Page "History of archaeology" Paragraph 23

Other developments, often spin-offs from wartime technology, led to other scientific advances.

For field archaeologists, the most significant of these was the use of the geophysical survey, enabling an advance picture to be built up of what lies beneath the soil, before excavation even commences.

The entire Roman town of Viroconium, modern day Wroxeter, has been surveyed by these methods, though only a small portion has actually been excavated.

The application of physical sciences to archaeology, known as archaeometry or archaeological science, is now a major part of archaeology.