Methodology and Archaeometry

For the last decade, ALS (Airborne Laser Scanning, or LiDAR) has become a relatively well known and accommodated technology in archaeology. A lot has been said on different technical aspects of ALS, mainly technological, data processing and visualisation challenges, while significantly less discussion was devoted to the impact ALS has on landscape archaeology and archaeology in general. The paper reflects on those issues, mainly: How to meaningfully accommodate ALS in landscape archaeology? What we actually do when we interpret ALS imagery? Which aspects of past landscapes does ALS allow us to see? Which not? What kind of past landscapes does ALS allow us to imagine? What are some challenges in the interpretation of ALS imagery? How to creatively engage with technology to explore new ways of engaging with ALS?

Archaeology has very ambitious goals – to discover and interpret as many as possible aspects and phenomena of human life and activities in the past in every corner of our world and to assist with its knowledge in heritage protection, presentation and management in our societies. Archaeology is constantly expanding its field of expertise and research, together with its ability to deal with increasing quantity of data. But it is not the sheer quantity of data which requires reconsideration of data management in archaeology, it is the structure of data which is actually causing greater problems. Seeing the increased quantity as the only major problem would lead us to the ‘conveyer belt philosophy’; it would suffice to develop appropriately faster and more efficient ways for data retrieval, storage and processing. This is a classical positivist view from which stems that more data means more accurate and better answers. But this ignores basic dialectic of science and research where theory, practice and environment in which science is practised, contrasted to each other, and result in new ideas and concepts. Mayer-Schönberg and Cukier (2013, 13-15) speak of three major shifts associated with Big Data. In the first place, there is a shift from sampling small (and as representative as possible) samples to sampling all. The second shift is from exactitude of data on smaller scales of observation towards their messiness on larger scales which, instead, enables insights at macro levels. And, finally, there is a shift from searching principal causality within data towards revealing correlations within data. Current definitions of Big Data frequently stress 3Vs when describing its nature – Volume, Variety and Velocity. Some add another 2Vs to it – Veracity and Value. Each of the individual Vs brings major changes which are discussed in this paper.

ArchaeoCulTour project aims at understanding the historical landscape of Vrsar municipality in Istria and assessing the potential of individual archaeological sites in the development of the cultural tourism of this region. The integrated approach to the research of this 40 km2 area implies a variety of employed techniques and methods. Airborne laser scanning (lidar) was acquired for the whole research area and it has again proved to be an invaluable data set for detection of archaeological features in areas covered with dense Mediterranean forest. Interpretation of lidar data was followed by extensive field reconnaissance of identified features and later targeted small-scale excavations. The results are mapped in GIS which enabled the correlation of this newly gathered data with historical cadastre and aerial imagery. This presentation will focus on the methodology applied and show results at the end of the first year of the project.

Sutilija (St. Elijah's) hill in Seget Gornji above Trogir is an important archaeological site characterised by a complex set of traces of anthropogenic activities from all time periods and marked by Iron Age and Medieval standing structures, as well as quarries that can be dated from Roman Period to Modern Times. As stone mining continues to this day in three active quarries, it is continuously subjected to harmful impacts that resulted in the vast devastation of the landscape, as well as the destruction of the archaeological features (Paraman, Tresić Pavičić 2017). This was the stimulus for the project focused on monitoring of the site with the objective to document its present state and to collect the data about changes in the landscape. Through comparison of the data collected by geodetic survey and high-resolution 3D photogrammetry of the entire hill and the available spatial data (aerial photographs, cadastral maps etc.) a set of information was obtained that enables analysis of the changes caused by anthropogenic activities in different time periods. Results of this type of analysis are suitable for the valorisation of the site, as well as a value loss assessment through different periods of contemporary stone exploitation. As the collected data enables chronological separation of the harmful impacts, the authors will present a methodological approach to the reconstruction of their effects and the possibilities that this type of analysis has for the assessment of value loss on continuously endangered archaeological sites.

In archaeological geophysics three basic geophysical methods (and their variants) prove to be successful in delineating archaeological structures in various environmental conditions and therefore provide an opportunity for instrumental exploration of archaeological phenomena: Magnetic method (Magnetometry and Magnetic susceptibility measurements), Electromagnetic method (Low-frequency EM method and Ground penetrating radar-GPR), Resistivity method (Resistivity mapping and Electrical resistivity tomography-ERT), Magnetometry is by far most popular in archaeological prospecting, following by all other – GPR, resistivity and low-frequency EM method. The suitability of individual geophysical methods or combinations of several methods for solving a given problem depends on the contrast of the physical properties of the targeted object with its surrounding media. Since each method measures specific physical properties and also has its advantages and limitations, the most suitable ones in given archaeological, geological, geomorphological and geographical context have to be carefully chosen. Among the archaeological factors, we consider the type of expected remains (stone-made structures, remains associated with craftwork activities, burned layers, pits, ditches, necropolises with burial mounds and flat cremation graves etc.), size of the site (or area under investigation) and depth of buried structures. Geological factors include the type of rocks or sediments and their physical properties (i.e porosity, moisture content, hardness–loosnes, structure, texture, chemical and magnetic properties etc.) in which archaeological remains are situated. Geographical factors represent latitude, longitude, altitude and consequently climate and weather condition in the region. Geomorphology is a product of geological and geographical factors, while surface morphology reflects all the factors mentioned above. All factors together form characteristic settings of certain landscape unit. Therefore, archaeogeophysical survey strategy is a rather complex task, since all factors are interrelated and influenced one upon the other. The main focus of the presentation is on evaluating results obtained from several surveys on prehistoric and Roman sites in Slavonia and Baranja.

The archaeological record, which is encased within the soil, is intimately linked with processes of soil formation and soil geomorphology. Thus, pedogenic and geomorphic processes represent a fundamental part of the archaeological record’s formation processes. Therefore, they must be considered in archaeological research and interpretations, which is especially crucial in the case of archaeological field investigations. Because this is not always the case, this presentation will aim to briefly discuss some basic theoretical models of pedogenesis and soil geomorphology and point out their most important implications for archaeology. Firstly, the formation of soil horizons is crucial for archaeological stratigraphy, because the law of superposition does not apply to them. Failure to recognize them and document them as such in the field leads to an erroneous interpretation of the stratigraphic sequence. Secondly, together with soil horizonation the processes of pedoturbation are crucial for our understanding of the integrity and preservation of archaeological contexts and their stratigraphy or lack thereof. Thirdly, understanding the role of topography or landscape positions in geomorphic and pedogenic processes can help archaeologists to make some predictions concerning preservation and integrity of archaeological record in the landscape and help them in the decision making on field methodology and research strategies.

I present the research methods used during the Norwegian Archaeological Survey in the Karystia (NASK). NASK took place between 2012 and 2016 and was organized by the Norwegian Institute at Athens with the participation of an international group of students and researchers. The survey covered approximately 20 km2 of terrain in an area called the Katsaronio plain in southern Euboea, Greece. We used intensive archaeological surface survey methods trying to achieve several predetermined aims in an area that had not been archaeologically explored before. In the process, we recorded 99 archaeological sites (which we term “findspots”) of varying date and size. For this survey, we designed our own methods, based on the modification of the classic so-called Mediterranean survey. We also introduced field recording based on Android tablets. Instead of following the more common plots survey, we adopted an approach that recorded the actual location of each artifact, irrespective of any artificial (and usually modern) land divisions. In this paper, I discuss the NASK survey results as well as the advantages and shortcomings of this methodology in comparison to other surveys in the same region and the wider Aegean.

This paper reports the results of experiments in field survey methodology and the interpretation of collected data from the 2015-2018 seasons of the Cetina Valley Survey. The Cetina River Valley in Dalmatia is the epicenter of the Early Bronze Age Cetina Culture. Much of what archaeologists know about the culture comes from excavated tumuli and cave sites. To date, only a handful of open-air settlements have been identified. In 2015, Dr Helena Tomas launched the Cetina Valley Survey in order to investigate the river valley and its connections with the Aegean world in the Bronze Age. One of the project’s main goals was to conduct an intensive field survey along the course of the river with the hopes of locating additional open-air settlements dated to the Early Bronze Age. Initially, the project followed the standard methods of the intensive survey as often employed throughout the Mediterranean Basin: tracts were defined as groups of agricultural fields, and teams of 4–5 people walked each tract at 15-meter spacing, counting all finds and collecting diagnostic material. After three seasons of fieldwork (2015, 2016, and 2017), two methodological problems became apparent. First, the team had identified only two open-air sites in a total walked area of 6.5 square kilometers - both later than the Early Bronze Age - suggesting that alluviation might be masking earlier sites. Second, the division of land into narrow strips cultivated on different schedules meant that 90-100% of a ‘tract’ might be unplowed or lying fallow, making it impossible to see the soil surface. In the 2018 season, the team attempted to mitigate these problems through a geomorphological study to trace changes in alluviation and the adoption of a survey methodology that targeted plowed fields with near-100% visibility.

The fully automatic photogrammetric reconstruction is one of the recent methods used widely for 3D-digitalisation of archaeological artefacts. The fast and simple data acquisition (taking photos by affordable cameras) as well as a straightforward data processing to reach photo-textured 3D-models, make this technology the most appropriate one in 3D-digitalisation. Although the photo-textured 3D-models of archaeological artefacts are generally employed for the promotion of exhibitions and to propel the audience to visit the museum they have even bigger potential to be utilized as an important component of the qualified documentation of virtually reconstructed artefact. In that case, the quality of 3D-model is of the highest importance. In this presentation, the spatial accuracy of photogrammetrically reconstructed 3D-model will be analyzed and discussed, focused on Structure-from-Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS) methods. The results of scanning and Photogrammetry of archaeological artefacts will be compared and discussed, emphasizing the advantages and disadvantages of both methods.

The project The database of antique archaeological sites of the Republic of Croatia of the Institute of Archeology (BAZA) has been online since 24th May 2018 when it was set on the website of the Institute (http://baza.iarh.hr/public/locality/map). As a source of data, the available literature is used together with knowledge gathered from the Institute's scientific activities and data stored in the archives of the Institute of Archeology. The aim of the project is creating a database of Greek and Roman archaeological sites as the foundation for science, culture, preservation of Croatian heritage, as well as the presentation of cultural tourism. BAZA is based on archaeological sites in Croatia that are either known from the literature or by field research, with the aim of creating tools that provide easier access to the data needed for future scientific research, heritage management and the creation of professional and scientific projects that fundamentally represent archaeological heritage. The database is enriched with information about archaeological sites that are attractive enough to become a tourist destination. During the presentation of BAZA, we will show its structure and administrative part and how it is used in public search.

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on ceramic cooking vessels and the use-alteration traces that different cooking techniques leave on internal vessels' walls. Experimental vessels were used for boiling variety of food of plant and animal origin, either separately or together, for baking bread and for parching cereals. In addition, soot depositions on the vessels' external walls produced by fuel were also monitored in order to approach the variability in temperatures the vessels were exposed and thus the food was cooked. The experimental study aims at better understanding of cooking practices in prehistoric periods when ceramic vessels begun to be used for processing of food.

Within the program, Prehistoric Pottery: Interdisciplinarity and Experiment, a series of archaeological experiments were carried out with the purpose of a more comprehensive understanding of the prehistoric pottery production mechanisms during the Copper and Bronze Age. The program contains an educational-research and popular part and is intended primarily for students of archaeology with the aim of studying the pottery through the prism of technological, functional and social aspects. Such complex mechanisms should be considered from the perspective of different disciplines, namely geology, ethnology, and archaeology, which form an integral part of the presented program. The focus of the educational-research part of the program is an artefact, which includes getting acquainted with ceramic techno-functional characteristics. By replicating the assumed production processes throughout the established segments of the chain operations, and using different variables (different raw material, various types of temper material, different building and surface treatment techniques as well as used tools and various firing techniques), a reference collection is established. One of the aims is to describe the methodological procedure, the documenting principle, and how to properly set up an experiment in accordance with the scientific issues. Preliminary results have indicated that a very complex set of data was collected. In a relation to the set of research questions, the answers should be considered on the basis of detailed data processing and repetition and modification of individual experiments. The process of designing and conducting the experiment has also shown that the research questions, as well as the dynamics of deliberate and controlled experiments, have become more and more complex, ultimately leading to the archaeological interpretations that move within technical, technological, and economic aspects.

Viminacium is a well-known Roman site in eastern Serbia, positioned on the right Danube bank. During Roman times, it was the capital of the Roman province Moesia Superior. Its wider area includes almost 450 hectares and it has been excavated for more than a century. The latest excavation phase was initiated at the beginning of this century. Several archaeological complexes were unearthed and also covered with protective constructions. However, for a long time, the site was systematically destroyed. It was a victim of looting, done by professional treasure-hunters who looked for gold and other precious items. On the other hand, it was a victim of local farmers, who systematically destroyed architectural remains and tombstones, taking useful materials home and re-using them. Finally, on the eastern end of the site, there is a strip mine that represented a permanent threat to the site. At this crucial point, an idea was born to establish an archaeological park, actually, an open-air museum that would bring visitors to the site. It took several years and finally, in 2006, it was officially opened. Interpretations of archaeological finds and structures were offered to the public. In order to make these easily understandable, a narrative based on storytelling was designed. The authentic location surely offered a good basis that could easily help the narrative develop and grow. Eventually, the always growing number of visitors and their presence at the site lead to the always reducing number of looters and treasure hunters. Soon enough, they stopped looting. And soon enough, it was possible to evaluate the results of storytelling and visitors' impressions. Some of these impressions shall be presented in this paper, but also a short movie (5 minutes) that addresses all of the facts mentioned above.

Following the interesting results of a trampling experiment done in 2016, a new trampling experiment was devised with a slightly altered methodology. The 2016 experiment consisted of 40 pieces of experimentally made lithic artifacts which were buried 15 cm deep on the heavily trodden path, trampled for 7 months, then carefully excavated, washed, and analyzed using a system developed by P. Villa and M. Soressi. (Vila and Soressi 2000). This year’s experiment was done by trampling the artifacts placed on the surface in a 30-minute duration. The methodology and results of the experiment will be presented at this conference.

Textile in archaeology has long been seen as an unreliable source of data due to the lack of methods that deal with the processing of such findings. Only during the last decade, serious analyses have begun to take place and have been an indispensable incentive for an interdisciplinary approach. It was often possible to reconstruct the look of fabrics and decorative objects, while searching for colour traces in which the fibers have been dyed has rarely been done. Textile colours and dyes are very important indicators of communication and connections of prehistoric communities. Since the first traces of dyed textiles were found, the process itself had already been developed yet the experimental stage of selection and development of the dyeing process was unknown. In that case, answers to a variety of questions can be offered by experimental archaeology. This paper will present an experiment that was conducted from January to May 2018 through the cooperation of Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb and Department of Textile Chemistry and Ecology, Faculty of Textile Technology in Zagreb. With the use of literature, experts advice and ethnological sources, a wool dyeing process was carefully planned. It took several steps, such as collecting and processing wool, selecting natural dyes based on the ethnological sources, dyeing the wool and analyzing the samples obtained. This experiment represents the starting point for all future studies of dyed textiles in archaeology An important aspect of experimental archaeology lies in encouraging and nurturing of interdisciplinarity which offers new methods that are not a standard part of the archaeological profession. In collaboration with other branches of natural and human sciences, information about the past becomes more complete, and the interpretation itself more accurate.

Systematic and rescue excavations of the Vučedol site were conducted by Department of Archeology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences from Zagreb in cooperation with Vukovar Municipal Museum since 1981. and Vučedol Culture Museum from 2012. Bone material that includes bones, teeth and horns comprises 1/3 of the overall findings on the site. It mechanical, physical and chemical properties make it a good material for tool production and other various uses. Research of bone industry and technology is becoming more important in the interpretation of archaeological context. Experiments are a key factor in studying traces of processing and use, visible in various archaeological artefacts, in this case, hard animal material. These facts prompted us to further study the technology of their making and implementation of the experiment. The experiment will present different techniques of bone material processing, that is, dividing it into smaller segments (débitage). This will include using techniques like breaking, direct and indirect percussion, cutting, sawing etc. Experimental traces will be compared with the findings and samples from the past and recent excavations of the Vučedol site. The goal is to determine the techniques and tools used by prehistoric communities and to observe technological progress on the Vučedol site.

Until the end of the 80s, the general knowledge about ground stone edge-cutting tools in the Neolithic of Central Balkan was limited. In various publications, this important category of archaeological material was most often presented in form of cataloging, followed by descriptive and typological determinants, while the function of this tool was completely ignored or it was attributed according to very subjective typology. All tools with the cutting edge were interpreted as different types of axes (battle axes, wedge-axes, tongue and mould axes, miniature axes, etc.) while the adzes and chisels were not recognized in the archaeological material. Such a practice, based on subjective observations of the form without detailed analysis, led to errors in the general interpretation. This situation changed considerably, with the work by D. Antonović and by a radical change in the methodology of exploring this category of stone tools. A different focus of research and incorporation of functional-typological and petrological analyses led to the creation of a significantly larger data pool. Also, new research questions emerged. One of these, not completely solved problems at the global level, is the use-wear on these tools, that is, traceological markers that clearly separate axes, adzes and chisels, as well as markers that are formed on these tools individually in performing various tasks including different factors. There are still no sufficient publications regarding the occurrence and development of these specific damages. Therefore, the author’s doctoral dissertation will focus on the exploration of the traces of the production and use of the mentioned tools through the archaeological experiment. The aim of the research is to form a comprehensive reference database of traceological markers through experimental archaeology as a supporting research method, through which, in the future, a comparison and functional determination of original polished stone tools with a cutting edge would be made.

It can be argued that stone has been one of the most important kinds of raw material during most of human existence. Even though the information about provenance or source location of raw stone material found on archaeological sites can tell us a lot about societies and economies of the time period in question, this type of research isn’t often in the focus of archaeology. We propose to sample quarry sites, as well as other primary and secondary deposits of different raw material in the Northern Adriatic that may have been used in prehistory and antiquity of Istria to obtain a relevant reference base for provenance studies. Istria is a geographically relatively enclosed region with geological surface deposits that allow for different raw stone material exploitation. Depending on the stone raw material, different macroscopic and microscopic analyses will be used.

The bone industry was an important segment of prehistoric industries; osseous raw materials were widely used for everyday tools, weapons and ornaments, along with wood and stone. Reconstruction of the manufacturing procedures is important for analyses of the organisation of production, technological know-how and in general the importance of this craft for the given prehistoric community. Traces of manufacture are often covered by use wear traces; however, they are sometimes partially preserved on the finished objects. Combined analyses of manufacture debris, semi-finished items and traces still visible on used objects can provide the reconstruction of the manufacturing procedures. In this poster will be presented several examples of reconstructing the production sequence for some Neolithic artefacts, using macro- and microscopic observations and interpreted after the experimental results of different authors.

Mining of metallic raw materials and the knowledge of the ore processing technology represent one of the key turning points in human history, which changed dramatically not only the economy of the prehistoric societies but also worldviews in general. Relatively frequent finds of malachite lumps and beads, discovered at several Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites across Serbia show that the prehistoric artisans were already familiar with the technical traits of these raw materials. Prehistoric metallurgy was invented in the Late Neolithic Vinča culture in Serbia, c. 5000 BC. The first exploitation of the carbonate copper ores (malachite, azurite) is confirmed on the prehistoric mine of Rudna Glava near Majdanpek. The production of copper and later bronze objects gradually increased through the Eneolithic and the Bronze Age. This increase in the production of objects must have been followed by an increase in ore exploitation. However, it is still unknown which mines were active during the post-Vinča metal ages. In this poster will be presented the methodological framework for a multi-disciplinary approach to the search of the traces of prehistoric copper mining on the territory of Serbia and some of the preliminary results. In order to reconstruct the system of the copper ore acquiring, a detailed survey of all so far known copper sources on the territory of Serbia is needed. Beside ground-field survey, the studies should include the use of the LIDAR technology. This method already provided positive results in finding the traces of early mining activities in Bulgaria. The next step is creating the comprehensive database which will enable correlating diverse analyses of prehistoric copper and bronze objects from one side and samples obtained from the mines from the other.

Shells of marine and land mollusc exploited by prehistoric humans contain archives of palaeoecological and palaeoclimatic data, as well as of human behaviour in coastal settings. Here we present a method for studying archaeomalacological assemblages from cave sites and describe an application of this method in the analysis of remains recovered from systematic excavations at Vlakno cave (Dugi island, Croatia). The study was based on marine gastropods, marine bivalves and terrestrial gastropods from late Pleistocene and early Holocene layers. In that period, a significant paleogeographic and palaeoecological changes occurred, mostly visible in the Adriatic area through flooding of the north Adriatic lowland by increasing sea level. Taphonomic studies have an important role in the identification of agents that modify shells and of processes that affect shell midden formation. This study contributes to enhanced interpretations of human activities and paleoenvironmental and paleoecological reconstructions of eastern Adriatic coast.

Niello, a bluish black metal sulphide, which was widely used for decoration of metal objects in the Roman Empire. However, our knowledge concerning the exact Roman-period niello technique, the appearance of binary silver-copper sulphide niello decorated silver objects is very obscure. An extensively nielloed silver augur staff (lituus), the only one known from the Roman Empire, was analysed non-destructively with SEM-EDS and micro-X-ray diffraction techniques. Five niello types were identified, their chemical compositions range from silver sulphide (Ag2S, acanthite) to binary silver-copper sulphide of Ag:Cu ratio 1:1 (stromeyerite). The augur staff is the first object ever analysed, which is decorated with such heterogeneous niello inlays. Mineralogical and archaeological arguments indicate that the niello heterogeneity is connected to the primary production of the object rather than to any post-production repair. Texture-related mineral phase observations allow closer insight into Roman niello technology. The variable copper content does not represent any technological innovation. The silversmith simply used not only, silver but also differently debased silver, possibly scrap materials for producing niello. Both production (260–280s AD) and burial (early 4th century AD) periods of the lituus are well-dated and the object was excavated from an undisturbed sarcophagus. Therefore, our data imply that silver-copper sulphide niello reaching even the composition of stromeyerite was used by the Roman craftsmen two hundred years earlier than previous studies indicated.

The success in adoption and overall enthusiasm of the archaeologist with the process of 3d scanning of artefacts and contexts has been on the rise in the past years. This could be easily explained: the requirements for doing a quality 3D information capture plummeted with the appearance of the novel and general - public based approach to data acquisition. The IBM (Image Based Modelling) on it’s basic levels required only a camera and some overcast sky or studio light, to have your site, your trench or a newly uncovered artifact, preserved as accurately scaled digital copy, for as long as the storage units would hold the data. There is a flaw, however, present in the fact that this technology has been majorly promoted for use in documenting the very special, beautiful and exquisite of the archaeological record – which is only a small portion of its extent in totality. The mundane and unattractive artefacts and remains of past populations remain untreated, as the process is biasing against the ordinary. In this poster, we present preliminary results of the project “People of Lepenski Vir: protocols for digitalization of bioarchaeological heritage”, supported by the Serbian Ministry of Culture and Information, that targets the obfuscated material, the unattractive, but still well known for its importance. The project aims to create a digitalized archive of the important anthropological collection from Đerdap gorge, dated to Mesolithic and Neolithic period, providing open access to digitalized 3D models. With use of computed tomography and IBM, remains of individuals that were living during one of the most extraordinary periods of human history will be made accessible to a wide audience, retaining metric data and possibility to be analyzed online, while at the same time allowing for the real remains to stay out of exposure and potential harm done during handling.

Archaeological excavations at the cave complex Crvenkuša – Tamnica – jama Suhi Rumin were conducted in the fall of 2018 as part of the HRZZ funded project „Where East Meets West – the Cetina River Valley as an Ancient Pathway of Communication (Cetina Valley Survey)“, led by prof. dr. sc. Helena Tomas. Although surface pottery was identified as dating back to the early Neolithic impresso culture, subsequent excavation has shown a mixture of archaeological material from various time periods, which points to the secondary context of the finds. The documentation process regarding cave sites follows an established practice where the location of the trench is shown in both a topographical ground plan of the cave and a cross-section for the visualization of elevations. The metric data needed for the generation of these plans is usually collected using simple laser distance meters or tape measures, with the level of detail determined by the surveyor, who takes measurements at a smaller or a bigger interval. The resulting two-dimensional documentation is therefore to some extent subjective, as the person recording the data determines the level of detail needed. 3D recording of cave sites provides a much more objective dataset for the reproduction of plans but has until recently been limited to the use of terrestrial laser scanners which by the nature of their design work very well in low light environments. On the other hand, the use of image-based modelling is heavily dependable on the amount of light available inside the caves. In our case study, a combination of natural light and minor artificial light sources provided us with nearly ideal conditions to test out the utility of photogrammetric 3D models for the documentation of cave excavations. The results of our case study will be presented in the context of past documentation methods and potential problems regarding documentation of cave sites using image-based modelling.

Various theoretical discussions have changed archaeology to the core and landscape archaeology as an applied discipline is not an exception. The point of departure is the present and not the past. Therefore, rather than attempting to reconstruct some imagined past, the new role of the discipline is to document, analyze and evaluate the extent of all material practices in the landscape and provide directions for future actions. Here, we will present a research project concerning the evaluation of landscape as lived rather than adored. The particular focus of the project is Dinaric karst landscapes characterized, almost exclusively, by surface features and almost complete lack of sub-surface contexts. This raises several methodological issues regarding the utilization of common landscape archaeology methods such as remote sensing, aerial archaeology and field survey. Various sources of information are used to acquire data such as available aerial and satellite imagery, historic maps, field surveys etc. The primary goal of the project is a historic characterization of the landscape which includes analyzing modalities of change, heritage valorization, archaeological potential, damage to cultural heritage etc.

Based on lidar images analysis an area of 100 x 44 m with topographical relief up to 0.6 m above the terrace was discovered on the Iščica river modern floodplain, located at the SE part of Ljubljana Moor. Three test excavation trenches at the south side of the area, named Gornje Mostišče, had unravelled mostly burnt cultural horizons (dated ~5040 BP) with preserved wooden construction (plateau) underneath. Further non-destructive multi-method geophysical approach was applied in a wider area, providing horizontal and vertical levels of distinct information significant for each method. Results of geophysical research with magnetometry, ground penetrating radar and earth resistance mapping have outlined the horizontal layout of the settlement area within its immediate natural environment composed of mostly fine-grained quaternary sediments. Inside the settlement also individual dwellings are discernable to a certain extent. The emphasis of this work is put on the results of the electrical resistivity tomography (hereafter ERT) method, which was applied in selected areas for further detailed investigation. Results of ERT method are of quantitative nature, providing not only lateral dimensions of archaeological and/or geological structures but also depths of buried horizons with distinctable resistivity, i.e. stratigraphy of archaeological sites. Therefore a detailed quantitative analysis of 2D and 3D ERT subsurface models is provided, which explains and outlines archaeological and geological horizons. Integrated results of ERT method with archaeological, lidar and other geophysical data have to lead to a better understanding of the settlement dynamics and surrounding geoarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental context.

Since 1996 eleven field surveys have been conducted in the southeastern Campeche in the central parts of the Yucatán peninsula – the area once occupied by the Maya. Various archaeological sites were recorded during the archaeological reconnaissance, including large centres with monumental architecture. Until recently, archaeological research of this area depended mainly on the field surveys and aerial photos. Airborne laser scanning of the area was commissioned by the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2016. The derived elevation visualizations revealed extensive anthropogenic modifications hidden under the dense canopy of broad-leafed, semi-deciduous tropical forest. Various archaeological features were recognized. The most prevalent are residential and non-residential buildings, pyramidal structures, ball courts, sacbeob, plazas, quarries, terraces, stone walls, water canals, and aguadas. Through visual inspection of lidar-derived visualizations, we identified and polygonised buildings, platforms, and aguadas and assessed their volumes. Our analysis focuses on the distribution of volume across the area and the poster outlines preliminary results.

The archaeological site Banjače, in the vicinity of Split in Croatia, was excavated by the Department of Archaeology of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences during rescue excavations conducted along the route of the Adriatic freeway. The results of excavations and wider area field surveys revealed a rural settlement or an agricultural complex dating back to the beginning of the 5th century. Two drywall structures were excavated, containing numerous archaeological finds (ceramic, metal finds, bronze coins, glass, loom weights etc.) Both structures were heavily deteriorated, and only low walls were preserved. The whole site was also covered with tegulae suggesting that both objects had a roof. Based on their size and position, the presence of a fence and a cattle pen, it can be concluded that both structures were used as working, and not living areas and that the settlement was utilized for sheep herding, among other uses. This type of drywall construction as an architectural model of housing is traditionally very recognizable in the landscape on the eastern Adriatic coast. For presentational purposes, we decided to create a digital reconstruction of the site as it might have looked like in the beginning of the 5th century. The primary source of information were the results of the archaeological excavations, but since the structures were in a bad state of preservation we also used ethnological publications dealing with the topic of rural drywall structures on the eastern Adriatic coast. Since our conclusions regarding the reconstruction came from multiple sources it was also necessary to outline the consistency criteria used in the process. Various stages of the 3D modelling process will be presented along with our workflow within the open source software Blender. The poster will also present the sources and information we used in the 3D modelling process and outline our methodological approach to the digital reconstruction of an archaeological site.

The ceramic pottery production techniques were investigated by Matlab based 2D and 3D image analysis. Shape parameters of coarse sand grains (>250µm) and shaping techniques of the ceramic body were compared to each other. 70 ceramic pottery sherds in this study were excavated at Ransyrt 1, an archaeological site from the Middle-Late Bronze Age in the North Caucasian mountains, Russia and Kabardinka 2, located in the lower plateau in the same mountains (Late Bronze/ Early Iron Age) were compared to those of the samples excavated at the Mius peninsular and its near environment in Russia (Late/Final Bronze Age), in order to show chronological and regional changes of production techniques. For the image analysis, 2D images of the heterogeneous ceramic composite materials were acquired by the polarized light microscopy and 3D images by the micro-computed tomography (3D-µ-CT). The calculation was performed for the whole sample area, in order to get the representativity for each sample. Together with the mineralogical/chemical composition of the sand grains within the ceramics, the shape parameters such as the size distribution, circularity and sphericity reflect differences in the preparation of ceramic pastes according to the sites. At the same time, these parameters show several groups within the same site, indicating different recipes in this preparation step. From the alignment of processing pores and sand grains, it is possible to identify shaping techniques of the ceramic body. The results from image analysis will be combined with the firing conditions for the ceramic pottery production reconstructed by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy/wavelength-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS/WDS), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) from a parallel study, in order to unravel various technological styles that reflect the ancient potter’s practical choices.