Between water and land: Connecting and comparing underwater, terrestrial and airborne remote-sensing techniques

Abstract

Ostrów Lednicki is one of the most important early medieval sites in Poland. Land and underwater archaeological excavations have been carried out there for many decades. This has allowed for a significant reconnaisance of the Lednica settlement complex. However, further research, especially that carried out underwater and in the shore-zone, has required the use of modern methods involving a multibeam echosounder (MBES), sub-bottom profiler (SBP), caesium magnetometer and LiDAR scans. The primary platform used for combining the underwater and aerial survey data was a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. This software made it possible to compare and correlate acoustic, magnetic, seismic and laser data. As a result, new important archaeological features were discovered, including two previously unknown bridges and extensive shore-zone fortifications.