New Projects Session Organiser: Conference committee – contact:dave.cowley@rcahms.gov.uk
This session is designed to allow for the presentation of work-in-progress, and also for projects at
an early stage, where research design, methodology etc. can be presented for peer review and
comment.
Postgraduate Research Session Organiser: Conference committee – contact:dave.cowley@rcahms.gov.uk
AARG has a long tradition of encouraging postgraduates and young researchers to present their
research in a relaxed environment, and giving them exposure to experts in their fields and providing
an opportunity for necessarily incomplete research to be presented.
Interpretation, Interpretation, Interpretation….. in the 21st century Session Organiser: Conference committee – contact:dave.cowley@rcahms.gov.uk
The interpretation of archaeological features recorded on aerial photographs, satellite imagery and hyper/multi-spectral data is recognised amongst ‘traditional’ aerial archaeologists as a subjective process, depending on the skill of the interpreter, their experience and training. However, many approaches under development are emphasising the auto-extraction of information from imagery, with varying degrees of input from a skilled interpreter. Equally, many in the ‘remote sensing’ community have developed an interest in such applications for archaeology with little or no archaeological background. This session will explore the roles and inter-connections of autoextraction approaches, experience, the role of training and so on, in addressing the central issue of how the interpretation of source data can be addressed in a coherent and structured way, that extends beyond just looking, to a robust, critical process that challenges ‘how interpretations are made’ and in which stage of research interpretations are made.
The Death of Cropmarks? Session Organiser: Dr Kenny Brophy (Glasgow University) – contact:k.brophy@archaeology.gla.ac.uk
Cropmarks are in crisis! These magical, temporary variations in crop growth have always had a
loose grip on reality, and now they may be fading away altogether. They are starting to seem oldfashioned.
Technology seems to be superseding them, with new toys and techniques, both aerial and
satellite, offering exciting ways of seeing buried and denuded traces with or without crops. Climate
change in parts of Europe - global warming - seems to be accompanied by global raining, making
finding cropmarks more difficult. Ongoing development and invasive deep-ploughing is eroding the
buried features that make cropmarks. Traditional observer-directed reconnaissance for finding and
recording cropmarks is under threat in places, both financially and intellectually. Even the
occasional excavation is, in essence, destroying the archaeology beneath our feet.
This session will send out a SOS for cropmarks. Can they find salvation in the form of the
vast archives of air photos held across Europe? These photos contain millions of cropmarks, the
majority of which have never been analysed and placed on record by archaeologists. Could
research, synthesis, mapping, interpretation and archaeological engagement offer a life-support
system? Perhaps government agencies and planning authorities will be more robust in halting the
‘ripping up the past’? Will climatic change offer new opportunities, bringing drier weather to
cropmark-poor areas? Is the silver lining on the cloud of the world’s collapsing financial markets
that development slows down and farmers buy smaller tractors? Contributors to the session should
come prepared either to help the cropmarks, or write their obituary
Engaging with Aerial Photography
Session Organiser: Sarah Massey (Norfolk, UK) – contact:sarah.massey@norfolk.gov.uk
This session will explore the ways in which aerial photography and aerial archaeology can be interpreted, promoted and disseminated in imaginative ways to allow archaeologists and nonarchaeologists a positive engagement with the subject, both with the processes involved and the resultant interpretative frameworks. How can we engage non-aerial archaeologists? For example, in Britain how can we build on the current trend for TV programmes and exhibitions showing the earth from the aerial perspective? Are there similar trends in other parts of Europe? How could this current, but potentially superficial and transient, interest in aerial photography be taken forward to create a deeper understanding of (aerial) archaeology? Aerial images are widely available, but how do we encourage an aerial archaeological perspective in public and professional alike? Papers illustrating imaginative uses of aerial photographic data, projects and/or exhibitions, the development of narratives within aerial photography, or highlighting the social history of aerial photography, and links with the Arts are welcome.
Beyond-Visible Archaeological Reconnaissance
Session Organiser: Geert Verhoeven (Ghent University) – contact:Geert.Verhoeven@UGent.be
Most archaeological aerial reconnaissance amounts to little more than flying around in a small
aeroplane using cameras to take still images in the visible domain. Although satellite and
multispectral airborne data, which can offer spectral information beyond the visible, have been used
in many archaeological surveys, most users lack the financial and staff resources to acquire and
process such data. However, the lack of comparable invisible and visible archaeological
reconnaissance information over large areas makes it
difficult to assess the added-value of such beyond-visible approaches in archaeological research.
This session looks for contributions examining conventional aerial images and remotely captured
archaeological imagery acquired by passive methods in the non-visible bands of the electromagnetic
spectrum (e.g. UltraViolet, Near-InfraRed, Thermal InfraRed). Papers are invited exploring the
physical and biological principles that underlie such remote sensed data, the tools required, and the
approaches needed for these types of survey.
Speakers should be thought provoking, encouraging engagement on the alternative ways of aerial
data acquisition by questioning the current approaches of archaeological aerial imaging (which have
- to a very large extent - not changed since aerial archaeology was born more than a century ago).
Conflict and Military Archaeology
Session Organiser: Conference committee – contact:dave.cowley@rcahms.gov.uk
Papers are invited exploring aspects of military archaeology with reference to aerial photographic
and other remote
sensing techniques.
