Highlights: Multi-method approach including geophysics, coring, and (p)OSL profiling and dating, Merits of analysing all four dimensions of sediment archives, Dynamic landscape history accentuated by erosion and hillslope processes

Airborne lidar has played a distinctive role in remote sensing case studies in the Mediterranean context for the last decade. The new possibilities offered by lidar methodology have made it a valuable tool in a number of Mediterranean countries, including Greece and Croatia. The coastal landscapes of both countries share similarities due to the influence of common factors like relief, climate, and vegetation. Furthermore, the numerous islands in both countries have played a significant role in long-distance maritime trade and communication throughout history. While the historical development of land use on the islands of the two countries may have differed, the lidar data indicate comparable remains of land use resulting from the Mediterranean agricultural practices of agro-pastoral societies. The challenges of preserving archaeological heritage in coastal areas are also similar. They can be attributed mainly to the effects of extensive (tourist) construction and development, or to the impact of sea-level rise and the associated risks of flooding and erosion. Given these similarities, it seems beneficial to present an overview of Croatian case studies in a volume dedicated to lidar studies in Greece, as airborne lidar represents an effective approach for the documentation and interpretation of the archaeological heritage in both countries.

ABSTRACTOur image of the Roman landscape of Istria is characterised by large‐scale centuriation and architectural remains of Roman villae. Detection and mapping of other, less dramatic landscape features require systematic large‐scale prospection, but this faces significant difficulties in the Mediterranean environment. However, the developments in the field of airborne laser scanning offer the possibility to create archaeologically usable digital terrain models under water and under very dense and low maquis vegetation. This paper reports on the use of terrain models created using a green laser and a sophisticated archaeologically driven ground point filtering strategy. Combined with archaeological aerial photo interpretation, this provides the means for landscape mapping and interpretation that has revealed a wealth of archaeological structures hinting at Roman agricultural practices and landscape. Our case study is based on a laser scan of about 24 km2 of land and underwater terrain in Medulin Bay. Processed, visualised and interpreted for archaeological purposes, the data reveal not only features ranging from prehistoric hilltop settlements to modern military installations but also features a complex picture of the Roman land use. Of particular interest is the large number of planting pits, which extend over a total length of 4 km. They were laid on a regular grid of approximately 35 × 35 m, sometimes combined in contiguous parcels. They can be interpreted as remains of orchards or tree nurseries of Roman date, and the paper examines also the question of whether they can be linked to the associated Roman estates. The case study area presented here shows that the potential of remote sensing methods goes far beyond the mere finding of traditional sites but can open up new landscape‐scale perspectives on regions that have been archaeologically little explored.

Since its foundation in 2010, the Vienna-based Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI ArchPro) has been investigating the Kreuttal, an area locat-ed 25 km north of Vienna, as one of several case studies. Different methods have been tested and developed for efficient archaeological prospection. The methods applied include geophysical prospection, airborne and terrestrial laser scanning, aerial photography, soil sam-pling, fieldwalking and targeted archaeological excavations. A special focus was placed on the development and application of motorised magnetic prospection. Over the past years, considerable parts of the landscape have been surveyed and investigated through fieldwalking, so that recent changes could be documented. This case study high-lights how the acquired datasets provide valuable information on various parameters of fundamental archaeological interest. Soil ero-sion and accumulation have transformed the landscape significantly, affecting the detection and identification of archaeological remains. By comparing all collected datasets, it is possible to analyse the vari-ous physical parameters such as topography, soil characteristics and humidity based on an integrative approach to data interpretation

The introduction of airborne laser scanning (ALS) technology in the Mediterranean region over the past decade has significantly increased opportunities for archaeological research. Archaeological remote sensing has proven to be a versatile tool with numerous applications beyond simple site mapping. One approach is the large-scale interpretation of ALS data, which allows for the analysis of the stratigraphic information contained within the data. This is particularly useful for analysing the rich remains of past land use in the karst landscapes of coastal Croatia. The Roman dry stone walls of the Kvarner islands of Krk and Cres serve as an example. These structures outline the framework backbone of Roman surveying; however, due to their poor state of preservation, many remains can only be identified through ALS data rather than aerial photography. An absolute chronology for these features was established using the OSL profiling and dating method (OSL-PD), providing a date range of AD 200 +/- 100. These results can be considered the first clear evidence of surveying municipal lands on the Croatian islands.

The introduction of airborne laser scanning (ALS) technology in the Mediterranean region over the past decade has significantly increased opportunities for archaeological research. Archaeological remote sensing has proven to be a versatile tool with numerous applications beyond simple site mapping. One approach is the large-scale interpretation of ALS data, which allows for the analysis of the stratigraphic information contained within the data. This is particularly useful for analysing the rich remains of past land use in the karst landscapes of coastal Croatia. The Roman dry stone walls of the Kvarner islands of Krk and Cres serve as an example. These structures outline the framework backbone of Roman surveying; however, due to their poor state of preservation, many remains can only be identified through ALS data rather than aerial photography. An absolute chronology for these features was established using the OSL profiling and dating method (OSL-PD), providing a date range of AD 200 ± 100. These results can be considered the first clear evidence of surveying municipal lands on the Croatian islands.

Abstract We have documented quarries in Miocene limestone in the Vienna Basin (Austria), Hundsheim Mountains, Leitha Mountains and Rust Hills in high-resolution airborne laser scanning data and orthophotos aiming for a diachronic quarry inventory since the Roman period. The study region was divided into 6 quarry regions and the quarries of the whole study area as well as each separate region were analyzed concerning different rock types, mean, minimum and maximum quarry area and development in the different maps. Age information have been sought from historical maps, historical photography and paintings as well as quarry face graffiti. In total, 658 quarries, possible quarries and shallow quarries have been outlined in the detailed digital terrain models, which were compared with 453 quarries indicated in four generations of historical maps between the years 1754 to 1872. The numbers of quarries are generally low in the Walter map (1754–1756), the First Military Survey (1773–1785) and Second Military Survey (1809–1846) but increase tremendously in the maps of the Third Military Survey (1872–1873). Most old quarries were quarried also in subsequent periods, commonly destroying virtually all pre-existing traces. According to our results two types of quarries represent highly interesting targets for more detailed studies in the search for Roman quarries: (i) areas in historical maps with suspicious uneven terrain, which have never been outlined as quarries and areas that have been mapped as “old quarries” – especially in the Third Military Survey; examples represent areas northwest and west of Pfaffenberg in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg (Lower Austria), “Gruibert” in Winden am See (Burgenland) and “Hoher Berg” in Stotzing (Burgenland); (ii) Shallow quarries, which neither appear in historical maps nor in the mining archive of the Geological Survey of Austria like the one from the saddle between Pfaffenberg and Hundsheimer Berg.

Lake Neusiedl and adjacent lakes at the Austrian/Hungarian boundary represent a unique wetland, situated at the geodynamical and geomorphological boundary between the Alps, Carpathians and the Pannonian Basin, and therefore represents an important transition zone concerning terrain, climate, vegetation and fauna. The more than 700 km2 large area is one of the flattest regions of Austria with less than 17 m relief variation. Today, Lake Neusiedl measures some 320 km2 with less than 1.8 m depth and a tectonic origin is widely accepted. East of the lake, about 30 shallow lakes still exist, of which the largest measures less than 2 km length and less than 1 m depth. At present, the water level of Lake Neusiedl shows the lowest values since 1965 and all the shallow lakes were dry during the summer 2022. We use high-resolution topographical, sedimentological, geomorphological as well as historical maps and historical charters to investigate the formation end evolution of Lake Neusiedl and adjacent lakes. Our data show that the present-day conditions and processes of Lake Neusiedl strongly diverge from conditions in the past. The earliest preserved record of modification of the lake´s hydrological conditions is from 1568, followed by increasing drainage efforts and the building of a dam road in the southeast, finished in 1780, which subsequently cut off the lake from its most important tributaries from the south. This palaeohydrological reconstruction of Lake Neusiedl and Hanság also implies an episodic lower salt content of the water compared to modern values, especially during flood periods. Therefore, it is not useful to compare the hydrological situation of Lake Neusiedl before 1780 (or even 1568) and after. The documented variation of the water level of Lake Neusiedl between desiccation and highest flood level is around 4.2 m. These variations affected enormous areas in this low-relief region, with a huge impact on the landscape, fauna, vegetation, human settlement patterns, land use, communication routes and even possible occurrence of malaria – which should be considered in regional archaeological, historical and biological interpretations. The numerous shallow lakes and presently dry basins, detected in the high-resolution airborne laser scanning data in the Seewinkel originally formed as thermokarst lakes during permafrost degradation after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. In total, more than 370 enclosed depressions are visible. The depressions of eastern Austria represent one of the first Latest Pleistocene thermokarst lakes documented in central Europe. Although man-made climate change has a clear impact on the water balance of the lakes, they reinforce past hydrological modifications.

Dry stone walls are a worldwide phenomenon that may shape entire regions. As a specific form of vernacular agro-pastoral practice, they are expressions of the culture and history of a region. Dry stone walls have recently received increased attention in Croatia, primarily due to research in landscape architecture and (historical) geography, though archaeological research on such remains is rare in part due to the challenges of undertaking such work in areas covered by dense evergreen maquis vegetation. In this paper, this type of landscape has been studied in detail for the first time using Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) based digital feature models as a basis to articulate dynamic dry stone wall landscapes in a diachronic archaeological interpretation. Using a case study from the Mediterranean region of Punta Križa, Croatia, we show that what superficially appears to be a simple system of dry stone walls contains a wealth of information on a complex sequence of human activity. The systematic, detailed, and diachronic interpretation applies a transparent workflow that provides a tool for all those undertaking interpretative mappings of archaeological prospection datasets and has proved highly effective when working with ALS-derived visualizations. The capacity to develop spatio-temporal interpretation within the framework of GIS and a Harris Matrix is especially powerful and has the potential to change our image of any region. While the case study presented here deals with a small area in Croatia, the methods described have a broad application in any areas of complex landscape remains.

Traces of human activity preserved in ground surface relief can be documented using airborne laser scanning (ALS). Various visualization techniques for ALS-based digital terrain models help to enhance the micro relief and display abundant information about the earthworks of settlements, pathways, field systems, burial grounds and the like. Such remains can express a complex pattern of intersecting and overlapping relief features produced by millennia of human activity. To `read', or better decipher, this palimpsest or ` messiness', archaeological features must be classified, and their temporal relationship determined during interpretative mapping. While much interpretation of relief features is based on the relatively straightforward analysis of parameters like shape, morphology, topographical location or patterning, chronological sequencing of relief features can be very challenging. In this paper we propose a solution for the compilation of relative chronological sequences when mapping relief features from topographic data. We combine an interactive GIS-based archaeological interpretation with the creation of a stratigraphic sequence known as a Harris Matrix, which is extended by an interval-based hierarchical time model. This allows individual features and groups of features to be assigned to user-defined chronological periods and phases. The features extracted from the topographic data are grouped in a final Harris Matrix according to their temporal relations and can be translated into period or phase maps within the GIS environment. The value of this approach is demonstrated in a case study from Lower Austria, a complex archaeological landscape within which more than 1,450 archaeological relief features have been mapped into a coherent spatio-temporal model. The results give a detailed insight into the development of an archaeological landscape over at least 2,500 years, broken down into 10 periods, and have helped to answer specific historical questions. The approach presented here represents a starting point for further targeted analysis and investigation to provide an absolute chronological framework.

LiDAR data have become indispensable for research in archaeology and a variety of other topographic applications. To derive products (e.g. digital terrain or feature models, individual trees, buildings), the 3D LiDAR points representing the desired objects of interest within the acquired and georeferenced point cloud need to be identified. This process is known as classification, where each individual point is assigned to an object class. In archaeological prospection, classification focuses on identifying the object class 'ground points'. These are used to interpolate digital terrain models exposing the microtopography of a terrain to be able to identify and map archaeological and palaeoenvironmental features. Setting up such classification workflows can be time-consuming and prone to information loss, especially in geographically heterogeneous landscapes. In such landscapes, one classification setting can lead to qualitatively very different results, depending on varying terrain parameters such as steepness or vegetation density. In this paper, we are focussing on a special workflow for optimal classification results in these heterogeneous environments, which integrates expert knowledge. We present a novel Python-based open-source software solution, which helps to optimize this process and creates a single digital terrain model by an adaptive classification based on spatial segments. The advantage of this approach for archaeology is to produce coherent digital terrain models even in geomorphologically heterogenous areas or areas with patchy vegetation. The software is also useful to study the effects of different algorithm and parameter combinations on digital terrain modelling with a focus on a practical and time-saving implementation. As the developed pipelines and all meta-information are made available with the resulting data set, classification is white boxed and consequently scientifically comprehensible and repeatable. Together with the software's ability to simplify classification workflows significantly, it will be of interest for many applications also beyond the examples shown from archaeology.

Middle Neolithic circular enclosures, known as Kreisgrabenanlage (KGA), are the oldest known monumental sites in Central Europe, dating roughly to 4850–4600/4500 BC. These large prehistoric monuments are mainly discovered by aerial archaeology and have been investigated by geophysical prospection and archaeological excavations since the 1960s. The site of Velm (Lower Austria) was discovered by aerial photographs in 2001. Due to its unusual location on a flat gravel plateau, the enclosure has become the object of intensive interdisciplinary research in recent years. In 2016, two motorized ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were conducted, resulting in a detailed three-dimensional dataset visualizing the circular ditches, palisades and dwellings of an adjacent settlement. The high contrast between the gravel sediments and the humic earthen backfill of the ditches, palisades and individual postholes resulted in a highly detailed visualization of the Middle Neolithic monument. Based on this survey, selected structures were investigated by targeted archaeological excavations to evaluate the GPR results and to take samples for radiocarbon dating. This paper presents a synopsis of all the methods used. An integrated interpretation of aerial photo information, magnetometry and GPR is conducted, and it is shown to what extent these could be verified by the targeted archaeological excavation. By a detailed analysis of all applied archaeological prospection methods, it is now possible to interpret the monument in its entirety and confirm its dating to the Middle Neolithic Lengyel cultural complex.

Investigating deserted medieval castles and villages in remote rural areas paired with a scarcity of meaningful written sources is a challenging task that can be significantly enhanced by the use of non-invasive archaeological prospection methods. Furthermore, the interpolation of stratigraphic relationships among maps by analysing paths and field boundaries, as performed by Klaus Schwarz in the 1980s, can also contribute significantly. Thus, in order to resolve numerous unanswered questions, a multidisciplinary approach is required. In this paper we present preliminary archaeological prospection data using magnetics and airborne laser scanning (ALS) as well as methodological considerations on the systematic analysis of historical maps on the site of Dernberg, a medieval motte-and-bailey castle with an adjoining deserted village. The magnetic data and corresponding aerial images, although not providing decisive information on internal structures, show several historical roads that allow for the localisation of the village at the foot of the castle hill, as well as other pathways and defensive structures. Data derived from laser scanning surveys carried out by uncrewed aerial vehicles, respectively, drone flights allow for a significant gain in information compared to publicly available ALS data. In a methodological discussion on the systematic analysis of historical maps, the site of Dernberg is used to illustrate not only how such an analysis can determine chronological sequences with respect to the pattern of former agricultural field systems and road networks, but that these assumptions can be confirmed in part by geophysical surveys.

Digital elevation models derived from airborne laser scanning have found worldwide application in archaeology and other disciplines. A key feature that makes these models so valuable lies in their capacity to represent micro-relief features indicating traces of past human activity. While detection of these often faint traces in vegetated areas benefits from maximum leaf-off conditions during data acquisition, countrywide collection of data must make compromises and often cannot take place in the most appropriate seasons. In this paper, we identify the impact of leaf-on conditions on the distribution of ground returns and present what types of archaeological objects might remain unnoticeable if the flight date is outside the desirable time window. Comparing five ALS data acquisition campaigns from both leaf-off (April and November) and leaf-on conditions (May and June), we demonstrate how foliage affects the morphology of relief features as recorded in ALS derivatives, and we identify other effects on archaeological interpretation caused by changing vegetation conditions. The results encourage evaluation of countrywide general-purpose data for their applicability in archaeology.

Digital terrain models (DTM) based on airborne laser scanning (ALS) are an important source for identifying and monitoring archaeological sites and landscapes. However, a DTM is only one of many representations of a given surface. Its accuracy and quality must conform to its purpose and are a result of several considerations and decisions along the processing chain. One of the most important factors of ALS-based DTM generation is ground point filtering, i.e., the classification of the acquired point-cloud into terrain and off-terrain points. Filtering is not straightforward. The resulting DTM is usually a compromise that might show the surface below very dense vegetation while losing detail in other areas. In this paper, we show that in very complex situations (e.g., strongly varying vegetation cover), an optimal compromise is difficult to achieve, and more than one filter with different settings adapted to the varying degree of vegetation cover is necessary. For practical reasons, the results need to be combined into a single DTM. This is demonstrated using the case study of a Mediterranean landscape in Croatia, which consists of open areas (agricultural and grassland), olive plantations, as well as extremely dense and evergreen macchia vegetation. The results are the first step toward an adaptive ground point filtering strategy that might be useful far beyond the field of archaeology.

The Prospecting Boundaries project explores the Mazaro river corridor from a landscape archaeological perspective, using integrated prospection techniques to recover traces of past human activity and environmental contexts. One key research area is Guletta, a zone of dense multiperiod activity situated on the rocky plain above the river. In this paper, we detail results from recent work at Guletta, which has revealed numerous previously undocumented archaeological settlement features that appear to have been built in successive phases. Artifact analysis from corresponding surface survey indicates a mixture of locally produced and imported materials dating from the Middle Bronze to Archaic periods. Using these new results together with existing archaeological and environmental information, we present an initial interpretation of the occupation sequence of the settlement and explore the concept of Guletta as a connecting point between emerging indigenous, colonial, coastal, and interior interdependencies and interests in later pre- and protohistory.

For many decades the villa maritima of Vizula had been considered as one of the largest of its kind in Istria, Croatia. In order to prove this theory, large-scale archaeological prospection was applied in Vizula from 2014 onwards, including geophysics (Ground Penetrating Radar) and remote sensing (Airborne Laser Scanning/Airborne Laser Bathymetry). Integrating the results of these non-invasive techniques with terrestrial and underwater surveys and excavations provided an opportunity to evaluate this architecture from a different perspective. Our research indicates that instead of a single luxurious residence, several contemporary complexes existed on Vizula, namely two villae maritimae and two villae rusticae. Furthermore, the results show that the combined methodology is able to integrate detail and context into an interpretative coherent model of a landscape going far beyond the analytical capabilities of each individual method.

Extensive settlement activity at the Bronze Age site of Mokarta in western Sicily has previously been inferred, but the extent and condition of its subsurface remains have never been established. The authors use geophysical prospection, historical and modern remote-sensing data and soil chemistry to identify previously undocumented structures and activity areas extending beyond those exposed by previous excavations. This exercise not only has implications for the multifaceted social organisation of Late Bronze Age communities in Sicily, but, more generally, demonstrates how minimally invasive investigative techniques combined with existing data can reveal subsurface archaeological sites and the impact of post-depositional processes.