The Universe - ForerunnerArcheologicalMethodology editing

The Universe

ForerunnerArcheologicalMethodology editing ...

Enter password: Select file to upload:

Main Menu

Page Contents

! Forerunner Archeological Methodology

Forerunner sites are classifed according to an established methodology:

!!Initial Investigation

1.  Archaeological investigation must involve the competent local authorities.  “Competent local authorities” in this instance will include local archaeological and academic institutions, plus the appropriate central or local government agencies involved in this area.

2.  Where such are not available, it may be sufficient to extract from those authorities with jurisdiction a franchise or licence to carry out the work on behalf of those authorities, which is obviously to the advantage of the IFF.

3.  While it is inevitable that the primary focus of the investigation should be on the find itself, full advantage should be taken of the opportunities, if any, to expand the scope of the investigation. This is in order to exhaust all possible avenues of discovering further or other finds.

4.  In this context, full weight should be given to local and planetary histories, mythologies, folk tales and other such “soft” evidence. While not necessarily of any use as evidence of forerunner activity it can be a very useful pointer to potentially indicate areas for search or eliminate areas from consideration.

!!Assessing the Find

1.  The vital thing to keep in mind at all times is that it is not the job of the investigation team to definitively excavate or exploit the find, but to set boundaries that allow the investigation team to accurately categorise the find.

2.  A limited excavation will often be necessary but the extensive use of non-invasive technology is preferred. This may include, but not be limited to: -

- Geophysics and associated scanning
- Surveying.
- Satellite and aircraft photography.
- False colour and alternate spectra imagery.
- Side scan radar.
- Ground scan radar.

3.  Removal of the artefacts from the local context should be avoided if at all possible, unless and until full recording has been taken, so as to allow for reinstatement at a future date.

4.  If it proves necessary to do so, offer all assistance to support the safe and secure removal, transport, storage etc. Especially, offer the use of the appropriate IFF HQ Institutes specialist resources, including the ex gratia funding of specific local authorities to accompany the artefacts.

!!Assigning a provisional find category

1. This, of course, plays no part in a purely academic view of the find but is very important in an IFF context as it keys in subsequent follow-on levels of exploitation.

2.  The category assigned must be based solely on the evidence and must take any account of local political, religious, economic or ecological concerns. However, these must be detailed separately and any issues or concerns or sensitivities highlighted as context to the assessment. But the assessment itself must be intellectually impeccable.

!!Subsequent Investigation

The degree to which a find requires subsequent or detailed investigation is dependant in the main on the research category that is assigned to it.

**Category 1 and 2** are of sufficient – almost self-evident- importance such that a significant study team will be recommended for funding to the owning polity. See the section on “Upgrading” below.

**Category 3** finds are somewhat transitory; once the first flurry of categorisation has passed the onsite investigation team should make regular and detailed reviews of the evidence it has gathered to see if there is any justification to either upgrade - and thus potentially involve more detailed exploitation by the IFF – or downgrade and handover the find to local exploitation.

**Category 4 and 5** finds, while interesting and important in and of themselves, do not justify further support or exploitation by the IFF. Once this category has been determined, the investigation team should make arrangements to withdraw and ensure that local authorities have taken the find into ownership and care.  A reciprocal agreement for the exchange of site data and find reports on the one hand, and (limited) access to the IFF database on the other should be entered into.

**Category 6** presupposes that the find has either been unsubstantiated or no further IFF involvement is required. Refer to the “Closure and Withdrawal” section below.

!!Upgrading

Depending on the categorisation assigned by the FIT, and if the owning polity will assign the necessary resources, the SIT may be subsumed within the follow-on organisation. 30.  The role of the investigation team is to act as the on-scene representative of the team leader, and to act as broker to make the ramping up of the IFF presence as smooth a seamless as possible.  This will undoubtedly involve the leasing/purchase etc. of local labour, housing, supplies etc. as well as introducing and integrating the follow-on presence into the local efforts and organisational structures.
Individuals scientists will undoubtedly remain on site during the initial transition period and may, at the discretion of the IFF and with the individuals’ agreement, remain on site and work as part of follow on FIT etc. While their professional expertise may be subsumed within the FIT’s ongoing work etc, their prime role is to aggressively follow up any existing or newly discovered leads to new finds.

!!Closure and Withdrawal

Closure of a site assumes that either no exploitable evidence of forerunner finds exists, or that the find has been exploited to the fullest extent possible, or that the IFF’s support and assistance is no longer desired or required.
Exploitation of a site may well have required excavation and the guiding principle is that the site is to be returned to as near its original condition as possible and any necessary reparations or compensation has been adjudicated and finalised before final withdrawal.  Given the current situation with forerunner archaeology, it will almost always be appropriate to setup, and arrange for maintenance of, a stay behind monitoring effort.

!!Summary of Find Categories

Any combination of:

**Category 1** -  a working base, previously unseen artefacts, an majoprdomo or equivalent AI, functioning spacecraft. live forerunners or forerunner star maps.

**Category 2** - a base 3 square km or larger, a large cache of powered items or non-powered and non-portable, 'transmat', asteroid bases, GS9 or other gene engineered species, human record of forerunner interactions

**Category 3** - a base 1 to 3 square km, a small cache of powered items or non-powered and non-portable, propulsion, power generation, weapons, Cadavers of forerunners of gene-engineered species, significant quantities of forerunner language glyphs.

**Cateogry 4** - a base 0.2 to 1 square km, a large cache of non-powered items, evidence of planetary engineering.

**Category 5** - a base up to 0.2 square km, Small cache of Unpowered and Portable items.

**Category 6** - no significant finds.