Deep Time Updates
Follow our Pastronauts and Futurenauts on the latest Deep Time missions
September has been a great month for Hadrian's Wall!
Our mission dataset has now grown to include over 15,000 polygons representing archaeological and landscape features, and the map is 35% complete.
One of the most interesting patterns emerging from the data is how much of it sits outside the existing Historic Environment Record (HER).
Only around one in five of our records match a known monument – but that doesn’t mean we’ve uncovered thousands of brand-new sites! Some are known sites that simply aren’t consolidated in the HER. The HER wasn’t designed to record Landscape Intelligence Features – and just under 4,000 of the features we’ve recorded fall into this category!
That’s where bringing everything together in one place gets really interesting. Pastronauts are helping to build a single, joined-up picture of the landscape, bringing archaeological and landscape information together in a way that wasn’t available before.
The power of Deep Time!
If you haven’t joined the mission yet, you can start training and join the mission today.
Planned outage - Thurs 24 Sept 7:00 BST
This Thursday, Humap will be performing maintenance on our mission maps. That means there will be no access to the map starting at 7am.
The outage should only be for one hour but may last up to 3 hours.
No need to worry, all your work will still be there when the map returns!
Looking for feedback? Don't forget to check the chat!
Have you been wondering if you’re doing things correctly on the mission? Looking to hone your skills? The mission chat is the place to go. Join debates about how best to map features, ask for help with tricky squares or just share a cool thing you saw! There might even already be a message for you in the ‘Messages for Pastronauts’ thread. Why not join the discussion?
Hadrian's Wall mission update
Our Hadrian’s Wall mission is now well into its third month, and the map is getting busy!
The mission is now 27% complete, with thousands of features mapped across the Hadrian’s Wall corridor.
Pastronauts have now recorded 11,867 features, with 204 grid squares fully validated and another 80 ready for validation.
And it’s not just archaeological features being mapped. Participants have also recorded over 2,600 polygons for Landscape Intelligence Features, helping us to understand how this historic environment is influencing the modern landscape.
Incredible work, team!
We’ve launched our third instalment of new training materials. This week it’s Hedgerows. Head to the briefing to learn more.
New training materials - Mapping Hadrian's Wall and Vallum
We’ve launched our second instalment of new training materials. This week it’s the earthworks associated with Hadrian’s Wall. Head to the briefing to learn to map the Vallum.
The new Ridge and Furrow training has launched
We’ve released our first instalment of the new training material topics. This week it’s Ridge and Furrow. Head to the mission briefing to review this common monument type.
Community power
Mission update!
We’re now 6% complete, with over 6,000 features recorded, and 317 square kilometres either completed, in progress or awaiting validation. Landscape Intelligence Features are also holding steady at around 25% of all recorded features.
The momentum is building…
Our Pastronaut community is growing, and we’re now up to 263 participants. 45 of our mission leaders have also stepped up to support their fellow citizen scientists, which is nearly 1 in 5 participants taking on a supportive role.
That’s the power of the Deep Time community right there!
The mission is picking up speed!
1,600 square kilometres is an ambitious target – but with Pastronauts joining forces across the corridor, we know we can get there together, and hundreds of squares have already been claimed.
We’ve also been blown away by the quality of work coming in. Take this square, for example – it captures medieval ridge and furrow ploughing alongside the hedgerows that came later, giving us a fuller picture of how this landscape has evolved over time.
And this is just one square. We can’t wait to see what the rest reveals!
Haven’t claimed a square yet? Head to the map, and get started now!
On site, or online?
Fancy getting stuck into some real archaeology, but can’t decide between on site and online?
Do both, like Eva!
Eva’s currently out in the field with us in the Boyne Valley – and when she’s not on site, she’s helping to map ancient landscapes with Deep Time.
If you aren’t already part of our citizen science project, find out more and register to join us – our Hadrian’s Wall mission is live now!
