Fieldwalking is an important archaeological prospecting and evaluation tool used chiefly on arable land in rural areas. A specified area of a ploughed field is systematically walked over and all artefacts observed on the surface are recovered.
These artefacts are then processed and assessed, and the resulting information is used to produce distribution and density maps. When artefacts are clustered in particular areas, this may indicate the presence of sub-surface archaeological deposits and can help provide targets for further investigation.
Plotting the distribution of finds can assist in assessing the archaeological potential of a site and for targeting further investigation.
Fieldwalking is an extremely popular methodology for voluntary and community groups wishing to undertake local archaeological fieldwork.