Google (Earth) Me Up!

Had Marc Bloch only had Google Earth a century ago! (This is the same Marc Bloch who laid the foundation for French social history, and who was shot by the Gestapo during WWII). What Bloch noted was that the 20th-century arrangement of farms in France mirrored the layout of feudal times. Change happens slowly in rural landscapes.

Buxton's present-day farm layout reflects (not surprisingly) how the community was first laid out into 50 acre lots. The distance between major roads N-S and E-W encompasses 600 acres, or twelve 50-acre farms.

Google Earth can help us a great deal today, as we re-survey the area. Each lot can be easily identified, as can its modern condition. Ground inspection can confirm the location of sites. Along with surface collection on farms, which we have done now in several test cases, the debris scatter on the fields can be used to pinpoint the location of a past site (primarily its trash area). Along with GPS, which is accurate up to 3 meters in Buxton, it is possible to be fairly precise about site locations.

Of course, without Google Earth, aerial photography performs the same function, and did during the time of Marc Bloch. But it is now much easier to examine these kinds of data.