Anthony Beck

In common with all domains of remote sensing, residues indicative of past human activity can only be detected if they exhibit some form of identifiable contrast with their surroundings. Unlike many other domains these residues do not exhibit consistent spectral signatures. Archaeological spectral responses are commonly expressed as subtle deviations from their surrounding matrix. This is true for crop marks, soil marks and thermal anomalies. The challenge is to collect imagery when the contrast between archaeological ...

In this paper we investigate various factors which prevent utility knowledge from being fully exploited and suggest that integration techniques can be applied to improve the quality of utility records. The paper suggests a framework which supports knowledge and data integration. The framework supports utility integration at two levels: the schema and data level. Schema level integration ensures that a single, integrated geospa-tial data set is available for utility enquiries. Data level integration improves utility data quality by reducing inconsistency, duplication and conflicts. Moreover, the framework is designed to preserve autonomy and distribution of utility data. The ultimate aim of the research is to produce an integrated representation of underground utility infrastruc-ture in order to gain more accurate knowledge of the buried services. It is hoped that this approach will enable us to understand various problems associated with utility data, and to suggest some potential t...

In recent decades advances in sensor technology have led to a range of ground, airborne and spaceborne imaging instruments that can be applied to archaeological and heritage management problems. However, the development of the techniques associated with these technologies have evolved independently with variable understanding of the physical, chemical, biological and environmental processes that determine whether archaeological residues will be identified in one or any sensor. The long-term aim of this work is to update Crawford’s study of impacts on photographic return to take account of modern sensors and digital image processing techniques. This paper is an initial attempt to bridge this gap and will consider archaeological residues as perturbations to a surrounding matrix which must exhibit some contrast to that matrix in order to be detected.

ABSTRACT In this article we assess the abilities of a new electromagnetic (EM) system, the CMD Mini-Explorer, for prospecting of archaeological features in Ireland and the UK. The Mini-Explorer is an EM probe which is primarily aimed at the environmental/geological prospecting market for the detection of pipes and geology. It has long been evident from the use of other EM devices that such an instrument might be suitable for shallow soil studies and applicable for archaeological prospecting. Of particular interest for the archaeological surveyor is the fact that the Mini-Explorer simultaneously obtains both quadrature (‘conductivity’) and in-phase (relative to ‘magnetic susceptibility’) data from three depth levels. As the maximum depth range is probably about 1.5 m, a comprehensive analysis of the subsoil within that range is possible. As with all EM devices the measurements require no contact with the ground, thereby negating the problem of high contact resistance that often besets earth resistance data during dry spells. The use of the CMD Mini-Explorer at a number of sites has demonstrated that it has the potential to detect a range of archaeological features and produces high-quality data that are comparable in quality to those obtained from standard earth resistance and magnetometer techniques. In theory the ability to measure two phenomena at three depths suggests that this type of instrument could reduce the number of poor outcomes that are the result of single measurement surveys. The high success rate reported here in the identification of buried archaeology using a multi-depth device that responds to the two most commonly mapped geophysical phenomena has implications for evaluation style surveys. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Until recently the spatial resolving characteristics of satellites were too crude for archaeological site prospection although sensor systems such as Landsat did provide contextual thematic data. However, declassification of historic military imagery (the American Corona and the Russian KVR missions) and high resolution commercial satellite systems (such as Ikonos and Quickbird) provide archaeologists with satellite imagery that can be used for both site prospection and Cultural Resource Management (CW). Satellite ...

In aerial prospection archaeological features are detected by the contrast between a feature and its surroundings. These contrasts are dynamic, and change over time with variations in local conditions. For example, vegetation marks are caused by changes in soil affecting the growth of the plants on the surface. These are only visible under certain conditions and appropriate stages of vegetation development. The Detection of Archaeological Residues using Remote sensing Techniques (DART) project seeks to ...

In common with all domains of remote sensing, residues indicative of past human activity can only be detected if they exhibit some form of identifiable contrast with their surroundings. Unlike many other domains these residues do not exhibit consistent spectral signatures. Archaeological spectral responses are commonly expressed as subtle deviations from their surrounding matrix. This is true for crop marks, soil marks and thermal anomalies.

Ar-Ar dating of basalt flows capping terrace deposits of the River Euphrates in northern Syria has provided a new quantitative chronology for the late Cenozoic evolution of this important river system and for the associated history of surface uplift of the northern Arabian Platform through which it flows, a region of relatively strong crust that has experienced only slow deformation.

Abstract In the Arabian Platform of SE Turkey abundant evidence exists of fluvial incision by c. 110±10 m since the late Early Pleistocene, starting in or around marine oxygen isotope stage 22 at 870 ka. This incision, which has accompanied regional surface uplift as the isostatic response to regional erosion, has progressively 'locked'rivers into their gorges in landscape that formerly had much lower relief.

A set of 13 new unspiked K–Ar dates has been obtained for the Quaternary basaltic volcanism in the Kula area of western Turkey, providing improved age control for the fluvial deposits of the Gediz River that underlie these basalt flows. This dating is able, for the first time, to resolve different ages for the oldest basalts, assigned to category β2, that cap the earliest Gediz deposits recognised in this area, at altitudes of∼ 140 to∼ 210 m above present river level.

Abstract. We report gravel of the River Euphrates, capped by basalt that is Ar-Ar dated to∼ 9 Ma, at Shireen in northern Syria. This gravel, preserved by the erosion-resistant basalt, allows us for the first time to reconstruct the history of this major river during the Late Miocene.

Abstract: This report presents a summary of the methods and some preliminary results of fieldwork by an interdisciplinary research team studying the landscape history of the upper Orontes Valley near Homs in western Syria. The particular focus of the project is to document long-term interrelationships between settlement and landscape in two adjacent but divergent regions.

" A piece of content or data is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and redistribute it-‐subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and share-‐alike”(http://opendefinition. org/). Driven by demands for greater transparency from government, general freedom of information and an increased awareness of the unanticipated re-‐use values of existing information, Open Data has seen dramatic growth in the past two years. Is archaeology part of this general trend?

Abstract: This report describes the results of the first and second seasons of field work by an interdisciplinary research team studying the landscape history of the upper Orontes Valley near Homs in western Syria. Initial discussions address the value of survey data to Syrian archaeology, the research aims of the project and describe the survey area.

We live in ‘interesting times’: the world wide web is undermining traditional work practices
while opening up entirely new approaches to research and its communication. Ubiquitous
communication and improved access to data and knowledge repositories has an obvious
impact on scientific progress. However, the ‘socialization’ of the web means that individuals
can become members of a number of loosely coupled formal or informal groups. Members of
these groups share the tools of knowledge acquisition: data, algorithms, information, synthesis
and potentially more importantly experience. Inevitably the web has been the catalyst for
the majority of these changes. For some the ability to interact dynamically with different
individuals and groups in both a formal and informal capacity has led to the development of
new approaches for the acquisition and sharing of scientific data, information and knowledge.
This chapter will consider these issues in light of recent social, organisational and technological
developments that impact upon collaboration and what can be transferred to the analysis of
Airborne Laser Scanning for heritage applications.

By unblocking knowledge bottle necks and enhancing collaborative and creative input 'open'
approaches have the potential to revolutionise science, humanities and arts. 'Open' has captured the
zeitgeist: but what is it all about? Is it about providing clear and transparent access to knowledge
objects: data, theories and knowledge (open access, open data, open methods, open knowledge)? Is
it about providing similar access to knowledge acquisition processes (open science)? Obviously it is,
however, this is not the whole story. Open approaches require active engagement. This is not just
engagement from the 'usual suspects' but engagement from a broader societal base. For example,
primary data creators need the appropriate incentives to provide access to Open Data - these
incentives will vary between different groups: contract archaeologists, curatorial archaeologists and
research archaeologists all have different drivers. Equally important is that open approaches raise a
number of issues about data access and downstream data re-use. This paper will discuss these issues
in relation to the current situation in the UK and in the context of the DART project: an Open Science
research project.

Satellite imagery is an increasingly important tool for cultural and natural heritage management. It has particular relevance in those areas of the world where the heritage resource is poorly understood. In these areas what is known may be significantly biased: i.e. heritage management strategies may have been skewed towards a specific type of remain (normally monumental architecture). This paper will present work undertaken in the landscape around the UNESCO World Heritage site of Sanchi, a major early-historic Buddhist site in Madhya Pradesh, India. Rather than discuss the merits of individual sensors this paper takes a more holistic approach and examines the 'life-cycle' of satellite imagery for an archaeological project. This means that satellite imagery is viewed not just as a source of archaeological information but also as a data source that can be used to contextualise and interpret the archaeological resource. Hence this paper provides a framework which should allow archaeological investigators to select, manipulate and integrate different satellite sensors to provide information which is fit for purpose. This paper discusses the implications of satellite sensors for different activities, including archaeological prospection, landuse mapping and terrain modeling and considers how the synergies of different satellite and archaeological data can be exploited.

The paper will discuss the value of imagery for: 1. The provision of environmental data, through which the landscape context of past human activity can be explored 2. The monitoring of landscape change, and the identification of threats 3. The development of refined sampling strategies, for example by enabling the estimation of the effects of masking of ground-surface by vegetation 4. The location and mapping of different kinds of sites and structures The paper will also report upon the results of the field-testing of intensive ...

Both IKONOS and CORONA satellite imagery are currently being employed by the research project Settlement and Landscape Development in the Homs Region, Syria, as the primary deskbased means of detecting non-tell archaeological sites, a category that has generally been underrepresented in traditional tell-centered surveys in the Middle East. Satellite imagery provides a highly effective means of prospecting for ancient settlement remains on the marl geologies of the project's Southern Study Area. The recent intense agricultural development of the area and a largely erosive landscape history since the Bronze Age mean that ancient settlements survive as “lags” in the present soils that display either highly reflective or (more rarely) absorptive signatures in the imagery. As a result, many previously unknown archaeological sites have been detected by the project. Laboratory analysis of transects of samples taken across four sites detected in the satellite imagery suggests that the reflectance/absorption spectra of the archaeological sites is largely a product of the grain-size variations that result from occupation activities; geochemical and magnetic properties play a lesser role. The grain-size properties of the site locations are likely to reflect the decomposition of mud-brick, the dominant building material in the area for much of the past. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

In recent decades advances in sensor technology have led to a range of ground, airborne and spaceborne imaging instruments that can be applied to archaeological and heritage management problems. However, the development of the techniques associated with these technologies have evolved independently with variable understanding of the physical, chemical, biological and environmental processes that determine whether archaeological residues will be identified in one or any sensor. The long-term aim of this work is to update Crawford’s study of impacts on photographic return to take account of modern sensors and digital image processing techniques. This paper is an initial attempt to bridge this gap and will consider archaeological residues as perturbations to a surrounding matrix which must exhibit some contrast to that matrix in order to be detected.