We’ve had Dog Cam. We’ve had Auger Cam. We’ve even had JCB Cam…

But it was only a matter of time before we arrived at… Aerial-Cam!

At the end of last week we were lucky enough to host Adam Stanford - Archaeology’s answer to Inspector Gadget - and his Aerial-Cam mounted Land Rover. It’s often said that there are two ways to direct a project.

You can either be inside the trench, staring at all the colours and shapes wondering what the hells going on, or outside the trench looking down from above, imagining that of course you know everything that’s going on. Extend that by another 30 metres, and you’re coming close to the helicopter vision of Aerial-Cam.

Some the great excavations of our time relied on large scaffold towers to see the wood from the trees, and sort out the great complexity of intercutting features. Brian Hope-Taylor at Yeavering, Martin Carver at Sutton Hoo, Steve Dockrill at Old Scatness. Aerial-Cam useses the same principle, providing the trench team with detailed digital shots of how their features connect with other features, how their trench relates to other trenches, and how the site connects with other sites in the wider landscape… (and if you check the film below – you’ll see it’s all good fun too!).