This paper discusses the generation of a high precision DEM (Digital Elevation Model) based on high density airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data for an interdisciplinary landscape archaeological study concerning the settlement history and environment in Sandy Flanders, a region to the north of Ghent (Belgium). The objective was to create a detailed topographical surface free of artificial features and topographical artefacts, in the form of a DEM, visualizing the natural and current topography through the implementation of true ground points only. The semi-automatical removal of these features and artefacts was based on topographical vector data, visual interpretations and slope analysis. Ultimately two DEM's were constructed (1) a TIN (Triangulated Irregular Network) model, whereby the inherent large file format restricts the usability to large scale and (2) a grid model which can be used for small-, medium- and large-scale applications. Both datasets were used as an image that is interpreted using ancillary data from historical sources. Its usefulness is illustrated in a case of field pattern and microfield topography. Starting from this DEM, the approach of this landscape historical study is mainly retrogressive, i.e. starting from the landscape structures and elements that are still present in the contemporary landscape and moving into the past.

Intensive archaeological investigations in Sandy Flanders (Belgium) revealed sites dating from the Final Paleolithic to the Neolithic, showing a discontinuous spatial and temporal distribution. To improve the understanding of these occupational patterns, a paleolandscape reconstruction is proposed. A major problem in paleolandscape reconstruction is that basic data are scattered in the temporal and spatial sense. Therefore, we propose an interdisciplinary approach to the application of different process models to soil–water–landscape reconstruction. The process models used include a digital elevation model, a hydrological, a pedogenetic, and a land‐evaluation model. The result is a modeling framework in which these discipline‐specific models, which provide input to each other, are integrated. Outcomes of the different models are still preliminary, because of the ongoing calibration and application of the models. The paper focuses on the methodological aspects of constructing the modeling framework and the questions one needs to answer in advance to facilitate the integration of the model results. Furthermore, errors within each individual model need to be accounted for and ideally are propagated into the next modeling step. Because of model complexity and runtime this is presently unfeasible. Alternatively, we propose to repeat the last step of the model framework (the land‐evaluation procedure) for perturbations of the parameters reflecting the estimated model errors. We emphasize the difficulties occurring when integrating these different models, such as those relating to scale differences and error propagation. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The area of Sandy Flanders is situated in north-western Belgium, between the North Sea coast and the lower course of the Scheldt river. It is a typical low-lying area, in the north lying under coversand deposits. These coversands are only in the most northern and eastern parts sealed by peat and/or clay (Polder area). Despite the uniformity on a general level, the area of Sandy Flanders displays a broad environmental diversity, which includes dry versus wet coversand areas, Tertiary clay outcrops (cuestas), Late Glacial mires, river and brook valleys, fl oodplains and marine/coastal plains. Each of these areas possesses specifi c environmental conditions (soil, relief, vegetation, etc.) which might have varied throughout the pre- and protohistoric times as a result of fl uctuations in temperature, groundwater, sea level, etc. However remnants of older, Middle Palaeolithic habitation have been found (Crombe & Van der Haegen 1994), the defi nitive colonisation of Sandy Flanders started during the Late Glacial and the Early Post Glacial as a response to climate amelioration. From c. 13/12.000 uncal. BP onwards Sandy Flanders was increasingly occupied and exploited, fi rst by hunter-gatherers (Federmesser and Mesolithic) and later by agro-pastoral communities (Neolithic and later) (Crombe 2006; Van der Haegen et al. 1999; Van Vlaenderen et al. 2006), reaching a fi rst climax in the Roman period (c. 60-260 cal. AD) (De Clercq 2009). During the Late Glacial and the Holocene the landscape in Sandy Flanders was subjected the major changes due to climate fl uctuations. These changes could have infl uenced settlement conditions throughout time. In this light a multidisciplinary project, funded by the Special Research Fund, was started in 2008 at Ghent University (Belgium), titled "Prehistoric settlement and land-use systems in Sandy Flanders (NW Belgium): a diachronic and geo-archaeological approach". The project seeks to analyze the impact of the landscape on the choice of settlement location in this area. It is expected that a detailed environmental, vegetational and hydrological

Summary The prehistoric settlement and land-use systems in the area of Sandy Flanders are being studied in a multidisciplinary research project. In this article, some preliminary results of recent fieldwork along a major Late Glacial palaeolake, called the Depression of the Moervaart, is described, including the excavation of a trench in the deepest part of the fossil lake, manual and mechanical coring and sampling and geophysical survey.