Archaeological Prospection最新文献

Despite the relatively extensive archaeological research conducted in Greece focusing on the Neolithic period, Aegean Thrace remains one of the least studied regions. To address this gap, the MAPFARM (Mapping the Early Farmers in Thrace) project employed systematic archaeological surface survey combined with large-scale geophysical prospection techniques to map eight Neolithic settlements in the provinces of Rhodope and Xanthi. These methods were supplemented by the analysis of historical aerial and satellite imagery, geological investigations including borehole sampling, and radiocarbon dating of samples from the cores. The project's primary goals were to assess the extent of the settlements, study their internal characteristics, analyse their spatial organization, gain insights into the duration of habitation and gather information on the environmental conditions surrounding the settlements that may have influenced their development. This comprehensive approach has provided valuable insights into Neolithic habitation in Aegean Thrace.

To maximize extracted data while minimizing excavated areas, archaeologists increasingly use archaeological surveys, geophysical surveys and remote sensing to gain comprehensive regional pictures and decide if and where to excavate. The goal of this effort is to leave sufficient unexcavated areas for future generations and save time and resources required for fieldwork. Standard pre-excavation methods can neither securely identify nor date destruction layers, which are particularly important for determining the stratigraphy and chronology of archaeological finds. Here, we present a combination of pre-excavation archaeomagnetic research and magnetic surveys which enabled identification and dating of burnt destruction layers at two sites in the Beth-Shean Valley, Israel. We show that sun-dried mudbricks had collapsed during conflagration, resulting in a hard matrix, still partially exposed on the surface. It is characterized by a strong and unified magnetic signal, generating total-field magnetic anomalies and enabling determination of the scope of the fire. Using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, we estimated firing temperatures. Archaeomagnetic dating suggests that the observed destructions occurred in the late 10th or early 9th century bce, potentially during the military campaign of Pharaoh Shoshenq I, mentioned in Egyptian historical sources and the Hebrew Bible.

We present a study that combines several marine geophysical techniques to detect and map archaeological sites from the Roman period in the shallow waters of the Venice Lagoon, Italy. We employed marine electrical resistivity tomography (M-ERT), a drone-based unmanned surface vehicle (USV) multibeam sonar, and subbottom profiler technology to overcome the challenges posed by low visibility in the inland waters. These methods were particularly effective in the shallow lagoon environment, where traditional boat-based surveys are often impractical. The study focused on the northern part of the Venice Lagoon, successfully mapping both known and suspected archaeological sites. The effectiveness of this combined approach was subsequently verified through direct underwater investigations conducted by archaeologists, demonstrating the potential of these geophysical techniques for underwater archaeological research in challenging shallow water environments.

Airborne laser scanning (ALS, lidar) has become a key method for studying ancient Maya landscapes, offering unprecedented visibility of anthropogenic terrain modifications in densely forested environments. Despite this progress, the visualization of elevation data remains understandardized, with many researchers relying on ad hoc or aesthetically motivated methods, which reduce reproducibility and comparability of results. This paper provides a comprehensive review of visualization techniques used in archaeological lidar research of the Maya region, evaluating their effectiveness, reproducibility and suitability across varying terrain types and feature morphologies. We emphasize the importance of using standardized and reproducible visualizations, especially as collaborative and large-scale mapping projects grow more common. Among the assessed methods, the combined Visualization for Archaeological Topography (combined VAT) is highlighted as a particularly robust base visualization, which performs well across diverse terrain types and is intuitively readable, free of significant artefacts, suited for interregional comparisons, and open-source. The paper also outlines best practices for computing and publishing lidar-derived images, including metadata requirements and recommendations for reproducible workflows using open-source tools like the Relief Visualization Toolbox. The paper also outlines recommendations for computing, publishing and reporting'lidar images' including guidelines for metadata and parameter documentation. With increasing collaboration and availability of national lidar datasets, adopting more transparent and standardized visualization protocols is essential for improving archaeological interpretation, ensuring reproducibility and supporting long-term data usability.

Thermal-infrared imaging of buildings is used to investigate a range of phenomena including the accumulation of moisture. In general, the presence of moisture poses a direct danger to historic structures and must be characterized prior to any intervention. Many low-cost imaging solutions are available which has made the technology more accessible. In the current work, TIR imagery (10 $��\mu �$m) of a likely gatehouse in the north-east corner of Ardrossan Castle (North Ayrshire, Scotland) was obtained by a multidisciplinary team including academics and volunteers from a local heritage charity. Raw image data were processed to enhance the clarity of the images and included corrections for thermal drift and sensor uniformity. An image-stacking procedure was applied, and the images were analysed to determine their signal-to-noise ratio. The processed thermal images (temperature maps) showed evidence of moisture retention within the masonry system of the gatehouse. In addition, a small difference in temperature was observed between masonry and mortar, consistent with the expected behaviour of historic lime mortars. This approach has revealed new information, unknown from visible surveys of the castle, and was achieved using low-cost materials and freely available software. The impact of water ingress on historic structures is discussed, together with complementary remote-sensing technologies that may benefit further investigations at the castle and other historic stone structures.

The emergence and development of settlement mounds, also called tells, is of major interest for the analysis of socio-economic transformations occurring in the lower Danube plain during the East European Chalcolithic period. In this context, the multiphase chronology and structural layout of tells are highly relevant indicators, but small-scale heterogeneities and pronounced topography constitute challenging conditions for noninvasive geophysical investigations. In this paper we demonstrate that essential stratigraphical and structural information can be obtained by combining areal magnetic prospection with two-dimensional seismic shear wave sounding evaluated with full waveform inversion (FWI). For the study, we performed measurements at the Chalcolithic tell Grădiștea Fundeanca near Chiselet village (Romania). Main objectives are the reconstruction of different settlement phases as well as the detection and verification of archaeological features, especially of buried house structures. For ground-truthing down-hole magnetic susceptibility measurements, dynamic testing (DynP) and geoarchaeological corings are integrated to our investigation. In our FWI tomograms, two zones of increased shear wave velocity are visible in the upper 5 m beneath the tell surface. Although postdepositional has altered and partly compacted the upper 1.5 m below the surface, we find that both zones originate from a dense accumulation of compacted house debris layers consisting of daub between surrounding looser filling material. We assume the zones are related to periods of settlement activity (around 4300 bc and 4500 bc). Comparing magnetic prospection and the seismic results, we found that house remains produce structural characteristic anomalies of 100% and more increased shear wave velocity in the FWI models independent of the degree of combustion. Based on criteria such as the shape, size, depth and arrangement of the seismic and magnetic anomalies, we evaluate the probability for the existence of house remains. So we were able to validate and improve the reconstruction of the youngest settlement layout.