The Potential of Aerial Reconnaissance in the Detection, Mapping and 3D Reconstruction Modelling of Crop-Marked Military Components of Bohemia’s Postmedieval and Early Industrial Landscape

From the 17th to the 19th century, a score of military events, campaigns and battles took place in the Czech lands, leaving numerous traces and distinctly changing the appearance of the cultural landscape in some regions. This paper is an attempt to critically evaluate these hitherto recorded landmarks which have been discovered and documented via aerial prospection from the 1990s to the present. At the same time, this study reflects on the possibilities offered by the modern methods of remote sensing which have played a significant role in the discovery, mapping, documentation, digital terrain modelling, and the 3D virtual reconstructions of these sites

Remote sensing and its changing ways to archaeological sites detection and mapping

The dynamic development of remote sensing today also significantly enriches the archaeological investigation of prehistoric and historical settlement from above, especially within a heuristic approach (detection and photographic documentation of as yet unregistered areas with archaeological sources in the case of targeted aerial prospection, analysis and interpretation of orthophotographs and satellite data in the case of the use of orthophotomaps publicly available on the internet) and in the subsequent mapping and creation of plans of newly identified evidence of past settlement activities. The article provides a brief overview of technical innovations and possibilities in both mentioned steps of the research process and describes how the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences is currently processing aerial photographs (taken in 1992–2016 during aerial survey campaigns) into digital orthorectified and georeferenced maps (large areas with traces of past settlement activities visible mainly through indirect vegetation indicators) and detailed plans of individual sites, i.e., accumulations of buried anthropogenic features of prehistoric and historical origin in a small area

Vojenské aktivity na římské hranici. Doklady letecké archeologie

The contribution brings a survey of the history and contemporary trends in the field of aerial prospecting and documentation of Rome's frontier. It is aimed at three geographical areas - Near East/North Africa, Great Britain and Central Europe

Methodology of processing and archiving of aerial survey data in archaeology

The Methodology of Processing and Archiving of Aerial Survey Data in Archaeology is one of the outputs that concludes not only the research project Archaeology from the Sky, but also one of the stages of aerial archaeology and digitization of archaeological data in the Czech Republic. Both of these areas began to develop in the Czech Republic in the early 1990s, initially independently, and over time in ever closer cooperation. These two branches of archaeological work in the Czech Republic have undergone a deeper transformation in the past decade, which has meant the creation of an institutionalised research infrastructure, the Archaeological Information System of the Czech Republic, for the field of digital documentation, and a full-fledged move towards digital technologies for data collection, preservation, analysis and presentation for aerial archaeology. Nowadays it is hard to imagine aerial survey without digital technologies and at the same time the image of the country's archaeological heritage without attractive and professionally valuable aerial images. Having learnt from the natural disasters at the Archaeological Institutes of the CAS in 2002 and 2008, we now know that digitisation is the only way to save older data, to secure them from future loss and to make them fully usable (by making them accessible to a wide range of experts and other interested parties). Leaving aside the development of proprietary technologies, which will always be a task for a narrower circle of specialists, the development of digitisation in aerial archaeology brings two main challenges for most archaeologists working in this field. The first is the conversion and description of legacy, analogue documents into digital form, as old images can contain irreplaceable information that it would be a shame to leave buried in archives and exposed to the gradual loss of their informational value. The second challenge is to recognise the demands that the advent of the information society in general brings with it, i.e. the need for greater cooperation between professionals, sharing of information and coordination of professional practices. While the entire Archaeology from the Sky project focused on the first task, this methodology offers help with the second task. Methodologies of this type are now being developed throughout Europe, but they are not yet numerous and by no means cover all areas of archaeological work. Only a methodology (“Guide to Good Practice”) prepared in 1999 by the leading British institution Archaeology Data Service has been published directly on our topic, however, it is already evident from the date of its publication that it cannot fully cover the needs of today, not to mention the specific situation of Czech archaeology and its procedures. The European Archaeological Council's 2014 manual, which was also published in Czech translation, focuses on the archiving of archaeological data, but it is general and does not address the specific issues of aerial archaeology. Of the Czech manuals, only the 2017 Methodology for the Identification of Immovable Archaeological Monuments touches our topic in a marginal way. The authors of the presented manual and the members of the expert team of the Archaeology from the Sky project are convinced that this methodology will contribute to the protection of a specific part of the archaeological heritage in the Czech Republic. We also believe that thousands of aerial archaeological images, which are already available through the AMCR Digital Archive, will soon be joined by other collections, and that this fact will contribute to the development of professional research and public interest in archaeology

Air-Surveyed Cropmarks of Early Iron Age Heritage in Central Europe—Integrating Remotely Detected Data and Excavated Evidence

This paper aims to present the potential of observations of the Earth’s surface by means of remote sensing (survey), specifically via direct (active) visual prospection from low altitude to identify and map small components (such as postholes) of archaeological contexts, namely aboveground post-built structures dated to the Early Iron Age (appr. 800–380 B.C.). This work gives an example of archaeological data on buried settlement constructions identified by aerial reconnaissance (i.e., by a non-invasive method), the interpretation—and primarily dating—of which is based on information achieved by excavation practice (recently performed predominantly during rescue campaigns). This research points to the fact that nonetheless to the traditional idea on the limited potential of crop-marked archaeological heritage in terms of dating (the ability of cropmarks displayed over pits, ditches, graves, etc., to produce exact ground-plans of even small buried features, so that their original function and dating can be determined) the number of more or less precisely datable archaeological sites and features buried under the surface is growing, including wooden structures once constructed on the ground (i.e., not sunken under the ground) and leaving on cereal crops just tiny spots/dots regularly spaced into lines. These are features (constructions) with identical ground plans (postholes placed in 4 × 3 and/or 3 × 3 patterns) of which commonly just one in a group of them situated on one site is enclosed by a perimeter line—a foundation for a wall or a trench for a palisade. Consequently, a retrospective survey of air-photo analog archives and digital repositories now brings new evidence on the chronological setting of many crop-marked Early Iron Age sites that previously remained undated