Although it may seem peculiar to consider a life-cycle of
archaeological geophysical data, it has evolved as a useful
metaphor to highlight the changes that geophysical data undergo
subsequent to their collection in the field until they finally
reach the Archive. Geophysical instruments are used to measure
geophysical properties; a magnetometer, for example, measures
the magnetic field (or some of its vector components) that is
affected by buried structures. In a geophysical survey
instruments are moved across the area of interest, either
manually or by a vehicle (land, air or water based). Combining
the measurements from all positions into a graphical map
representation allows subsequent archaeological interpretation.
Geophysical data acquisition therefore requires simultaneous
recording of the instruments' measurement values and the
location of the measurement. It is the latter that will be
discussed here first. 2.2.1 Gridded Data The most common method
of archaeological geophysical data acquisition relies