Table Of ContentOccasional Publication No. 4
of the Aerial Archaeology Research Group
in partnership with the
ArchaeoLandscapes Europe (ArcLand) Project
of the European Union
FLIGHTS INTO
THE PAST
Aerial photography,
photo interpretation
! !
and mapping for
archaeology
Chris Musson, Rog Palmer and Stefano Campana
With contributions by:
Marcello Cosci; Michael Doneus & Wolfgang Neubauer;
Colin Shell; Anthony R. Beck, Graham Philip, Daniel N.
M. Donoghue & Nikolaos Galiatsatos; Maurizio Forte;
Damian Grady
i
Flights Into The Past
Aerial photography, photo interpretation and mapping for archaeology
By Chris Musson, Rog Palmer and Stefano Campana
Published by the Aerial Archaeology Research Group (Occasional
Publication No. 4) in partnership with the ArchaeoLandscapes
Europe (ArcLand) Project of the Culture 2007-2013 Programme of
the European Union
Available, subject to copyright, as a free download from
http://www.univie.ac.at/aarg/php/cms/Occasional-Publications/
http://www.archaeolandscapes.eu
http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/volltexte/2013/2009
ISBN 978-3-00-044479-1
© The individual authors and photographers 2013
Basic layout and design by Chris Musson. Internet preparation by
Ruth Beusing and Chris Musson
Thanks are also due to the ACE Foundation of Cambridge for a
generous grant to enable this publication to be brought to realisation
Adapted from the Italian-language publication Acknowledgements
In Volo nel Passato: aerofotografia e cartografia archeologica
Chris Musson, Rog Palmer and Stefano Campana This book has been part-funded with support from the European Commission. The
published in 2005 by Edizioni all’Insegna del Giglio (Firenze) publication, however, reflects the views of the authors and the Commission cannot be
(http://www.edigiglio.it) as a contribution to the held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Biblioteca del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti (Sezione Archeologica) at Any imperfections that remain are of course entirely the responsibility of the authors.
!
the Università di Siena, within the project “Archeologia dei Paesaggi Medievali”
Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena. ISBN 88-7814-499-1 Neither the 2005 volume nor the present one could have been produced without the
Hard copies of the Italian publication are still available from a number of sources. generosity of the original photographers in allowing their images to be used without
The book is also available on the internet via the University of Siena site at charge. Thanks are due above all Dr Otto Braasch, for nearly three decades now
!
http://www.bibar.unisi.it/node/264 recognised as among the finest archaeological air photographers in Europe.
!
ii
CONTENTS
PART IV: FLIGHTS INTO THE FUTURE
Introduction "" " " " " " 364
Stefano Campana
Dedication " " " " " " " " iv
11. Archaeological survey and mapping: questions of
Preface" " " " " " " " " v scale, technique and visibility" 367
Stefano Campana
Acknowledgements" " " " " " " viii
12. Aerial researches in Tuscany" 398
PART I: FLIGHTS INTO THE PAST
Marcello Cosci
Chris Musson
13. Multiple survey techniques at Roman Carnuntum, Austria 415
1. Aerial archaeology: differing histories"" " 11
Michael Doneus, Wolfgang Neubauer
2. Aerial survey: merits and limitations" " " 55
14. Digital airborne remote sensing: lidar 430
3. Planning a programme of aerial survey" " " 95 Colin Shell
4. The tools of the trade" " " " " 102 15. Using de-classified satellite imagery in Syria" 457
Anthony Beck, Graham Philip, Daniel Donoghue,
5. Aerial survey in practice" 119
Nikolaos Galiatsatos
16. Remote sensing and the archaeological landscape
of Aksum, Ethiopia 468
PART II: MAPPING THE PAST
Maurizio Forte
Rog Palmer
6. Cataloguing, archiving and access" " " 156
APPENDIXES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
7. Photographs, maps and mapping" " " 174
Appendix A: Going digital: general advice" 491
" Chris Musson
8. Photo-interpretation, transformation and
Appendix B: Digital cameras and digital data " 496
record creation" " " " 208
" Damian Grady
9. Towards archaeological understanding" " 240 Appendix C: Pan-European cooperation 1994-2015 " 512
" " Chris Musson
Appendix D: Sources of figures and photographs" 516
PART III: AERIAL SURVEY AT WORK
Bibliography and Supplementary Bibliography" " 519
10. Hunting out the archaeology" " " " " 270
" Chris Musson, Stefano Campana" Glossary" 541
iii
DEDICATION
For
Riccardo Francovich,
Piero Spagna
and Otto Braasch
The excitement of the Siena school in 2001 owed its source to
three very special men, each linking the past to the future through
aerial photography. Firstly, the late Professor Riccardo Francovich,
long-time champion of exploratory air survey in Italy and instigator
of the Siena school. Secondly, Dr Piero Spagna, co-ordinator of
work on the new Italian law on aerial photography that came into
effect at the turn of the millennium. Finally, Dr Otto Braasch, pilot
and air photographer extraordinary, who for more than a decade
has flown around Europe, opening the eyes of fellow
archaeologists to the very different perspectives that the aerial
viewpoint can bring.
iv
PREFACE
The first Aerial Archaeology Research School at Siena in May A characteristic of Italian aerial studies, however, had been its
2001 held a special excitement for its participants. The restrictive almost total reliance on vertical photography, mostly taken for
law that had inhibited exploratory aerial survey in Italy since non-archaeological purposes. Over more than half a century the
1939 had recently been repealed. At last the tutors from across resulting archives had become an invaluable and continuing
Europe and their young colleagues from across Italy could take resource for the interpretation and documentation of Italy’s past,
to the air, legally, to explore and record the landscape below. from early times to the radical landscape transformations of
Drawing on the experience of generations of airborne recent decades.
archaeologists elsewhere they felt that they were about open a
window that had been closed abruptly over sixty years before. Virtually absent from the Italian experience, however, had been
exploratory aerial survey by archaeologists themselves, using
In the decades since 1939 the study of air photo evidence in Italy light aircraft and oblique aerial photography. This technique has
had indeed reached high levels of sophistication through the allowed archaeologists in other parts of Europe to seek out and
work of specialists in universities and institutions such as the photograph, in favoured locations and at the right times of the
Istituto Geografiche Militare (IGM) at Florence and Aerofototeca year, the half-hidden traces that can often be seen only from the
Nazionale (at ICCD) in Rome. In 2003 the range and application air. Freed of the 1939 law, Italian archaeologists could now join
of these skills had been splendidly displayed in the spectacular in the everyday use of this revealing and cost-effective
exhibition and accompanying book Lo Sguardo di Icaro technique.
(GUAITOLI 2003).
v
In Part I of this book, Flights into the Past, Chris Musson In Part III, Aerial Survey at Work, Chris Musson and Stefano
discusses the basic concepts, methods and uses of exploratory Campana (in 2004) used Italian examples to illustrate the uses
aerial survey. This technique has enlightened our view of the and techniques of exploratory aerial survey and oblique air
past, helped us to communicate with the general public and photography, treating the pictures as just a foretaste of things to
made a growing contribution to the conservation and protection come. The authors genuinely hoped, and still hope now (in 2012)
of archaeological sites and landscapes in the face of threats that this book will soon be replaced by something broader in
from agriculture and industrial or urban development. scope, both as regards the techniques described and the
geopgraphical coverage, with examples of the ways in which
The airborne archaeologist’s dialogue with the landscape below aerial and related techniques have helped archaeologists across
is in some senses enshrined in the prints and digital images so Europe to explore, map and explain the ancient sites and
carefully captured and catalogued. But an archive of landscapes of their own countries. In time, no doubt, aerial
photographs is of little value if the resulting information has not archaeology and remote sensing will bring to the whole of
been interpreted, mapped and recorded in ways that make it Europe entirely new perspectives on the past, enriching but
readily available to those who might want or need to use it. never replacing the longer-established methods of
archaeological exploration and interpretation.
Hence Part II, Mapping the Past, by Rog Palmer. For a long
time there had been problems in creating adequately accurate In Part IV, Flights into the Future, Stefano Campana describes
maps from oblique aerial photographs. But from the mid 1990s the approach being taken, in 2004, by the University of Siena to
onwards purpose-made computer programs have made this a tackle the particular problems of landscape archaeology in
progressively more easy and effective process, using simple Tuscany. Other contributors then look at various achievements
scanners and non-specialist desktop computers. In the new and prospects in the application of then-fledgling remote sensing
millennium we can genuinely view aerial information, whether techniques. These are in a sense ‘snapshots in time’, recording
from pre-existing photographs or from newly undertaken aerial what the authors were doing and thinking in the years up to
exploration, as a major source of archaeological data and 2004. They will hopefully provide a perspective on the advances
understanding, at its most effective when applied in symbiosis that have been made since.
with field survey, excavation, documentary studies and other
forms of remote sensing.
vi
The book ends with updated technical appendixes on digital
photography, European projects between 1996 and 2015, photo-
credits and lists of publications that will act as source material for
all who want to know more about aerial archaeology in
promoting research, conservation and public understanding of
heritage sites and landscapes across Europe. There is also an
indexed glossary of terms used throughout the book.
Robert Bewley (August 2004 and September 2013)
Dr Bewley opening the first Italian training
school at Siena in May 2001
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book could not have been produced without the unstinting Gojda, Damian Grady, Darja Grosman, Pete Horne, Francesca
help of a host of friends, colleagues and financial supporters, too Radliffe, Cathy Stoertz and Helen Winton. Funding for the
many to name individually here. A special debt of gratitude is schools, and for preparatory visits to various parts of Italy, was
owed, however, to Otto Braasch and the other pilots at the Siena provided by the British Academy, the Association for Cultural
and Foggia training schools of 2001 and 2003 – Klaus Leidorf, Exchange and AARG itself. Generous help also came from the
Mick Webb and (from the Aero Club di Foggia) Luigi Fruggiero, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena through the University of
Massimiliano di Peco and Luigi Catalano. Pietro Baci and pilots Siena, and in Puglia from a number of local and regional sources
from the Aero Club di Firenze have assisted the continuing through Professor Giuliano Volpe of the University of Foggia.
programme of aerial survey over Tuscany, mounted by the The Siena School and specialist workshop were part of a project
Department of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Siena in the European Community’s Culture 2000 programme,
and the Laboratory of Landscape Archaeology and Remote sponsored by English Heritage, the Universities of Siena and
Sensing (LAP&T) at Grosseto. Vienna and the Brandenburg Museum.
The aerial archaeology training schools at Siena in 2001 and The authors owe personal thanks for advice and support over
Foggia in 2003 were promoted by the Aerial Archaeology the years to a wide range of professional colleagues, especially
Research Group (AARG) and its dedicated team of tutors and Professor Paul Athur, the late Philip Barker, Mauro Campana,
pilot-instructors, including (in addition to those already Giuseppe Ceraudo, Toby Driver, Cristina Felici, the late Riccardo
mentioned) Cinzia Bacilieri, Bob Bewley, Michael Doneus, Martin Francovich, Roberto Goffredo, Wlodek Rąckowski, Valentino
viii
Romano, Piero Spagna and Rowan Whimster. Illustrations for Campana. The book itself was seen through the press with
the book have been provided by the tutors and students of the scrupulous attention to detail and quality by the original
Siena and Foggia schools, the University of Cambridge, English publishers, All’Insegna del Giglio, of Florence.
Heritage, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical
Monuments of Wales, the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust, Any errors or omissions in the text of course remain the
the Universities of Siena and Grosseto and others. Photographs responsibility of the authors, who hope they will be fewer in
from aerial tours of Italy in the 1980s by Dr Otto Braasch and the number than the times their friends and families forgave them
late Dr Derrick Riley add a historical element to the book’s visual when book production took precedence over more important
content. Publication scans were produced by the authors and personal or social obligations.
various specialists, those for Part III being made in Wales by
Advance Colour Techniques (ACT), through funding provided by
AARG.
Mapping work of the kind described in Part II drew its first
inspiration in Britain from the initiatives of John Hampton and the
then Air Photographs Unit of the Royal Commission on the
Historical Monuments of England. More recently photo
rectification and mapping from oblique air photographs have
been facilitated through the computer skills of Dr Irwin Scollar,
formerly of the University of Bonn, whose AirPhoto mapping
program is featured in this book, and of John Haigh, formerly of
the University of Bradford, whose AERIAL program is used by a
number of official and academic organisations in Britain.
For the hard-copy version of the book in 2005 the arduous task
of translating the English text into Italian was undertaken with
great skill and perseverance by Cinzia Bacilieri and Stefano
ix
PART I
FLIGHTS INTO THE
PAST
Chris Musson
11. Aerial archaeology: different histories
12. Aerial survey: merits and limitations
13. Planning a programme of aerial survey
14. The tools of the trade
15. Aerial survey in practice
