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The Ofanto river is the most important waterway in the karstic Apulia region and both nature and man have constantly written on its landscape palimpsest over centuries. The lower valley and the mouth are highly representative of the river landscape, currently threatened by abandonment and degradation. It could be considered an interesting case study of an area outside the major touristic flows but with great potential in terms of cultural values and local development. Following the approach of the landscape archaeology and crossing multi‑disciplinary analyses, the area is interpreted as a complex palimpsest. The paper points out a strategy of valorization of the river valley within the frame of the wider regional programmes by proposing an ecomuseum of the territory. The insights and the suggested guidelines allow the area to be “re‑signified,” to preserve the heritage and highlight the variety of features that make it unique in the local context.

The military terrain analysis system KOCOA (Key Terrain, Observation, Cover/concealment, Obstacles, and Avenues of approach; also OAKOC or OCOKA) was developed as part of the burgeoning discipline ...

Research on ancient Greek rural settlement and agricultural economies often emphasises political agency as a driving force behind landscape change, with comparatively less attention directed to the potential effects of climate. This study analyses climate variability and the spatial configuration of land use in the north-eastern Peloponnese during the Late Hellenistic and Roman (c. 150 BC–AD 300) periods. A synthesis of archaeological field survey data combined with new palaeoclimatological data provides novel insight into how changing climate influenced land use. The authors argue that although climatic variability alone did not drive socio-economic change, drying conditions may have influenced the relocation of agricultural production.

Until now, the analysis of earthen architecture, characteristic of the Tartessian culture, has been overlooked by archaeological studies. With the aim of incorporating it into historical research as another social product, the result of the society that thinks and builds it, a research project was initiated with the title "Building Tartessos: constructive, spatial and territorial analysis of an architectural model in the central Guadiana valley." This project has three well-differentiated work phases whose development and applied methodology are described in the following pages. The purpose of this method is to identify the types of construction, to characterize the raw materials used and their catchment areas, the construction techniques employed, the types of analysis carried out for the mineralogical characterization of the materials, and to present the 3D technology applied to the documentation and registration of the buildings, from photogrammetry to the virtual reconstruction of the archaeological sites. The final objective is to streamline the process, the data collection and the documentation obtained from all of them, from both a purely scientific and informative perspective, improving the publication of scientific knowledge and education through the application of new methodologies. In order to carry out this process, the Tartessian buildings hidden beneath burial mounds characteristic of the central basin of the Guadiana, dating from the 5th century BC, have been selected. Specifically, we have the excavations being carried out in the area of Casas del Turuñuelo (Guareña, Badajoz), which to date is the best preserved building in the western area of the Mediterranean, and which will undoubtedly lead to a positive result from the project. The aim of the methodology that has been designed is that it can be applied to any architectural model and to any stage of history.

[ES] En los últimos años la investigación arqueológica en áreas de montaña de la península ibérica está empezando a llenar el vacío de información con extensas secuencias de ocupación durante el Holoceno. En el Pirineo se localiza una cantidad considerable de yacimientos del final del Neolítico/ Calcolítico con cronologías entre el 3350 y 2350 cal ANE. Este fenómeno parece vincularse con la consolidación de la explotación ganadera de las zonas alpinas y subalpinas. En este trabajo se analiza el patrón de dispersión de los yaci­mientos de esta época en el Parque Nacional de Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici, en el Pirineo central. Se definen mediante SIG áreas de influencia alrededor de los asenta­mientos y caminos óptimos para evaluar dos variables clave en cualquier práctica ganadera: la accesibilidad a los asen­tamientos y a los pastos. Con fines comparativos se analiza también el patrón de los yacimientos de época moderna y contemporánea. El estudio permite concluir diferencias sig­nificativas en la dispersión de los yacimientos de cada épo­ca con relación a los pastos y a los caminos., [EN] Recent archaeological research in the mountains of Iberia is beginning to document extensive sequences of occupation during de Holocene. In the Pyrenees stands out the location of a considerable number of sites date to 3350 and 2350 cal BC (Late Neolithic / Chalcolithic). This phenomenon seems to link with the consolidation of the livestock exploitation in the alpine and subalpine zones. This work undertakes a the dispersion pattern analysis of archaeological sites of this period in the National Park of Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici, in the Central Pyrenees. Using GIS it defines influence areas around the sites and the optimal paths between them so as to evaluate two important variables in any livestock practice: the accessibility to the settlements and grazing areas. For comparative purposes the dispersion pattern of modern and contemporary sites is analysed as well. This study allows to conclude significant differences in the distribution of the sites both ancient and recent in relation to pastures and roads.

This article discusses the development and implementation of a mobile GIS catch-and-release system for documenting large surface artifact scatters along the Doring River in South Africa. An integra...

The concept of “big” data is nothing new to archaeologists; we have long made a profession of collecting, organizing, and analyzing a surfeit of data describing everything from minute artifact attr...

This article discusses the deployment of mobile data capture software developed by the Field Acquired Information Management Systems project (FAIMS Mobile) to document systematic pedestrian surface survey and legacy feature verification at the Perachora Peninsula Archaeology Project (PPAP), Greece, in 2020. FAIMS Mobile is an open-source platform that generates customized Android applications for data capture during field research. We reused and adapted two existing customizations from the FAIMS library for comprehensive digital recording of two workflows, integrating a collection of structured data, geospatial data, photos, and text. FAIMS Mobile required only modest hardware but supported offline setup, synchronization, and data export, allowing PPAP to deploy it despite unreliable internet access. The system proved successful; it was tailored to our aims and methods, captured consistent and well-described data rapidly, and minimized post-processing. All collected data was available daily for planning, and a comprehensive dataset adhering to Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data standards was ready for analysis with only a few hours of processing after fieldwork.

In the past two decades, landscape archaeology has undergone a paradigm shift from traditional theoretical methods to being practically oriented, with the advent of the widespread application of philosophical theories (such as phenomenology, hermeneutics, and others) and the emerging new technologies in social sciences. Nevertheless, landscape archaeology has not been able to garner the attention it requires from Chinese archaeology, which fails to understand its significance behind the systematic regional survey methods. Rather, for a long time, the study of the man-land relationship has been considered to be a part of environmental archaeology. Besides, the landscape elements in archaeological excavations were often considered as mechanical interactions between people and the environment, resulting in a lack of holistic and systematic research on a selection of archaeological sites. The focus however has remained restricted to the earthen remains and relics in the archaeological process. The Northern Wei Dynasty was the first nomadic regime to control the Central Plains in the Chinese history and moved its capital three times for the purpose of sinicization. The recent archaeological excavations of the ancient city of Shengle, imperial palaces, tombs, sacrificial sites, gardens, Yinshan palaces, and the border defense facilities during the Shengle period of the Northern Wei Dynasty have revealed several phenomena and evidence of the cultural integration of the various ethnic groups. As mentioned earlier, the limitations in the research horizon have led to the in-depth analysis and research of archaeological relics and archaeological data during this period seeking the desired attention. This study considers landscape archaeology, anthropology, sociology, and history as the primary research methods pertinent to the above situation. It considers archaeological relics and archaeological data from the prosperous period as the research object and thoroughly analyses the relationship between the people and the earthen landscape relics, to reveal the social culture, the religious beliefs, the politics, and the military behind the integration of the multi-ethnic culture, along with the cognition of the natural environments, the social structures, and the religious spaces. Simultaneously, the analysis results would also endeavor to integrate the artifacts, the relics (space, structure, layout, and locational relationship), road grids, surrounding environment, and several other surface space elements to restore and reproduce the prosperous social and cultural situations scenes of the bygone period. The final outcome shall become a typical research case. By comparing and combing the archaeological discoveries of the Northern and the Southern Dynasties of China and the pertinent archaeological data, we could further understand and explain the multi-ethnic cultural development and evolution while providing an essential theoretical basis for the present social and cultural research on the Northern Wei Dynasty in China.

The use of LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) in archaeological prospection is not a new phenomenon; its capacity to enhance fieldwork processes is well proven. Use of the technology makes it poss...

How did socio-cultural transformation processes change land-use patterns? Throughout the last 50 years, outstanding comprehensive geographic, archaeobiological, and archaeological data have been produced for the area of Oldenburger Graben, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Based on this exceptional data set, we are able to study the land-use patterns for a period ranging from the Final Mesolithic until the Late Neolithic (4600–1700 BCE). By application of fuzzy modeling techniques, these patterns are investigated diachronically in order to assess the scale of transformations between the different archaeological phases. Based on nutrient requirements and proposed dietary composition estimates derived from empirical archaeobotanical, archaeozoological, and stable isotope data, the required extent of the areas for different land-use practices are modeled. This information is made spatially explicit using a fuzzy model that reconstructs areas of potential vegetation and land-use for each transformation phase. Pollen data are used to validate the type and extent of land-use categories. The model results are used to test hypotheses on the dynamics of socio-cultural transformations: can we observe a diversification of land-use patterns over time or does continuity of land-use practices prevail? By integrating the different lines of evidence within a spatially explicit modeling approach, we reach a new quality of data analysis with a high degree of contextualization. This allows testing of hypotheses about Neolithic transformation processes by an explicit adjustment of our model assumptions, variables, and parameters.

Funding: Survey and dating of terraces on the Çeşme peninsula was supported by the British Academy through a Newton Advanced Fellowship awarded to EK, and community workshops by the Municipality of Izmir. Participatory workshops on Naxos were funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/P014453/1), Newcastle University and the European Commission (H2020 657050), which also supported development of the Rescaper Tracker mobile app. Ongoing field research is part of the TerraSAgE project (funded by UKRI-AHRC, AH/T000104/1). An exploratory visit to Jiayuguan was supported by the Wall-to-Wall initiative and the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage. For future landscapes to be sustainable, significant changes in land-use and management practices will be needed. This article argues that landscape archaeology can make distinctive contributions to sustainability in two ways: firstly, by researching what were and were not sustainable ways of life in the past, and secondly by using this knowledge to explain how landscapes of the past differed to those in the present, and in doing so to disrupt the invented connections between past societies, tradition, heritage and conservation. The article draws on three case-studies in China, the Mediterranean and the UK to suggest that archaeological knowledge could be used to help stakeholders imagine future landscapes which are better and more sustainable than those of today. To succeed archaeologists will need to make deeper commitments to transdisciplinary work. Publisher PDF

The history of agricultural terraces remains poorly understood due to problems in dating their construction and use. This has hampered broader research on their significance, limiting knowledge of past agricultural practices and the long-term investment choices of rural communities. The authors apply OSL profiling and dating to the sediments associated with agricultural terraces across the Mediterranean region to date their construction and use. Results from five widely dispersed case studies reveal that although many terraces were used in the first millennium AD, the most intensive episodes of terrace-building occurred during the later Middle Ages (c. AD 1100-1600). This innovative approach provides the first large-scale evidence for both the longevity and medieval intensification of Mediterranean terraces., Newton Fund; British Academy; UK Research and Innovation; Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK); European Union (EU); Horizon 2020; European Commission (EC); Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness; Xunta de Galicia; Dumbarton Oaks; Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust (UK)

Automated remote sensing has made substantial breakthroughs for archaeological investigation. Over the past 20 years, the reliability of these methods has vastly improved, and the total number of practitioners has been increasing. Nonetheless, much of the work conducted, to date, focuses almost exclusively on specific topographic features and monumental architecture, ignoring the potential of automation to readily assess more ephemeral components of the archaeological record. Likewise, the emphasis on specific feature types overlooks broader landscape patterns, thus delegating automated remote sensing analysis as a method in and of itself, mostly disconnected from larger archaeological and anthropological investigations. Here, I review recent attempts to rectify this shortcoming by using automated analysis methods to record and explain ephemeral archaeological material distributions. While such research is limited, I argue that the successes achieved in these recent studies offer a pathway forward for automated remote sensing to become more fully integrated with archaeological work beyond the detection of specific topographically distinct features.

International audience; The study of past Human–Environment interactions has long been seen at a very local scale, that of sites of human occupation. Geoarchaeology differs from the traditional concepts of Environmental Archaeology and Landscape Archaeology in this respect since it adopts a different spatial resolution based on the development of multidisciplinary research at the scale of geographical, geological or geomorphological features. In this paper, we aim to contribute to the definition of coastal geoarchaeology where environmental holistic studies can be developed, thus integrating both continental and marine dynamics. A specific application is realized here for the largest Mediterranean islands where heterogeneity can be observed in research over the last decades. For this reason, we divide the Mediterranean Basin into four areas in order to review the main works conducted. In general, investigating coastal environments represents an exciting opportunity to reconstruct past landscapes and to evidence the long-term history of human occupation and land use by employing a wide range of proxies. We focus in particular on the coastal wetlands of Corsica, where a large number of lagoons have been cored since the early 2010s. Multiproxy laboratory analyses reveal a history of the complex relationships between past human societies and their environments which is complementary to existing archaeological studies.

The necessity of sustainable development for landscapes has emerged as an important theme in recent decades. Current methods take a holistic approach to landscape heritage and promote an interdisciplinary dialogue to facilitate complementary landscape management strategies. With the socio-economic values of the natural and cultural landscape heritage increasingly recognised worldwide, remote sensing tools are being used more and more to facilitate the recording and management of landscape heritage. Satellite remote sensing technologies have enabled significant improvements in landscape research. The advent of the cloud-based platform of Google Earth Engine has allowed the rapid exploration and processing of satellite imagery such as the Landsat and Copernicus Sentinel datasets. In this paper, the use of Sentinel-2 satellite data in the identification of palaeo-riverscape features has been assessed in the Po Plain, selected because it is characterized by human exploitation since the Mid-Holocene. A multi-temporal approach has been adopted to investigate the potential of satellite imagery to detect buried hydrological and anthropogenic features along with Spectral Index and Spectral Decomposition analysis. This research represents one of the first applications of the GEE Python API in landscape studies. The complete FOSS-cloud protocol proposed here consists of a Python code script developed in Google Colab which could be simply adapted and replicated in different areas of the world, 33 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

This paper examines agriculture, farming and dietary resources in east Crete, and re-evaluates the role of grape and olive in its prehistoric economy, these being key in debates on the emergence of social complexity. To do so bioarchaeological, paleoenvironmental and landscape survey data from the Bronze Age town at Palaikastro and its territory are combined. The results indicate a highly compartmentalised landscape, including intensive crop cultivation and extensive animal herding with careful monitoring to maintain productivity. A heightened specialisation in ovicaprine management at Palaikastro and east Crete seems to be delineated. Marine resources were regularly exploited from easily accessible coastal areas. Other activities included viticulture since the Early Minoan period, with the possible involvement of several houses in wine-making. A final important activity in the area was large-scale olive tree management since the Final Neolithic period and through to the Late Bronze Age, that seems to be entangled with ovicaprine herding and grazing. Thus, the demand for olive oil production does not seem to have been the driving force behind the intensification of the tree management, at least initially, but a corollary of its use in other aspects of the local economy. © 2021 The Authors, The PALAP project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant on 'Urbanization in Bronze Age Crete: between palace and landscape at Palaikastro' (2014–16), The Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP), the Hal Jackman Foundation and the British School at Athens, while the Universities of Toronto (Canada), Bristol and Nottingham (UK) also fully supported and financed parts of the project. Drs Alexandra Livarda and Hector A. Orengo are Ramón y Cajal researchers funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RyC-2017-22105 and RyC-2016-19637 respectively), while Dr Livarda was further supported during the writing up of this paper by an I + D + i grant (PID2019-107605GB-100). Dr Llorenç Picornell-Gelabert’ PALAP charcoal study was financed by a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación fellowship (IJCI-2015_24550) awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Economy and Competitiveness. Dr. Veropoulidou’s PALAP malacological study and Dr. Cañellas-Boltà and Prof. Riera-Mora’ s palaeonevironmental study were also partly financed by a private donor, Mr Anuj Malhotra, to whom they are very grateful.

We show that long-term and comparative studies are imperative if we are to identify the interlinkage between land use and climate and understand how vulnerabilities build over time and ultimately decide the societal outcomes of climate change. Using a long-term perspective, we study changes in both the extent and intensity of land use in NE Peloponnese, Greece, across more than two thousand years, from the end of the Middle Bronze Age to Roman times (~1800 BCE–330 CE). When set against a backdrop of paleoclimate information from the Peloponnese, the correspondence between changes in land use extent and climate is significant. Sequences of booms and busts in ancient societies have previously been connected to cycles of agricultural intensification and the balance between population and food supply. Our results suggest that climate can amplify such cycles, but also – importantly – that societies create their own futures in the way that they are able to balance agricultural strategies relative to climate and climate change. Climate conditions may facilitate additional expansion during boom periods, supported by socio-political control functions, but also introduce significant impediments to previously successful strategies and ultimately lead to a crisis through an overexploitation of existing resources. Domesticated Landscapes of the Peloponnese

Taking a landscape-based approach, the Aurifer Tagus project has demonstrated the significance of gold mining in the Roman province of Lusitania. New radiocarbon dates reveal the foundation, use and abandonment of the Covão do Urso and Mina da Presa mining sites. Combined with ancient literature, this evidence sheds light on the territory's organisation and the evolution of its social structure., This research was supported by the following projects: AVRIFER TAGVS: Minería romana del oro y poblamiento en Lusitania (AuTagus); AVRARIA: el oro de Hispania (2019-T1/HUM-14288); LOKI: Economías locales, economía imperial: el Occidente de la Península Ibérica (siglos II a.C.–II d.C.) (PID2019-104297GB-I00); Paisajes culturales en el norte y noroeste de la Península Ibérica (NyNO) (202010E147); and IGAEDIS: da civitas Igaeditanorum à Egitânia (DGPC: 2016-2019)

Lancelot “Capability” Brown was one of the most influential landscape designers of the eighteenth-century at a time when Britain was changing radically from an agrarian to an industrial and colonial nation, whilst Europe was periodically convulsed by war and revolution. The extent and nature of his influence are, however, fiercely debated. Brown worked at hundreds of important sites across England and his name became synonymous with the “English Garden” style which was copied across Northern Europe and entranced Catherine the Great, who remodelled her landscapes in St Petersburg to reflect the new style. He was fêted in his time, and recognised by the Crown, but Brown’s style was readily copied over his later life and particularly after his death. Arguably, this ubiquity led to the denigration of his achievements and even his character, particularly by the agents of the Picturesque. The lack of any personal primary material from Brown - forcing scholars to rely on his landscapes, contracts and bank accounts - has hindered attempts to provide a rounded and credible account of the man and his works. However, by exploring his team of associates and his role as Royal Gardener, new light can be thrown on the man, his landscapes and his landscape legacy. Bringing together a number of perspectives from across Northern Europe, Capability Brown, Royal Gardener explores the lasting international impact of Brown. With Brown’s position as Royal Gardener at its heart, this book explores for the first time his business methods, working methods and European influence. It assesses how, crucially, Brown’s work practices placed him within the world of nurserymen and landscape designers, and how his business practices and long term relationships with draughtsmen and designers allowed him to manage a huge number of projects and a substantial financial turnover. This, in turn, allowed him to work in a way that promoted and advanced his style of landscape. Edited by Professor Jonathan Finch (University of York) and Dr Jan Woudstra (University of Sheffield), and with a varied range of engaging contributors drawn internationally from archaeology, art history, history and landscape architecture, Capability Brown, Royal Gardener weaves together strands from across a broad range of disciplinary interests. It makes an important contribution to the scholarly discussion of Brown’s work, the work of his collaborators, and legacy in the UK and across Northern Europe. Relevant to students and academics at all levels, this volume throws new light on Capability Brown and his impact on the business of place-making in Northern Europe.

Africa represents a vast region where remote sensing technologies have been largely uneven in their archaeological applications. With impending climate-related risks such as increased coastal erosion and rising sea levels, coupled with rapid urban development, gaps in our knowledge of the human history of this continent are in jeopardy of becoming permanent. Spaceborne and aerial remote sensing instruments are powerful tools for producing relatively complete records of archaeological settlement patterns and human behavior at landscape scales. These sensors allow for massive amounts of information to be recorded and analyzed in short spans of time and offer an effective means to increase survey areas and the discovery of new cultural deposits. In this paper, we review various case studies throughout Africa dealing with aerial and satellite remote sensing applications to landscape archaeology in order to highlight recent developments and future research avenues. Specifically, we argue that (semi)automated remote sensing methods stemming from machine learning developments will prove vital to expanding our knowledge base of Africa’s archaeological record. This is especially important for coastal and island regions of the continent where climate change threatens the survival of much of the archaeological record.

THE PRESENCE OF THE PAST Brief History of Landscape Ecology An Epistemology of Landscape Ecology The Presence of the Past Landforms and Landscapes THE ECOLOGY OF LANDSCAPES The Ecology in Landscape Ecology Landscape and Edge Effects on Population Dynamics: Approaches and Examples LANDSCAPE THEORY AND PRACTICE The Re-Membered Landscape Quantifying Constraints Upon Trophic and Migratory Transfers Landscapes Land Use in America: The Forgotten Agenda The European Experience: From Site Protection to Ecological Networks A Land Transformation Model for the Saginaw Bay Watershed Individual-Based Models on the Landscape: Applications to the Everglades REFERENCES INDEX

Photogrammetry is quickly becoming an important, cost effective technique for recording cultural heritage. Beyond the micro-scale of site evaluation, however, there are also effective landscape applications, with drone-based image collection allowing for large-scale survey. This combination of highly portable technology, which is not fully automated, can be used to create accurate and dense three-dimensional models at a fraction of the cost of LiDAR, and often at a much high spatial resolution. Yet, despite this, few studies have assessed the viability of this technique in regard to landscape studies. Those that have, such as Munoz-Nieto et al. (2014), highlight the effectiveness of this technique and its ease of use. This paper assesses the viability of this technology for mapping large archaeological sites such as hillforts, providing a case study for its application to landscape archaeology.

The Visual Neighbourhood Configurations (VNCs) approach is presented: a new approach for exploring complex theories of visual phenomena in landscapes by processing total viewsheds. Such theories most commonly concern the configuration of visual properties of areas around locations rather than solely the visual properties of the locations themselves. The typical approach to interpreting total viewshed results by classifying cell values is therefore problematic because it does not take cells’ local areas into account. VNC overcomes this issue by enabling one to formally describe area-related aspects of the visibility theory, because it formally incorporates the area around a given viewpoint: the shape and size of neighbourhoods as well as, where relevant, the structure and expectation of visual property values within the neighbourhood. Following a brief review that serves to place the notion of the VNC in context, the method to derive visual neighbourhood configurations is explained as well as the VNC analysis tool software created to implement it. The use of the method is then illustrated through a case-study of seclusion, hiding and hunting locales afforded by the standing stone settings of Exmoor (United Kingdom).

The culture and dispersal of early modern humans are top priorities of many research agendas. While the debate primarily centers on genetics, dispersal trajectories and points of earliest presence, the context (climate, landscape, demography, culture) of the colonizing process is usually considered in a coarse-grained manner or even ignored. To understand the context of human dispersal and to decipher relevant push and pull factors requires the consideration of multiple environmental proxies and the research on different geographic scales. In this paper, we present the Late Quaternary Carpathian Basin as a specific context area of early modern human dispersal into Europe. The multitude of Early Upper Paleolithic sites in this region suggests that it was part of a major dispersal corridor along the Danube and its catchment area some 40,000 years ago. The Aurignacian land-use model describes the interaction of early modern humans with their environment. One important parameter is the specific distribution of archaeological sites that exemplifies their boundedness to specific eco-zones. To reconstruct the latter, paleo-environmental proxies and archaeological data are examined together in regional vector models and in a GIS based landscape archaeology approach. In the final section, we present the Carpathian Basin as an idiosyncratic habitat that mirrors the dynamics and complexity of early modern human adaptation.

The use of maps and other geovisualisation methods has been longstanding in archaeology. Archaeologists employ advanced contemporary tools in their data collection, analysis and presentation. Maps can be used to render the ‘big data’ commonly collected by archaeological prospection techniques, but are also fundamental output instru-ments for the dissemination of archaeological interpretation and modelling. This paper addresses, through case studies, alternate methods of geovisualisation in archaeology and identifies the efficiencies of each.

Low-altitude photography in archaeology is now common practice at the scale of excavations; however, landscape-scale applications are a relatively new endeavor with promising analytical potential. From 2014–2016, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a mounted camera was used to document sites recorded as part of the Eastern Ḫabur Archaeological Survey (EḪAS), an archaeological reconnaissance project in western Dohuk Province, Iraqi Kurdistan. The EḪAS team documented over 70 archaeological sites with the UAV, from single-phase artifact scatters, to archaeological remains with standing architecture, to tells that cover more than 30 hectares. Representative examples from this survey are presented here to outline the project workflow and primary output data layers, including digital orthomosaics and digital elevation models. The quality and utility of results are then assessed in relationship to available satellite-based data. Methods for analysis and interpretation are then considered to demonstrate applications in landscape archaeology. An A) orthomosaic and B) shaded relief model with surface collection area (in red) of site EHAS-C045 created from photographs taken from a UAV.

The variety and sophistication of data sources, sensors, and platforms employed in archaeological remote sensing have increased significantly over the past decade. Projects incorporating data from UAV surveys, regional and research-driven lidar surveys, the uptake of hyperspectral imaging, the launch of high-temporal revisit satellites, the advent of multi-sensor rigs for geophysical survey, and increased use of structure from motion mean that more archaeologists are engaging with remote sensing than ever. These technological advances continue to drive research in the specialist community and provide reasons for optimism about future applications, but many social and technical obstacles to the integration of remote sensing into archaeological research and heritage management remain. This article addresses the challenges of contemporary archaeological remote sensing by briefly reviewing trends and then focusing on providing a critical overview of the main structural problems. The discussion here concentrates on topics that have dominated the discourse in recent archaeological literature and featured prominently in ongoing fieldwork for the past decade across three broad segments of landscape archaeology: data collection in the field, the current state of data access and archives, and processing and interpretation.

This paper combines analyses of Landsat 8 multispectral data with textual records and diachronic low-density artifact distributions to evaluate how soil differences were incorporated into cultural landscapes around the multicomponent site of Maski, southern India. Spatial analysis indicates that Iron Age (1200–300 b.c.) and Early Historic Period (300 b.c.–a.d. 500) inhabitants differentiated soil types and used more water-retentive, clay-rich soils (regur) for agriculture and sandier soils for locations of metals production. Similar distinctions between soil types are evident in Medieval Period (a.d. 500–1600) inscriptions, but artifact distributions indicate that some inhabitants used less desirable sandier soils for agriculture during the period. Taken together, the distribution, remote sensing, and inscriptional data suggest that social inequalities in access to more valued soils contributed to a socially differentiated landscape by at least the 14th century a.d. and point to the combined role ...

The enigmatic and gigantic Offa’s Dyke has long been understood as a demonstration of the power of the Mercian state in the long eighth century. Despite this, rarely have previous studies involved anything more than the visual observations of the earthwork. Moreover, ground-level perspectives cannot possibly contextualise its total breadth and character. The shortcomings in the resulting quality of data on the Dyke has led to uncertainties and debate over its route, extent, and placement in the landscape. With the application of lidar and other digital technologies, my ongoing doctoral research is providing a fresh understanding of the nature and original extent of Offa’s Dyke’s route by the creation of an accurate and empirical dataset. This digital dataset for Offa’s Dyke is identifying hitherto unknown sections of the monument. Furthermore, it is providing the foundation for new investigations of the nature of the frontier in the eighth century by creating the basis for new investigations into the placement and landscape context of the monument. This article presents interim results on the investigation of the Herefordshire section of Offa’s Dyke, a stretch that has been among the most problematic and poorly understood from all sections of the earthwork. This study thus provides fresh perspectives utilising digital heritage tools and data sources to examine and re-evaluate evidence of the nature and extent of the monument and the wider Mercian frontier.

Certain pottery-related resources may be exploited over a long time due to many different reasons. Hence, raw material collection can follow ecological, economic or functional concerns, as much as social and symbolic phenomena. The scope of these different theoretical perspectives is thus discussed to reach integrated and symmetrical explanations for the interpretation of raw material acquisition. This view is exemplified by the case study of the potters' communities inhabiting the Santa Ponsa area (Mallorca, Spain) during the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age. The evidence for the identification of the raw materials used is briefly explained by petrological, paleontological and chemical (XRF) characterisations of archaeological ceramics and clays from the area surrounding the site. Additionally, a discussion of the reasons leading to the prehistoric exploitation of certain kinds of clay through time is introduced, by considering the theoretical models of ceramic ecology, functionalism, and the combination of landscape archaeology and the social theory of technology.

The challenge of presenting micro- and macro-scale scale data in landscape archaeology studies is facilitated by a diversity of GIS technologies. Specific to scholarly research is the need to selectively share certain types of data with collaborators and academic researchers while also publishing general information in the public domain. This article presents a general model for scholarly online collaboration and teaching while providing examples of the kinds of landscape archaeology that can be published online. Specifically illustrated is WorldMap, an interactive mapping platform based upon open-source software which uses browsers built to open source standards. The various features of this platform allow tight user viewing control, views with URL referencing, commenting and certification of layers, as well as user annotation. Illustration of WorldMap features and its value for scholarly research and teaching is provided in the context of landscape archaeology studies.

We investigate ancient agricultural terraces and their associated social and economic activities across the site complex consisting of the village at Politiko-Troullia and its more extensive associated taskscape. Surface artifact distributions mapped over 12 ha are integrated with evidence excavated from this Bronze Age settlement in central Cyprus. Contrary to expectations, artifact densities do not diminish with distance from the village architecture. In particular, concentrations of Prehistoric Bronze Age ceramics and ground stone artifacts are most pronounced on nearby terraced hillsides. These terraces were not utilized for domestic structures, but for extensive processing of agricultural crops and copper ore. Bronze Age excavated plant remains indicate cultivation of olives, grapes and figs, with wood resources dominated by olive and pine. Larger, non-portable ground stones and gaming stones are associated with communal social and economic activities in open courtyard settings in Politiko-Troullia. This category of ground stone also is particularly common on the terraced hillsides around Troullia, suggesting that similar behaviors occurred beyond village structures. The terraced landscape of Politiko-Troullia exemplifies a multi-faceted taskscape with a range of agricultural, metallurgical and social activities.

Environmental research of ancient landscapes in the coastal plains, river valleys and uplands of the Mediterranean shows how erosion and sedimentation studies play a significant role in the evaluation of the archaeological record at the regional and local scales. As a rule, directors of landscape archaeological projects nowadays involve physical geographers in order to study erosion and sedimentation as potentially influential post-depositional processes that may expose or cover up archaeological remains (long) after regions or sites were abandoned. This is a phenomenon in the literature known as geomorphological bias, i.e. bias caused by landscape taphonomic processes. Key question here is to what extent archaeological settlement patterns are an artefact of landscape change, with deposition obscuring large parts of the ancient Mediterranean landscape. At the same time, it is important for our knowledge of past societies to establish whether these landscape processes affected the sustainability of the human environments of sites and regions already while they were settled, and how people adapted to environmental changes in accordance with the socio-political and socio-economic context. Sustainability is defined in this paper as the capacity of a rural economy to endure in a given environmental and socio-economic setting. A key question from this perspective is whether erosion and sedimentation studies can help explain why some rural landscapes in the long run were economically more viable than others. Drawing on case studies from landscape archaeological and excavation projects of the Groningen Institute of Archaeology, this paper approaches Mediterranean sedimentation history in South and Central Italy from the angles of geomorphological bias and sustainability studies. The focus is on the coastal plains of the Sibaritide in South Italy and the Pontine plain in Central Italy, both of which have been subject to profound landscape changes caused by sedimentation starting at least in the Bronze Age, and caused by erosion in their hinterlands as the result of long term human impact in combination with climatic changes, sea-level change and neotectonics. Although already settled in pre- and protohistory, both coastal plains were targeted for the first time during phases of Greek and Roman colonization as areas of organized agricultural expansion (see Table 1 for a chronological overview of archaeological periods). However, in both cases long term sustainable exploitation proved difficult due to a complex of environmental, technological, socio-economic, and political factors.

This paper reviews the German print media discussion of the relationship between “energy” and “landscape appearance” in general and”energy-landscapes” in particular, after the revision of German energy policy in 2011. When the landscape appearance is referred to within the scope of energy topics (without a firm conceptual link to an “energy landscape”), the debate tends to be dominated by statements proclaiming the destruction of landscape, primarily by wind turbines and wind parks. In the case of concrete energy landscapes referring to geographical units, these are frequently trade marks, in other words, proper nouns used for the purpose of establishing an image. It has become apparent that the term “energy landscape” is used, above all, as a metaphor for a complex organisational-technical-legal structure and for the transformation thereof. The overall conclusion is that the term “energy landscape” as a metaphor is more likely to be linked to the meaning of opportunity rather than threat, while in terms of defining a location within the landscape for new energy production plants, the notion of a threat clearly outweighs that of an opportunity.

This paper combines conceptual thinking and empirical analysis of landscape labelling as a new governance approach. With the help of a literature review and qualitative interviews, we (1) explore the conceptual orientation of landscape labelling, (2) analyse existing approaches in Europe and (3) elaborate its potential for integrated landscape management on a regional scale. Governance analysis to identify fostering and hindering factors is carried out for regional brands in biosphere reserves in Germany, geographic indication in Spain, organic agriculture in France and a community forest in England. We argue that landscape labelling can highlight the multitude of landscape functions and values, target a broader range of stakeholders and act as a boundary object and exchange platform for rural transformation, experimentation and learning. However, landscape labels are no panacea, but one approach within policy mixes that depend on supportive governance structures and stakeholders.

In the long tradition of research into the La Tene period in the region of South Pannonia many questions have been raised, but economic activity, especially agriculture and cattle-breeding, have not received due attention. The existing archaeological data permit the hypothesis that both settlement and agriculture intensified during this period, and these activities may have induced changes in the landscape. However, apart from sporadic comments, this topic has not been the object of research. The development of landscape archaeology and stable isotope analyses have made possible a better understanding of the ways people moved through landscape, used and changed it. It should be borne in mind that landscapes are not only spaces out of which humans derive resources in the most rational way, but also a product, medium, and a reflexion of various individual and collective experiences on social, symbolic and historical levels. The paper discusses the possibilities and perspectives of application of stable isotope analyses of carbon and strontium in animal bones retrieved from the late La Tene settlements in South Pannonia, with the aim of verifying the existing hypotheses and formulating new ones concerning economic practices and socio-political circumstances.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss the application of buffer zones as an urban landscape heritage management tool, using Rio de Janeiro as the main case study, in order to inform urban regulation around the sites inscribed as World Heritage Cultural Landscape and disclose its relevance to link urban planning, cultural heritage management and sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach The methodological approach encompasses: conceptual framework – contextualization of heritage protection theory, focusing on landscape protection and buffer zones; discussion: cross-national comparative overview of buffer zones conceptual framework on the international heritage protection policy; historical background and spatial analysis, through GIS mapping, of local heritage protection policy, tracing its evolution through time; examination of prospects and challenges of this management tool, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, based on previous international, local experiences on natural and cultural heritage protection; and gathering of strategies for the implementation of buffer zones in local landscape management. Findings Core heritage sites and their buffer zones are integrated elements and act together to protect landscape significance and dynamic integrity (DI). In Rio de Janeiro, beyond the function of a caution zone, other important functions of landscape heritage buffer zones are to guarantee spatial and social connections of the protected sites, as well as the visual relationship between them and other significant urban landscape features. Strategies for the implementation of buffer zones in local landscape management should address the articulation of landscape protection governance; the conservation of visual, functional and structural identity quality and legibility and the monitoring of DI. Research limitations/implications The methodology approach adopted in this study may also benefit from and foster further investigations, which could include the elaboration of a landscape management plan and an impact assessment inventory, refining the scale of study to the level of local watersheds, and a deeper examination of the popular cultural imprints within the World Heritage property buffer zone. Practical implications Strategies to the implementation of the Carioca Landscapes buffer zone include a gradation of protection and control of impacts according to the distance of the core sites (in the form of rings or layers). The buffer zone should help to preserve the character, significance, and DI of the protected sites and guarantee their spatial and social connections, as well as the visual and functional relationship between them and between other significant landscape features of the city. All those management strategies should be founded on the elaboration of a broad urban landscape management plan with the local society involvement. Social implications In Rio de Janeiro’s specific case, bridging the vision of culture and nature as opposite poles and, transcending the social segregation through community involvement should certainly be among the main guiding principles to the application of buffer zones for supporting landscape sustainability. Therefore, the establishment of regulation criteria and parameters within the limits of the buffer zone must acknowledge that the (urban) landscape should carefully articulate the different social agent visions and local urban contexts. Originality/value The main contribution of this paper is to gather different visions of the role of buffer zones and disclose possibilities of conciliation between theory and practice concerning landscape protection, arguing for gathering natural and cultural heritage policies into the urban planning processes. Harnessed together, the suggested buffer zone implementation strategies may provide a proactive approach to Rio’s urban landscape protection and contribute to foster landscape sustainability and resilience. Although based on a specific case study, the adopted methodological approach may be transferable, with some adjustments, to other World Heritage properties, especially those located in urban areas under development pressures.

Since the EU introduced the European Landscape Convention (ELC) in 2000, the landscape has received growing attention in spatial planning and environmental impact assessments. To promote implementation of the ELC, the Swedish National Heritage Board proposed its Landscape Vision 2020, which addresses the goal of a ‘holistic landscape policy’. This study examined challenges and benefits brought by such a holistic approach to handling landscape protection/management within four issues in planning practice, namely cross-sector cooperation, local participation, integrating culture and nature, and bridging past and future. The analysis focused on a controversial road project passing through a World Heritage Site in Sweden. The results showed that the four issues were closely interlinked. In the case study, a new wave of cross-sector cooperation at authority level was observed, but it was also found to dominate the entire planning process and eventually limit the achievement of the other three issues. In conclusion, this study identified institutional culture and political context as key explanatory factors for understanding how the ELC and a holistic landscape view can be implemented in national practice.

Human perceptions of the landscape can influence land-use and land-management decisions. Recognizing the diversity of landscape perceptions across space and time is essential to understanding land change processes and emergent landscape patterns. We summarize the role of landscape perceptions in the land change process, demonstrate advances in quantifying and mapping landscape perceptions, and describe how these spatially explicit techniques have and may benefit land change research. Mapping landscape perceptions is becoming increasingly common, particularly in research focused on quantifying ecosystem services provision. Spatial representations of landscape perceptions, often measured in terms of landscape values and functions, provide an avenue for matching social and environmental data in land change studies. Integrating these data can provide new insights into land change processes, contribute to landscape planning strategies, and guide the design and implementation of land change models. Challenges remain in creating spatial representations of human perceptions. Maps must be accompanied by descriptions of whose perceptions are being represented and the validity and uncertainty of those representations across space. With these considerations, rapid advancements in mapping landscape perceptions hold great promise for improving representation of human dimensions in landscape ecology and land change research.

Construction of Chinese country parks has been developing quickly in recent years, but less effort has been made in the field of esthetic quantitative evaluation of landscape of the country parks. Based on the theories of landscape esthetics and psychology, this paper constructs a landscape quality evaluation model for the country parks by means of SBE and SD methods, with which the authors of the paper carried out the research on and evaluation of the landscape quality of four selected country parks outside the Fifth Ring Road in Beijing. The purpose of this paper is to further put forward suggestions for a better development of the landscape of the four country parks in order to bring their landscape and recreation functions into full play. The findings of this paper indicate that both natural and artificial landscape characteristics exercise either positive or negative influences on landscape quality; among them the effect of vitality, color richness, senses of both joy and beauty are the key elements affecting the attraction of the country park's landscape. Country parks boast with special significance because of their localism, naturalness and tranquility. These advantages are fully shown in their sufficient space for waterscape construction and conspicuous effect on landscape as reflected from the green belts previously constructed. Nevertheless, three major problems existed in the country parks including insipid color, over artificialized parkways, and peripheral high-rise buildings in the nearby neighborhood that have also given rise to visual interference. Recommendations for relevant landscape construction and protection of the country parks are suggested.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses in archaeology have been criticized by archaeologists for being reductive, environmentally deterministic, and reproducing a disembodied experience of the landscape. However, research over the past 20 years has demonstrated the power of GIS data and analyses to explore complex social questions about past human experiences. Indigenous knowledges of landscapes have not often explicitly informed GIS analyses in archaeology, even though archaeologists and indigenous communities around the world are forging collaborative relationships. This paper proposes an integrated approach GIS-based least cost analysis, where Indigenous traditional knowledge, historical documentation, and archaeology can be brought together for a more nuanced and locally-grounded model of past landscapes. A case study from the movement of the Metis people of Canada is used to test typical models of cost path movement used in archaeology against known historic trails information, followed by a discussion of possible future applications of movement models and variables related to local Indigenous knowledge of current and past landscapes.

Numerous studies have been carried out related to landscape, landscape architecture and urban landscape and it indicates the significance of this issue among designers and scholars. These studies have been dealt with different aspects of landscape and investigated the reciprocal effects between landscape and human. In fact, landscape is recognized as a part of environment; thus as environment and human have a dynamic and reciprocal relationship, landscape has such an affordances. Indeed, landscape can create peace and cheerfulness for users due to its affordances. According to this view, the following research investigates the significance of landscape in designing library and clarifies the different aspects of its influence on the library space. Therefore, the outcomings of this research present a conceptual model from the integration of landscape and library space with the purpose of enhancing learning process. The research method is qualitative and it is based on descriptive–interpretative approach. This study investigates initially the concept of landscape and landscape architecture; then, it deals with the analysis of the relation between landscape and environment. After studying the affordances of environment and landscape from different perspectives, the environment of the library and the circumstances in which users study are analyzed. Finally, the findings of the research are presented based on the investigation and analysis.

Until recently Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have held center stage in the archaeologist's geospatial toolkit, and there is no doubt that archaeologists have moved beyond the map—but into what? In the early years, criticisms voicing GIS as environmentally-deterministic were abundant. What methods and tool have archaeologists used to overcome these criticisms? New geospatial technologies such as airborne lidar and aerial photogrammetry are allowing us to acquire inordinate amounts of georeferenced 3D data— but do these 3D technologies help overcome criticisms of environmental determinism? Together—GIS + 3D— can link georeferenced 3D models to underlying data adding a ground-based humanistic perspective lacking in the bird's eye view of traditional GIS. This paper situates GIS and 3D within a semiotic framework to offer some ideas on using 3DGIS to intertwine environmental and cultural factors to work toward new approaches for landscape archaeology.

Installations in the Scottish landscape garner a range of public reactions, from being much-loved to much-maligned. Two categories of landscape installation illustrating this range of reactions are landscape art installations and wind farms, both of which at times have been both widely positively received and largely criticised and protested. Viewing installations such as these through the consideration of the cultural landscape, incorporating social, economic and political history into the natural landscape, offers new ways of understanding their impact on viewers. Using Casey’s boundary/border discourse and Berleant’s aesthetic engagement theory, this article considers the impact of wind farms and large-scale landscape art installations on the landscape, and critically considers Scottish Natural Heritage wind farm siting guidance in light of the theoretical frames presented. The article concludes that current policy and practices surrounding wind farms render them exclusionary and homogenous, and that openness and distinctiveness are essential for improving public perceptions.

The rural landscape has long been eroded by urban and infrastructural development that has altered the system of relationships between town and country. These phenomena, including agriculture intensification, have radically changed the rural landscape, especially in terms of land use, visual and ecological diversity and biocultural heterogeneity. However, agriculture is gradually changing, moving from an exclusively productive model (highly specialised) to one more sensitive to landscape issues. In particular, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has many environmental aims and, theoretically, its financial tools might be used for landscape purposes. However, the CAP does not have a “landscape dimension” and does not include assessment and integration phases with landscape policies. These issues that have arisen not only appear to be influenced by a lack of clarity on the differences between environmental and landscape orientations, but also by a shortage of indicators to identify and assess the landscape dimension in the Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. Here, we attempt to show that a “landscaped role” for the CAP is possible, based upon identifying the main dimensions involved, as well as verifying the effects and induced changes of rural policies. In this scenario, this paper highlights the development and testing of landscape key indicators to support the decision-makers of rural policies. The main result, in an Italian pilot case, reveals direct and indirect relations between Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) and landscape, not only in terms of negative effects, but also in relation to the real contribution of CAP towards preserving farmland and enhancing the rural landscape. Finally, these tools may also be useful in different timescales and different situations, including the improvement of current RDP spatial targeting which often seems to be ineffective compared to the requirements of landscape character areas.

Landscape values mapping has been widely employed as a form of public participation GIS (PPGIS) in natural resource planning and decision-making to capture the complex array of values, uses, and interactions between people and landscapes. A landscape values typology has been commonly employed in the mapping of social and environmental values in a variety of management settings and scales. We explore how people attribute meanings and assign values to special places on the Olympic Peninsula (Washington, USA) using both a landscape values typology and qualitative responses about residents' place-relationships. Using geographically referenced social values data collected in community meetings (n = 169), we identify high-frequency landscape values and examine how well the landscape values are reflected in open-ended descriptions of place-relations. We also explore the various interpretations of 14 landscape values used in the study. In particular, we investigate any overlapping meanings or blurriness among landscape values and reveal potentially emergent landscape values from the qualitative data. The results provide insights on the use of landscape values mapping typologies for practitioners and researchers engaged in the mapping of social values for PPGIS.

Agricultural intensification and abandonment have been identified as two of the more prominent and polarizing drivers of landscape change in Europe. These transitions may induce deterioration in landscape functioning and character, particularly in cultural landscapes demonstrative of evolving human-environment dynamics that have sustained environmental benefits through time. Cultural and behavioral motives are important root influences to such landscape transitions, yet efforts to address landscape degradation are often hampered by a failure to account for the heterogeneous decision-making nature of its agents of change and the inherent complexity of socio-ecological systems. Novel techniques are required to further disentangle responses to multi-level drivers and discuss alternative landscape development trajectories. Agent-based models constructed by means of participatory approaches present increasingly applied tools in this context. This study sought to capture and model the future perspectives emerging from presently occurring farming discourses in the region of Gera (Lesvos, Greece), characterized by persistent abandonment of its traditionally managed olive plantations. We constructed an agent-based model iteratively in collaboration with the local farming community and experts in landscape research. Empirical findings informed the model through the construction of a farmer typology, revealing a heavy reliance of the farming community upon sectorial profitability, prevalent cultural farming motives and emerging landscape initiatives. The model examined the de-coupled role of agricultural profitability and landscapes initiatives in shaping the behavior of land managers, mapping alternative landscape futures over a period of 25 years. Model results illustrate both increased profitability and action by landscape initiatives are required to reverse abandonment trends within the simulated time frame. The hypothesized ability of landscape initiatives to maintain and promote a cultural drive amongst adhering farmers is crucial for securing behavioral transformations towards professionalism. This study confirmed agent-based modelling to be intuitively received by stakeholders who significantly contributed to model structure refinement and the rejection of a status quo scenario.

The article introduces ethnographically relevant aspects of landscape character and historic land use patterns for a better understanding of vernacular descriptions of landscape characteristics through the case study of Kalotaszeg (Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania). Eight topics are discussed based on hand-drawn site analysis maps and historic records: geomorphology and landform types of the Kalotaszeg terrain; water tributary system with mills; a drawn aerial model of zones; description of forest types and borderlands; history, typology and aesthetic issues of the lynchet system; landscape patterns like wooded pastures, orchards and vineyards; the results of analytical land use statistics and retrogressive analyses of landscape historical events and relicts; and finally a summary of the uniformity and diversity of Kalotaszeg and its zones.

Scotland, like many other countries, is undergoing a transition to renewable\ud energy. This paper discusses the social context within which this transition\ud is taking place and which is conditioning the possibilities for energy\ud development and its effects on people. In particular, the paper explores\ud historically-rooted conflicts relating to land rights and wild land protection,\ud considering these issues and their relationship to energy development in\ud terms of landscape justice (i.e. the principle of fairness in the ways people\ud relate to the landscape and to each other through the landscape). Pursuing\ud a more just settlement between people and landscape is often a matter of\ud understanding problematic pasts and working to overcome their harmful\ud legacies. It is argued that there is an important role for heritage practice in\ud helping to deliver energy development which takes the historical, social and\ud cultural context more fully into account and thereby helps to bring about a\ud more just settlement between people and the landscape.