Rivers have always been a magnet for human settlement, providing resources, such as water, food, ... more Rivers have always been a magnet for human settlement, providing resources, such as water, food, and energy, and communication and travel routes. Climate- and human-made changes to the environment can easily affect the fragile balance between the 'natural' and the 'urban', causing droughts, floods, and other changes in riverine systems that challenge economic, environmental, and social sustainability. This is especially true in semiarid regions and in times of rapid climate change and human-driven deterioration of the environment. Therefore a deeper understanding is needed of the evolution of urban-riverine relationships within long-term historical frameworks. This article presents an integrative and interdisciplinary programme for research, which although exemplified by one case study-the city of Gerasa/ Jerash and its hinterland in modern Jordan-can be applied to other locations and regions with benefits.
Across the world, cultural heritage is eradicated at an unprecedented rate by development, agricu... more Across the world, cultural heritage is eradicated at an unprecedented rate by development, agriculture, and natural erosion. Remote sensing using airborne and satellite sensors is an essential tool for rapidly investigating human traces over large surfaces of our planet, but even large monumental structures may be visible as only faint indications on the surface. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of a machine learning approach using airborne laser scanning data to address a "needle-in-a-haystack" problem, which involves the search for remnants of Viking ring fortresses throughout Denmark. First ring detection was applied using the Hough circle transformations and template matching, which detected 202,048 circular features in Denmark. This was reduced to 199 candidate sites by using their geometric properties and the application of machine learning techniques to classify the cultural and topographic context of the features. Two of these near perfectly circular features are convincing candidates for Viking Age fortresses, and two are candidates for either glacial landscape features or simple meteor craters. Ground-truthing revealed the latter sites as ice age features, while the cultural heritage sites Borgø and Traelbanke urge renewed archaeological investigation in the light of our findings. The fact that machine learning identifies compelling new candidate sites for ring fortresses demonstrates the power of the approach. Our automatic approach is applicable worldwide where digital terrain models are available to search for cultural heritage sites, geomorphological features, and meteor impact craters.
In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (PNAS), 115.24, E5450-E5458, 2018
The rapidly growing global population places cultural heritage at great risk, and the encroachmen... more The rapidly growing global population places cultural heritage at great risk, and the encroachment of modern settlement on archaeological sites means that valuable information about how past societies worked and interacted with the environment is lost. To manage and mitigate these risks, we require knowledge about what has been lost and what remains, so we can actively decide what should be investigated and what should be preserved for the future. Remote sensing provides archaeologists with some of the tools we need to do this. In this paper we explore the application of multitemporal, multisensor data to map features and chart the impacts of urban encroachment on the ancient city of Jerash (in modern Jordan) by combining archives of aerial photography dating back to 1917 with state-of-the-art airborne laser scanning. The combined results revealed details of the water distribution system and the ancient city plan. This demonstrates that by combining historical images with modern aerial and ground-based data we can successfully detect and contextualize these features and thus achieve a better understanding of life in a city in the past. These methods are essential, given that much of the ancient city has been lost to modern development and the historical imagery is often our only source of information.
Manuring has often been associated with the emergence of permanent field systems, but manuring pr... more Manuring has often been associated with the emergence of permanent field systems, but manuring practices and intensities are rarely investigated in detail. Previous analyses of phosphorus from Danish Celtic fields show that manuring was carried out at most sites, but due to methodological issues and representativity biases, these results have been difficult to compare and interpret. In this study, samples from three well-preserved field systems in eastern Jutland, Denmark, were analysed with the purpose of investigating the manuring regime. We focused on identifying possible variations between and, in particular, within the individual sites. The main method used was multi-element analysis by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), which was supplemented by soil thin section analysis and analysis of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs). Evidence of animal manure and household waste was found at all three sites and, additionally, material from wetlands was identified at one site. Clear variations between individual fields were identified, which stress the importance of taking composite samples from a large number of fields in order to obtain a more complex understanding of the manuring practices within field systems. Manuring intensity was generally low, indicating a rather extensive use of the field systems in Southern Scandinavia in the Early Iron Age.
Rivers have always been a magnet for human settlement, providing resources, such as water, food, ... more Rivers have always been a magnet for human settlement, providing resources, such as water, food, and energy, and communication and travel routes. Climate- and human-made changes to the environment can easily affect the fragile balance between the 'natural' and the 'urban', causing droughts, floods, and other changes in riverine systems that challenge economic, environmental, and social sustainability. This is especially true in semiarid regions and in times of rapid climate change and human-driven deterioration of the environment. Therefore a deeper understanding is needed of the evolution of urban-riverine relationships within long-term historical frameworks. This article presents an integrative and interdisciplinary programme for research, which although exemplified by one case study-the city of Gerasa/ Jerash and its hinterland in modern Jordan-can be applied to other locations and regions with benefits.
Across the world, cultural heritage is eradicated at an unprecedented rate by development, agricu... more Across the world, cultural heritage is eradicated at an unprecedented rate by development, agriculture, and natural erosion. Remote sensing using airborne and satellite sensors is an essential tool for rapidly investigating human traces over large surfaces of our planet, but even large monumental structures may be visible as only faint indications on the surface. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of a machine learning approach using airborne laser scanning data to address a "needle-in-a-haystack" problem, which involves the search for remnants of Viking ring fortresses throughout Denmark. First ring detection was applied using the Hough circle transformations and template matching, which detected 202,048 circular features in Denmark. This was reduced to 199 candidate sites by using their geometric properties and the application of machine learning techniques to classify the cultural and topographic context of the features. Two of these near perfectly circular features are convincing candidates for Viking Age fortresses, and two are candidates for either glacial landscape features or simple meteor craters. Ground-truthing revealed the latter sites as ice age features, while the cultural heritage sites Borgø and Traelbanke urge renewed archaeological investigation in the light of our findings. The fact that machine learning identifies compelling new candidate sites for ring fortresses demonstrates the power of the approach. Our automatic approach is applicable worldwide where digital terrain models are available to search for cultural heritage sites, geomorphological features, and meteor impact craters.
In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (PNAS), 115.24, E5450-E5458, 2018
The rapidly growing global population places cultural heritage at great risk, and the encroachmen... more The rapidly growing global population places cultural heritage at great risk, and the encroachment of modern settlement on archaeological sites means that valuable information about how past societies worked and interacted with the environment is lost. To manage and mitigate these risks, we require knowledge about what has been lost and what remains, so we can actively decide what should be investigated and what should be preserved for the future. Remote sensing provides archaeologists with some of the tools we need to do this. In this paper we explore the application of multitemporal, multisensor data to map features and chart the impacts of urban encroachment on the ancient city of Jerash (in modern Jordan) by combining archives of aerial photography dating back to 1917 with state-of-the-art airborne laser scanning. The combined results revealed details of the water distribution system and the ancient city plan. This demonstrates that by combining historical images with modern aerial and ground-based data we can successfully detect and contextualize these features and thus achieve a better understanding of life in a city in the past. These methods are essential, given that much of the ancient city has been lost to modern development and the historical imagery is often our only source of information.
Manuring has often been associated with the emergence of permanent field systems, but manuring pr... more Manuring has often been associated with the emergence of permanent field systems, but manuring practices and intensities are rarely investigated in detail. Previous analyses of phosphorus from Danish Celtic fields show that manuring was carried out at most sites, but due to methodological issues and representativity biases, these results have been difficult to compare and interpret. In this study, samples from three well-preserved field systems in eastern Jutland, Denmark, were analysed with the purpose of investigating the manuring regime. We focused on identifying possible variations between and, in particular, within the individual sites. The main method used was multi-element analysis by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), which was supplemented by soil thin section analysis and analysis of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs). Evidence of animal manure and household waste was found at all three sites and, additionally, material from wetlands was identified at one site. Clear variations between individual fields were identified, which stress the importance of taking composite samples from a large number of fields in order to obtain a more complex understanding of the manuring practices within field systems. Manuring intensity was generally low, indicating a rather extensive use of the field systems in Southern Scandinavia in the Early Iron Age.
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