Aerial Archaeology Research Articles

Converting chaos into order: aerial archaeology takes flight in the 1920s

Converting chaos into order: aerial archaeology takes flight in the 1920s

New Evidence of Neolithic Funerary Monuments from the Eastern Margins of the Long Barrows Territory in Central Europe

Late Neolithic long barrows are commonly found throughout Central and Northwestern Europe, within the Funnel Beaker Culture territory. The sites of this Culture are known from Bohemia covering a period between 3900 and 3400 BC. However, long barrows have not been detected in Bohemia for a long time. The main reason is that they are located in areas where they were affected by modern ploughing. A significant contribution to their recognition was the remote sensing of modern fields, especially aerial archaeology. Current research in Bohemia provided new evidence of dozens of long barrows of several types, significantly expanding our knowledge of this phenomenon in the southeastern margins of its distribution. A new type of long barrow has been identified in Bohemia using remote sensing and current excavation data. The characteristic parameters of the long barrows in Bohemia are an east-west orientation with the ceremonial place in the eastern front and the delineation of the perimeter by a palisade trough or a ditch. The mounds can be divided into at least two structural and chronological forms. The first is the narrow and sometimes extremely long mound with perimeter defined by a palisade trough dating to the 3900–3800 BC. The second type of barrow is enclosed by a trapezoidal ditch. Based on radiocarbon dating, these structures were constructed during the 3700–3600 BC. This type of monument is currently known exclusively from Bohemia.

Nieinwazyjna prospekcja średniowiecznego grodziska w Sądowlu. Problem integracji rezultatów teledetekcji archeologicznej oraz historycznych źródeł kartograficznych

The main aim of this paper is to present the potential of an integrated archaeological survey. Currently established survey practice combines a range of methods such as aerial archaeology, airborne laser scanning and geophysics, and analysis of historical maps. It is commonly assumed that the application of more methods will help to obtain more information about the registered archaeological site. However, a cumulation of collected data does not equate with a better understanding of the analyzed structures. Archaeologists often face fragmentary or even contradictory evidence provided by those methods. Integration of data requires a more flexible approach, a thorough questioning of collected data, meaningful comparison of different results, their re-interpretation and the formulation of new questions according to the mechanism of the hermeneutic circle. We illustrate these issues using the case study of an integrated survey at a medieval stronghold in Sądowel. In particular, we focused on various degrees of success with which different non-invasive methods were applied and changing interpretations of recorded structures.

RONDELE – MONUMENTALNE OBIEKTY, KTÓRE WZNOSZONO 2 000 LAT PRZED PIRAMIDAMI – TAKŻE NA POMORZU ZACHODNIM

As a result of the popularization of aerial archaeology methods in the last twenty-five years, a number of remains of monumental buildings from the Neolithic period, called roundels, have been discovered in western Poland. They had a circular plan and an external diameter of 70–200 m. They consisted of one or several circles of wooden palisade, which in turn were surrounded by circles of earth ditches. The northernmost site of this type was discovered in Nowe Objezierze near Cedynia – less than 80 km south of Szczecin. The author postulates to include these sites built of wood and earth in the history of architecture of our region, and shift its starting point to around the 49th–47th century BC, i.e. 2000 years before the construction of the Egyptian pyramids.

Military archaeology and LIDAR data visualizations: a non-invasive approach to detect historical remains

The present paper belongs to a line of research known as aerial archaeology and compares some specific visualizations of LIDAR data (hill-shading, openness, and sky view factor) to understand which of them can provide the best approach to suitably identify and unveil some archaeological permanences as function of different boundary conditions. In the present case, such permanences belong to the very special material heritage consisting of the "physical traces" of the Great War, although latent, they persist in the present landscapes at different states of preservation and visibility, waiting to be unearthed to express their cultural potential. They represent an indispensable palimpsest of "minor signs" such as, for example, fragments of entrenchments, gun emplacements, shelters, bomb craters, and temporary shelters. Such elements made the war machine work at that time while, nowadays, if properly recognized and enhanced, could foster the historical and cultural revitalization of the territories where they are placed.

고지형분석을 활용한 황등제 수리시설 운용 연구

고지형분석을 활용한 황등제 수리시설 운용 연구

Aerial Archaeology and Settlement Research. Examples from the Early Iron Age in Northern Transdanubia

Aerial Archaeology and Settlement Research. Examples from the Early Iron Age in Northern Transdanubia

K poznání charakteru a rozsahu oppida Staré Hradisko (okr. Prostějov) na základě nedestruktivních prospekčních metod a dálkového průzkumu

Aplikace moderních nedestruktivních metod (geofyzikální průzkum, letecká archeologie a LiDAR) tvoří již několik desetiletí nedílnou součást archeologického výzkumu a jejich prostřednictvím je možné získávat zajímavá a důležitá zjištění bez narušení zkoumaných situací. Použitím výše zmíněných metod na moravském oppidu Staré Hradisko (okr. Prostějov) byly upřesněny a doplněny stávající poznatky o osídlení na ploše západně od opevnění. Významný je objev dosud neznámé klešťovité brány ve východní části opevnění spolu s navazujícím fortifikačním systémem obepínajícím severní část oppida.

Interdisciplinary Investigations of the Neolithic Circular Ditch Enclosure of Velm (Lower Austria)

Middle Neolithic circular enclosures, known as Kreisgrabenanlage (KGA), are the oldest known monumental sites in Central Europe, dating roughly to 4850–4600/4500 BC. These large prehistoric monuments are mainly discovered by aerial archaeology and have been investigated by geophysical prospection and archaeological excavations since the 1960s. The site of Velm (Lower Austria) was discovered by aerial photographs in 2001. Due to its unusual location on a flat gravel plateau, the enclosure has become the object of intensive interdisciplinary research in recent years. In 2016, two motorized ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were conducted, resulting in a detailed three-dimensional dataset visualizing the circular ditches, palisades and dwellings of an adjacent settlement. The high contrast between the gravel sediments and the humic earthen backfill of the ditches, palisades and individual postholes resulted in a highly detailed visualization of the Middle Neolithic monument. Based on this survey, selected structures were investigated by targeted archaeological excavations to evaluate the GPR results and to take samples for radiocarbon dating. This paper presents a synopsis of all the methods used. An integrated interpretation of aerial photo information, magnetometry and GPR is conducted, and it is shown to what extent these could be verified by the targeted archaeological excavation. By a detailed analysis of all applied archaeological prospection methods, it is now possible to interpret the monument in its entirety and confirm its dating to the Middle Neolithic Lengyel cultural complex.

3D Visualization Techniques for Analysis and Archaeological Interpretation of GPR Data

The non-invasive detection and digital documentation of buried archaeological heritage by means of geophysical prospection is increasingly gaining importance in modern field archaeology and archaeological heritage management. It frequently provides the detailed information required for heritage protection or targeted further archaeological research. High-resolution magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) became invaluable tools for the efficient and comprehensive non-invasive exploration of complete archaeological sites and archaeological landscapes. The analysis and detailed archaeological interpretation of the resulting large 2D and 3D datasets, and related data from aerial archaeology or airborne remote sensing, etc., is a time-consuming and complex process, which requires the integration of all data at hand, respective three-dimensional imagination, and a broad understanding of the archaeological problem; therefore, informative 3D visualizations supporting the exploration of complex 3D datasets and supporting the interpretative process are in great demand. This paper presents a novel integrated 3D GPR interpretation approach, centered around the flexible 3D visualization of heterogeneous data, which supports conjoint visualization of scenes composed of GPR volumes, 2D prospection imagery, and 3D interpretative models. We found that the flexible visual combination of the original 3D GPR datasets and images derived from the data applying post-processing techniques inspired by medical image analysis and seismic data processing contribute to the perceptibility of archaeologically relevant features and their respective context within a stratified volume. Moreover, such visualizations support the interpreting archaeologists in their development of a deeper understanding of the complex datasets as a starting point for and throughout the implemented interactive interpretative process.

Everything Archaeology?

– Routine aerial archaeology flights over decades. – Pitfalls in aerial photo interpretation.

Dating the pendant burials of north‐west Arabia: First radiometric results from the Khaybar Oasis, Saudi Arabia

AbstractThe monumental stone structures of the Arabian Peninsula have been notoriously difficult to date. Due to their visibility in the landscape, they have suffered from extensive robbing and later reuse, which has compromised dating methodologies. In particular, our understanding of when the elaborate “pendants” (also known as “tailed cairns” or “tailed tower tombs”) of north‐west Arabia were first constructed has remained incomplete. Recent work undertaken by the Aerial Archaeology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – Khaybar project provides some of the first radiometric dates for the pendants of Saudi Arabia. These structures can now be dated as far back as the third millennium BCE, revealing for the first time a hitherto undocumented, large‐scale, monumental funerary landscape dating to the Early Bronze Age. These radiocarbon dates bring the advent of the pendant building tradition in line with funerary developments across the wider Arabian Peninsula, and may mark a profound reconfiguring of the wider Harrat Khaybar landscape during the third millennium BCE.

Monumentality, Social Memory, and Territoriality in Neolithic–Chalcolithic Northwestern Arabia

ABSTRACT Recent excavations undertaken by the Aerial Archaeology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (AAKSA) project have recovered significant skeletal material, evidence for funerary offerings, including jewelry, and the earliest chronometrically dated domestic dog in the Arabian Peninsula. Despite being heavily disturbed by recent looting, these monumental funerary structures were found to be collective burials dating to the 5th and 4th millennia b.c. The evidence recovered from these graves provides new insight into the social and funerary landscapes of northwestern Arabia during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, shedding light upon issues of social memory, territoriality, and monumentality in the Middle Holocene of the Arabian Peninsula.

Cropmarks in Aerial Archaeology: New Lessons from an Old Story

Cropmarks are a major factor in the effectiveness of traditional aerial archaeology. Identified almost 100 years ago, the positive and negative features shown by cropmarks are now well understood, as are the role of the different cultivated plants and the importance of precipitation and other elements of the physical environment. Generations of aerial archaeologists are in possession of empirical knowledge, allowing them to find as many cropmarks as possible every year. However, the essential analyses belong mostly to the predigital period, while the significant growth of datasets in the last 30 years could open a new chapter. This is especially true in the case of Hungary, as scholars believe it to be one of the most promising cropmark areas in Europe. The characteristics of soil formed of Late Quaternary alluvial sediments are intimately connected to the young geological/geomorphological background. The predictive soil maps elaborated within the framework of renewed data on Hungarian soil spatial infrastructure use legacy, together with recent remote sensing imagery. Based on the results from three study areas investigated, analyses using statistical methods (the Kolmogorov–Smirnov and Random Forest tests) showed a different relative predominance of pedological variables in each study area. The geomorphological differences between the study areas explain these variations satisfactorily.

Interdisciplinary approaches to a connected landscape

The key to understanding a landscape is through its connections, which tie together people and environment within and beyond that landscape and across many different periods. This is particularly true of the northern face of the Ochil Hills in central Scotland, which is characterised by dense networks of connections between lowlands and uplands, local and regional. To trace those connections we integrate the results of walkover survey, aerial archaeology, excavations, documentary analysis and place name analysis, revealing significant continuities and differences in the networks and relationships that have connected this landscape across time and space. Iron Age hillforts used their prominence and monumentality to guide people along very specific routes across the Ochils. Regular seasonal movements of cattle and herders in the medieval and post-medieval periods were closely related to the agriculture and settlement they encountered on the way: this interaction can be clearly seen in the elaborate intertwining of paths, braided cattle tracks, farmsteads and enclosures, most strikingly in the 18th century. Such intricate connections across the landscape are equally keyed in to the specifics of particular locations and to much broader networks and historical change.

Airborne Hyperspectral Imaging for Submerged Archaeological Mapping in Shallow Water Environments

Nearshore areas around the world contain a wide variety of archeological structures, including prehistoric remains submerged by sea level rise during the Holocene glacial retreat. While natural processes, such as erosion, rising sea level, and exceptional climatic events have always threatened the integrity of this submerged cultural heritage, the importance of protecting them is becoming increasingly critical with the expanding effects of global climate change and human activities. Aerial archaeology, as a non-invasive technique, contributes greatly to documentation of archaeological remains. In an underwater context, the difficulty of crossing the water column to reach the bottom and its potential archaeological information usually requires active remote-sensing technologies such as airborne LiDAR bathymetry or ship-borne acoustic soundings. More recently, airborne hyperspectral passive sensors have shown potential for accessing water-bottom information in shallow water environments. While hyperspectral imagery has been assessed in terrestrial continental archaeological contexts, this study brings new perspectives for documenting submerged archaeological structures using airborne hyperspectral remote sensing. Airborne hyperspectral data were recorded in the Visible Near Infra-Red (VNIR) spectral range (400–1000 nm) over the submerged megalithic site of Er Lannic (Morbihan, France). The method used to process these data included (i) visualization of submerged anomalous features using a minimum noise fraction transform, (ii) automatic detection of these features using Isolation Forest and the Reed–Xiaoli detector and (iii) morphological and spectral analysis of archaeological structures from water-depth and water-bottom reflectance derived from the inversion of a radiative transfer model of the water column. The results, compared to archaeological reference data collected from in-situ archaeological surveys, showed for the first time the potential of airborne hyperspectral imagery for archaeological mapping in complex shallow water environments.

Original historical spatial development research methodology

The aim of this article is to present an original methodology that was prepared for the research concerning the history of spatial development of historic towns and their conservation protection. The methodology, already repeatedly verified by the Author in the course of research on the origins, urban model and restoration of selected medieval towns in Poland, is universal and so applicable also during the research carried out in towns outside Poland. In this article it will be exemplified by the studies on the spatial development of the medieval town of Skawina located in Lesser Poland. The methodology consists of five stages. The first stage of research involves the so called “desk study”, which is conducted in selected archives, both in the country where the selected town is located, and abroad. The second stage involves field research in the analysed town. The research is accompanied by an inventory of the area of the chartered town, including its preserved elements such as e.g. the market square, the settlement block or the settlement plot. Photographic documentation is also collected during field research. The third stage of research uses aerial archaeology to analyse the urban layout of a given town. The fourth stage involves confronting the research results obtained at previous stages, primarily comparing archive plans and aerial photographs, as well as analysing them in order to identify changes occurring in the urban layout of the studied town. The final, fifth stage involves assessing the cultural values and the necessary methods for protecting the analysed historic town. The discussed methodology allows for drawing conclusions combined with hypotheses concerning the shape and functional-spatial structure of the examined town in the past, as well as its current values in the context of protecting the cultural landscape. The need to prepare it sprang from the current situation in historic towns which are not always properly protected, and scientific studies of their history are often insufficient. The situation and the need for better protection of historic towns has also been indicated in international documents prepared by the ICOMOS and UNESCO, such as the International Charter on the Conservation of Historic Towns of the ICOMOS from 1987, and the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the historic urban landscape from 2011.

Declassified U-2 spy plane photos are a boon for aerial archaeology

Declassified U-2 spy plane photos are a boon for aerial archaeology

Age, dimensions and classification – a multi‐causal absence of three‐aisled longhouses from aerial photographs of western Jutland, Denmark

AbstractThis article focuses on a significant parameter associated with the interpretation of cropmarks of three‐aisled longhouses on aerial photographs of western Jutland, Denmark. Between 2008 and 2013, during the first part of the project ‘An aerial view of the past – aerial archaeology in Denmark’, 672 three‐aisled longhouses were discovered. These longhouses have been dated typologically, identifying only four houses from the Early Bronze Age (ca 1700–1100 bc) and showing no recorded examples from the Late Bronze Age (1100–500 bc). The remaining longhouses fall primarily within the period from the Early Iron Age to the Viking Age (ca 500 bc–ad 1050). The absence of longhouses from the Bronze Age is presently explained as a consequence of age and dimensions. Two factors that revolve around the possibilities of cropmark occurrence. In this article, it is suggested that the method of classification used to interpret longhouses on aerial photographs is of crucial significance with respect to the virtual absence of Bronze Age examples. The typological problems associated with visual classification are outlined, after which the possible latent presence of Bronze Age longhouses in the aerial photograph database is investigated. The problems are addressed via a series of principal component analyses (PCAs), employed as a classification tool. The PCA classification of the longhouses is based exclusively on the arrangement of the internal roof‐bearing posts. The analysis uses data from 203 excavated longhouses, which are compared with 120 longhouses recorded on aerial photographs. The analysis identified 14 longhouses that could potentially be from the Late Bronze Age, both with respect to internal roof‐bearing construction and visual appearance on aerial photographs. This leads on to a discussion of the typological problems associated with identifying longhouses from the Late Bronze Age and Early Pre‐Roman Iron Age, together with a weighting of the factors: age, dimensions and classification.

High-Tech Heritage: Planes, Photography, and the Ancient Past in the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon

The French occupation and governance of mandate Syria and Lebanon after World War I coincided with the rise of aviation as a tool of intelligence gathering. Surveillance from the sky served both military and scientific objectives for the French deployed to the region, and the development of “aerial archaeology” soon captured the fascination of experts and the public. This article examines how aerial archaeology provided a means not just of exerting colonial control through the exercise of scientific collection but also provided a way to remain relevant in the event of an end to formal, territorial empire. “High-tech heritage”—aerial archaeology in this case—became an attractive model for colonial powers in a decolonizing world, offering new techniques for extracting information and for setting the terms of cutting-edge praxis.