Digitising Legacy Field Survey Data:A Methodological Approach Based on Student Internships

In the Mediterranean, field survey has been the most widely used method to detect archaeological sites in arable fields since the 1970s. Through survey, data about the state of preservation of ancient settlements have been extensively mapped by archaeologists over large rural landscapes using paper media (e.g., topographical maps) or GPS and GIS technologies. These legacy data are unique and irreplaceable for heritage management in landscape planning, territorial monitoring of cultural resources, and spatial data analysis to study past settlement patterns in academic research (especially in landscape archaeology). However, legacy data are at risk due to often improper digital curation and the dramatic land transformation that is affecting several regions. To access this vast knowledge production and allow for its dissemination, this paper presents a method based on student internships in data digitisation to review, digitise, and integrate archaeological primary survey data. A pilot study for Central–Southern Italy and the Iberian Peninsula exemplifies how the method works in practice. It is concluded that there are clear benefits for cultural resource management, academic research, and the students themselves. This method can thus help us to achieve large-scale collection, digitisation, integration, accessibility, and reuse of field survey datasets, as well as compare survey data on a supranational scale

Surface visibility and the validity of settlement patterns in legacy survey datasets

The ground visibility of the terrain that is surveyed has a clear impact on detecting archaeological finds. Because the resulting distortions may influence the quality of the interpretation of single settlements and settlement patterns, various checks of the terrain and the collected data are needed. Therefore, in current survey projects different types of tests and data filtering are increasingly implemented both in the field and in the laboratory as a part of their methodology. However, some of the most important archaeological landscape projects were initiated long before an agreement on a standard methodology for field survey was reached. As a result, legacy datasets have been deemed to be of little value to present-day scholarship due to the current research standards. In this paper, we examine if legacy data can be useful to contemporary research by performing a study comparing legacy data collected by the Forma Italiae survey project to contemporary data collected by the LERC project. The Forma Italiae survey project was carried out in the late 20th century and produced a large dataset of archaeological sites in the area around the ancient town of Venusia (located in Southern Italy). We first analyzed the relationship between surface visibility and the density of identified Hellenistic-period sites by means of a statistical analysis, and then tested the reliability of the legacy site patterns by comparing them with new data recovered from the field in a recent re-survey of this region by our team as a part of the LERC project. We thus assessed the compatibility of the clustered pattern of sites detected by the Forma Italiae and the new LERC field surveys. At odds with more pessimistic estimations, we conclude that on the regional level and coarse scale of analysis the legacy survey data is representative and offers significant evidence to current scholarship for the study of ancient settlement patterns.This article is the revised version of a chapter in a PhD thesis (CASAROTTO 2018: 91-103) conducted in the framework of the Landscapes of Early Roman Colonization project (NWO project 360-61-040, Leiden University, KNIR).Peer reviewe

Archeologia delle alte quote sulla montagna veneta: la campagna di ricognizione di superficie 2019 a Recoaro Terme (Vicenza)

In this paper we present the preliminary results of the 2019 field survey conducted in the framework of the project \u201cBeyond the border. Study and enhancement of the highlands between Veneto and Trentino\u201d. The aim of this overarching project, which applies a multidisciplinary approach, is threefold: to detect in this mountain landscape the main activity areas and reconstruct possible connections between them; to analyse the long-term relationships between Trentino and Prealpine Veneto from prehistory to the present day; and to study the evolving function of this frontier area during periods of conflict/interaction. Several methods were employed to shed light on the above-mentioned research aims: field-walking survey, analysis of aerial photos, ethnographic and archival research, GIS-based landscape analysis and predictive modelling, and LiDAR data for feature detection in wooded areas. The combined use of all these approaches allowed us to identify long-term exploitation activities, which are documented also by both the ethnographic and archaeological data. The major periods of conflict in these areas are also highlighted in the archaeological record. The 2019-survey campaign opens up new research directions such as the future excavation of Bronze Age occupation zones; network and connectivity analysis between Prealpine Veneto and Trentino; hillforts and their interaction with the highlands