listed so we need your input to discover which courses are the most popular and useful.

Each winter a large portion of our time is spent collating the handouts from the year's training courses and creating the Best Practice Users Guides. This work is well underway, and we have just completed the Step-by-Step Guide to Off-Set Survey, which is available to download. All our Best Practice Users Guides, and other useful downloads and links to websites can be found in the Downloads section of the website.

Other guides we are currently working on and will be shortly available to download are:

Step by Step Guide to Dumpy Level Surveys

Step by Step Guide to Conducting a Geophysical Magnetometry Survey

Step by Step Guide to using Snuffler to process FM256 Magnetometry Surveys

Step by Step Guide to using Snuffler to process RM85 Resistivity Surveys

Step by Step Guide to Testpitting

Metal-Detecting Policy and Practical

 

These guides are the product of a collaboration between the Jigsaw Community Archaeologists and our Trainers. A big thanks also goes to members of the Jigsaw Community who review and proof-read the guides to ensure they are clear and easy to use. If you spot any errors in our guides, please do let us know.

Jo Everitt  poleOn Saturday we held two practical training courses: 'Plane-table and Off-set Survey' and 'Landscape Survey using a Dumpy Level and GPS' at Swavesey Priory. We enjoyed surveying the wonderful lumps and bumps of this priory site, and there are plans afoot for a return visit by a group of volunteers to complete the survey. Our next training course is 'Theory and Methods of Landscape Survey': a class-based course on how we can use landscape survey in archaeology. This will be held on Monday 4th November, 7pm, in Cambridge. Please fill in the booking form if you would like to attend.