| The purpose of this ARW
is to bring together specialists in remote sensing, especially for archaeology
to develop future approaches to recording, understanding and conserving
the historic environment. The workshop will be a combination of lectures,
seminars and demonstrations, including the latest equipment.
The past 50 years has shown
that aerial survey for archaeology has become one of the most cost effective
and non-destructive techniques for recording new sites and monitoring the
condition of existing sites.
Results of aerial surveys
for archaeology have discovered thousands of new sites and shown that sites
and indeed whole landscapes have been destroyed or damaged through the
intensification of agriculture and the growth of towns and cities.
This process has been accelerating since 1945. For instance, recent research
has shown that there are 4500 archaeological sites currently at high risk
in England alone. The evidence from other countries points in the
same direction but there has been no systematic approach within Europe
in terms of collecting the data and then using it for conservation and
management. Since the end of the Cold War huge motorway buildings
schemes have begun and recording sites in advance of destruction is a priority.
Recording sites and landscapes
prior to destruction is a last resort and a strategy for Europe needs to
be developed to minimise destruction wherever possible. Surveys on
an European front have also begun to show that there are archaeological
phenomena and sites which have a common theme; the same types of site can
be found from the Danube to the Thames (for example Neolithic enclosures
dating to c. 3,000 BC have a very similar form across the whole of Europe).
A very recent trend in archaeology has been to record the remains of the
Second World War and the Cold War (especially in Britain) and aerial survey
has played a major part in these projects. Understanding our very
recent past through archaeology, rather than just through the documentary
evidence will provide new insights.
For the first time since
1945 parts of Europe have become available for aerial survey and thus encouragement
for new specialists is required. Countries such as Poland, the former
East Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Romania all have the conditions
to allow aerial surveys to take place but as yet do not have the funds
or the political will to find extra resources. Also there are other
European countries where the laws prevent aerial photography, despite these
being well established democracies. Similarly the development of
new technologies using CASI, LIDAR and satellite imagery are important
for “seeing beneath the soil” and these developments need to be applied
to archaeology. These sites and landscapes cannot be understood without
further research and the use of GIS application is beginning to have a
major impact on how diverse datasets can be modelled together.
Another major reason for
the workshop is to attempt to quantify the holdings of historic collections
of aerial photographs taken during and since the Second World War.
In Britain alone there are estimated to be between 13 to 15 million uncatalogued
aerial photographs of Europe, in four separate collections, taken by the
RAF, USAF and the Luftwaffe. Finding the means to unlock these resources
and those taken since 1945 would be a major achievement. (Most of
the cover for Britain has been catalogued and is available through the
relevant National Monuments Records).
Organisers:
Robert Bewley - bob.bewley@english-heritage.org.uk
Otto Braasch - otto.braasch@landshut.org
Chris Musson - abermusson@talk21.com
Wlodzimierz Raczkowski -
wlodekra@amu.edu.pl
David Strachan - davidstrachan45@hotmail.com
|
