About the Project

The inspiration

This year, on the 27th of April the Geophysics Special Interest Group (GeoSIG) of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists are celebrating ’50 years of Archaeological Prospection’.

Inspired by Aspinall and Haigh, who in 1997 reviewed the first 25 years of archaeological prospection, Lucy Parker and Nicholas Crabb will celebrate the contribution that geophysics has made to archaeology and the understanding of our heritage.

Given that this follows closely behind 2022’s International Women’s Day on the 8th March, I was inspired to celebrate not only the contribution of archaeological prospection to our heritage, but more specifically, the contribution of women within the profession.

I have met and been mentored by some brilliant geophysicists, but rarely do I read about the contributions made by women – some of whom have supported and driven some of the greatest technological advances to our profession.

I want to use this platform to amplify these voices and to create a legacy that will inspire a future generation of female surveyors, and inspire those in the profession to stand up and make their voices and their history heard.

The name

On my very first day of survey back in 2015, I was instructed by my supervisor to ‘try not to survey like a girl, because it would result in rubbish data’. Shocked – I enquired as to why ‘surveying like a girl’ would make a difference. My supervisor replied that ‘women wiggle as they walk, and it results in staggered uneven data collection, and we couldn’t be having that, so try to walk like the men do’.

Looking around the largely male team, I observed one man walking with a limp, another three walking with swaggers, another speeding up and slowing down as he surveyed….and I realised that ‘surveying like a girl’ was not going to be something that would affect my data collection, and that I would prove this misconception wrong.

I have enjoyed ‘surveying like a girl’ ever since – collecting some lovely data along the way – hence the name of this project and my Twitter handle!