Would it be useful for archaeologists have a specifically designed robot that can detect finds for them, and as a result minimise environmental damage? Charlie (14)

First of all, I am not sure if you are aware but archaeologists do use many non-invasive techniques prior to excavation. Those include aerial photography (taking images from above in order to reveal soil patterns that could indicate the presence of a site or settlement), LIDAR (that creates 3D maps of the landscape, thus highlighting variations in topography/landscape), Magnetometry (that measures variations in the Earth’s magnetic field and can detect buried features such as hearths or even metal objects), Resistivity Surveys (that similarly measure the electrical resistance of the soil and can reveal buried features) and Ground Penetrating Radar (that sends radar pulses to the ground and creates a 3D image of buried features).

I would also like to mention that the majority of excavations taking place in the UK are conducted by commercial archaeology units. What it means is that the sites we work on are to be developed, either for infrastructure (roads, railways) or for housing. When we go to excavate these sites, we know they will be destroyed anyway by the construction work that will follow. However, we are lucky that there are laws that prevent developers from building anything before we have time to deal with the archaeology! At least this way, we can record everything and save the artefacts.

Other excavations (or research digs) are organised by universities mostly and they always make sure they do not excavate the site fully, so that there is a part left for future generations, and hopefully better technology. This happened near where I live at the Ness of Brodgar (feel free to check this amazing site: https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/) where part of the site was excavated, but an even bigger part was left untouched.

So, as you can see, we do think about the future and we are very wary of the environment. And we always welcome new technologies, especially if they help us understand the archaeology better, so your robot is a great idea and it could be a great addition to all the techniques already used by archaeologists!

Now I would like to add one last thing. You mention at the beginning of your message that sometimes we dig “without guaranteed results such as fossil or artefact discovery”. When we do trial trenching or small excavations, sometimes we don’t find anything, but that in itself IS a result. Archaeologists do not dig for artefacts, we dig to understand the past and to gain knowledge about our ancestors and how they lived. When we don’t find anything, at least we have gained the knowledge that people did not settle in that particular place, or not long enough to leave any remains in any case. We haven’t found anything, but we have still learnt something, and that is what archaeology is all about.

Please keep up the good work Charlie, your idea is excellent and I hope it will become a reality some day!

Odile, July 2025