Search

In the framework of an archaeological prospection case study conducted at the Swedish Iron Age site of Uppakra near Lund, a large number of anomalies caused by buried archaeological remains were detected using extensive magnetic surveys. Written sources report that the Swedish army under Field marshal Gustav Horn had established a camp near the village of Uppakra in autumn 1644, awaiting the approaching Danish army. Magnetic anomalies of two large, square structures, numerous pits and several pit alignments have been interpreted as possible traces of buried remains of this army camp. We present archaeological prospection data from Uppakra with regard to the events that took place during Horn's war in 1644.

In this paper, we present the web-based, open source software OpenAtlas, which uses the International Council of Museums&rsquo, Conceptual Reference Model (CIDOC CRM), and its possible future potential for the acquisition, analysis and dissemination of a wide range of archaeological and historical data on a landscape basis. To this end, we will first introduce the ongoing research project The Anthropological and Archaeological Database of Sepultures (THANADOS), built upon OpenAtlas, as well as its data model and interactive web interface/presentation frontend. Subsequently, the article will then discuss the possible extension of this database of early medieval cemeteries with regard to the integration of further archaeological structures (e.g., medieval settlements, fortifications, field systems and traffic routes) and other data, such as historical maps, aerial photographs and airborne laser scanning data. Finally, the paper will conclude with the general added value for future research projects by such a collaborative and web-based approach.

Borre in Norway is famous for its Late Nordic Iron and Viking Age (AD 400–1050) monumental burial mounds. Recently, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys have revealed three large structures close to the mound cemetery. Their unusual layout and size, and location within such a prominent burial site, suggest that they were halls—high-status buildings mentioned in the Nordic sagas. The authors present the GPR results, discuss the buildings’ typological classification and provide a preliminary chronological framework. The latter suggests that the buildings coexisted with some of the burial mounds, and raises important questions about the significance of such buildings in Nordic mound-building societies.

Large parts of the urban layout of the abandoned Roman town of Bassianae (in present-day Serbia) are still discernible on the surface today due to the deliberate and targeted quarrying of the Roman foundations. In 2014, all of the town’s intramural (and some extramural) areas were surveyed using aerial photography, ground-penetrating radar, and magnetometry to analyze the site’s topography and to map remaining buried structures. The surveys showed a strong agreement between the digital surface model derived from the aerial photographs and the geophysical prospection data. However, many structures could only be detected by one method, underlining the benefits of a complementary archaeological prospection approach using multiple methods. This article presents the results of the extensive surveys and their comprehensive integrative interpretation, discussing Bassianae’s ground plan and urban infrastructure. Starting with an overview of this Roman town’s research history, we present the details of the triple prospection approach, followed by the processing, integrative analysis, and interpretation of the acquired data sets. Finally, this newly gained information is contrasted with a plan of Roman Bassianae compiled in 1935.

Over the course of four years (2012–2015) the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archeology (LBI ArchPro), in collaboration with the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) and on behalf of the provincial government of Lower Austria, has conducted the comprehensive, non-invasive archaeological prospection project entitled “ArchPro Carnuntum”. The purpose of this project has been to generate a basis for future archaeological research and the sustainable spatial planning and cultural heritage management in the area. By combining new information on buried archaeology using different aerial and ground-based archaeological prospection methods and a thorough archaeological interpretation of the combined data within the framework of a GIS environment, it was possible to document Carnuntum’s archaeological heritage, which is threatened by a dramatic increase in erosion and destruction through ploughing, infrastructure development and looting by treasure hunters. In total, an area covering eight square kilometres was explored at very high sampling resolution using magnetic prospection methods, while 2.5 square kilometres were mapped with ultra-high resolution ground-penetrating radar measurements. The results of the project and the spatio-temporal analysis and interpretation of the prospection data are presented here as a preliminary report.

Following magnetometry and ground penetrating radar surveys, a geoarchaeological field evaluation was carried out at the Iron Age burial mound of Rom in Slagendalen, Vestfold County, Norway, in order to assess the accuracy of the geophysical data interpretation and to investigate specific questions that have arisen during data interpretation. The evaluation was conducted within the framework of an archaeological excavation campaign in 2013, which enabled direct access to the subsurface materials. The archaeological stratification was recorded by laser scanning using a three-dimensional (3D) single-surface approach, permitting a virtual reconstruction of the excavated part of the mound and facilitating the comparison between excavation and prospection data. Selected sediment sequences were targeted with in situ and laboratory-based measurements for correlation purposes, including magnetic susceptibility, electrical conductivity and water content measurements. Here we present the methodological approach and the results of the geophysical prospection surveys, followed by a geoarchaeological evaluation and a discussion of the impact on the overall archaeological investigation. This research has been accepted and published in Archaeological Prospection. © 2017 Wiley

In 2014, a team of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology, in collaboration with Holstebro Museum, conducted a geophysical archaeological prospection pilot study at several Viking Age and medieval sites in West Jutland, Denmark; sites that had been discovered earlier by aerial archaeology. The high-resolution surveys employed motorized ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometer systems as well as novel post-processing software. The aim of this study was to test the suitability of these methods and the chosen approach to efficiently explore, investigate and document prehistoric settlements on a large scale under the prevalent environmental conditions in this part of Denmark. Over the course of five days of fieldwork, numerous structures of archaeological interest, such as the remains of longhouses, property boundaries, pathways, pit houses and other buried remains of the settlements, were detected and mapped. The combination of the data gathered by magnetic and GPR prospection with the already existing aerial imagery permitted an integrated archaeological interpretation, resulting in considerable new knowledge about the investigated sites. In this paper, we present the results obtained for the Viking Age settlement at Stadil Molleby and a medieval village near Rysensten, both situated on sandy soils.

Landscape geophysical survey around the small upland ‘henge’ at Yarnbury, Grassington, North Yorkshire revealed few anthropogenic features around the enclosure but did identify a small rectangular structure in the same field. Sample trenching of this feature, radiocarbon and archaeomagnetic dating proved it to be an earlier Neolithic post and wattle structure of a type that is being increasingly recognised in Ireland and the west of Britain. It is the first to be recognised in the Yorkshire Dales and it is argued that the Dales may have been pivotal in the Neolithic for east–west trade as well as pastoral upland agriculture.

In a clearing on the Falkenstein, northeast of the Wolfgangsee, there is a chapel built in front of a cave. This monument, together with a nearby well, is connected to the myth of Wolfgang of Regensburg († 994). Because of this association, the site has always drawn people’s interest. Now, through analysis of historical records as well as the use of archaeological methods, it is possible to shed more light on its history. In the Middle Ages, this place was already a highly frequented pilgrim path that led travellers over the Falkenstein to St. Wolfgang. However, in this investigation, the focus lies on a post-medieval hermitage that gave shelter to a series of hermits over the 17th and 18th centuries. Finally, most of the questions concerning the hermitage and its dwellers can be answered with the use of archaeological prospection techniques as well as excavation.

The complementary use of various archaeological prospection data sets offers a series of new possibilities for the investigation of prehistoric settlements. In addition to the separate interpretations of the single methods, the implementation of image fusion provides an additional tool to obtain an even higher degree of data integration during the interpretation process. To investigate some possibilities and risks of image fusion, a procedure frequently used in the medical field but rarely applied in archaeology, various algorithms inside a dedicated MATLAB toolbox TAIFU (Toolbox for Archaeological Image FUsion) were tested on the geophysical prospection data from an Iron Age settlement near Vesterager in West Jutland, Denmark. The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology had conducted large-scale, high-resolution ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometry surveys at the site in 2014, based on its discovery by the Ringkobing Museum through aerial photos and the results of a follow-up excavation in 2009. The aim was to determine if, and to what extent, geophysical prospection together with a novel integrative interpretational approach was able to add more detailed information to an already known prehistoric settlement. Results yielded a variety of deeper insights into the separate farms (dated to around AD 400), including the discovery of several new structures and more information about the construction of the longhouses, as well as a first suggestion on how to implement image fusion into the process of analysis and archaeological interpretation of geophysical data sets.