DAVE COWLEY | Historic Environment Scotland (original) (raw)

Papers by DAVE COWLEY

vort, M. Driessen, E. Graafstal, T. Hazenberg, T. Ivleva & C. van Driel-Murray (eds) 2024, Strategy and Structures along the Roman Frontier. Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies 2, Leiden, Sidestone Press (= Archeologische Berichten Nijmegen 10), pp. 79-88. , 2024

This paper presents the aims, structure, and some preliminary results from the Leverhulme Trust-f... more This paper presents the aims, structure, and some preliminary results from the Leverhulme Trust-funded project “Beyond Walls: Reassessing Iron Age and Roman Encounters in Northern Britain”. The project will develop our understanding of Rome’s impact on indigenous communities in northern Britain by analysing the transformation of settlement patterns and lifestyles in an area extending from ca. 40 km south of Hadrian’s Wall to ca. 40 km north of the Antonine Wall. In order to contextualise the Roman influence, the project adopts a long-term perspective from approximately 500 BC to AD 500 to facilitate the study of changes and continuities before, during, and after the period of direct Roman presence in the region. The main focus lies on rationalising existing survey and excavation data, while at the same time generating new information through remote sensing, palaeoenvironmental research, and radiocarbon dating. This combined strategy aims to produce robust and nuanced narratives about Roman and indigenous interactions, and also contribute to the wider subject of cultural encounters on the edges of empires.

The Archaeologist, 2009

Preliminary results of archaeological aerial reconnaissance over Orkney in 2009 are presented - h... more Preliminary results of archaeological aerial reconnaissance over Orkney in 2009 are presented - highlighting the hitherto under-developed potential of cropmarking to reveal buried sites.

Scottish Archaeological News, 2006

Archaeological aerial reconnaissance for cropmarked sites in lowland landscapes in Scotland durin... more Archaeological aerial reconnaissance for cropmarked sites in lowland landscapes in Scotland during the summer of 2006 is described.

Archaeological Prospection, 2022

This paper assesses the value of high temporal frequency satellite data with various spatial samp... more This paper assesses the value of high temporal frequency satellite data with various spatial sampling resolutions for multi-scalar historic environment survey and manage-ment use cases in Scotland, specifically for broad-brush landscape characterisation, for monitoring the condition of monuments and for the discovery of otherwise unknown sites. Dealing with a part of the world where applications of satellite imag-ery are almost entirely unexplored, this study takes a real-world approach, which foregrounds the purpose at hand rather than presenting a case study from an optimal setting. The study highlights the importance of detailed imagery to support interpre-tation in some instances, and the challenges of obtaining time-critical optical imagery in a part of the world that experiences significant periods of cloud cover. The real-world availability of data in such settings is assessed, highlighting that even with daily revisits, useable imagery cannot be guaranteed. The implications of current and past tasking patterns for availability of high-resolution data now and in the future are dis-cussed. The study identifies the complementary roles that satellite imagery can fulfil, while identifying the limitations that remain to fuller applications of such data, in a study that will be relevant to many parts of Europe and beyond.

Confronting Complexity: Interpretation of a Dry Stone Walled Landscape on the Island of Cres, Croatia, 2022

Dry stone walls are a worldwide phenomenon that may shape entire regions. As a specific form of v... more 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 ca-pacity 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.

FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Cowley, D.; Hamilton, D.; Hardwick, I. and McDonald, S. (2022): Beyond Walls: Reassessing Iron Age and Roman Encounters in Northern Britain. Antiquity 96(388): 1021-1029.

Northern Britain is one of a few areas in Western Europe over which the Roman Empire did not esta... more Northern Britain is one of a few areas in Western Europe over which the Roman Empire did not establish full control. In order to reassess the impact of Rome in this northernmost frontier, the new Leverhulme-funded project "Beyond Walls" is analysing the long-term transformation of settlement patterns in an area extending from south of Hadrian's Wall to north of the Antonine Wall. The results of a pilot study around Burnswark hillfort demonstrate the potential of such a landscape-based approach.

AARGnews 64, 2022

This paper summarises recent British Academy funded survey work in southwest Scotland, focusing ... more This paper summarises recent British Academy funded survey work in southwest Scotland, focusing on exploring Iron Age settlement landscapes in the framework of a project examining the impact of the Roman Empire on societies at the edge of the empire. LiDAR-based survey has increased the number of known sites significantly, while geophysical survey has shed new light on known sites and contributes to the broader understanding of the landscape.

The Archaeologist, 2021

Archaeology is something of a magpie discipline, with a track-record of appropriating approaches,... more Archaeology is something of a magpie discipline, with a track-record of appropriating approaches, theory, and techniques from other fields that has helped, for example, to drive the ‘digital revolution’ in archaeological practice. Digital documentation, 3D datasets and complex analyses are now routine practice rather than revolutionary, but it is one thing that such methods are widespread, but quite another for their implications to be fully explored. Archaeologists at Historic Environment Scotland (HES) are exploring these implications for their workflows recognising that sometimes assimilation of new technology or practice can happen organically, but also that sometimes a more fundamental reassessment is required of how we do what we do.

Medieval Archaeology: Newsletter of the Society for Medieval Archaeology, 2020

A new discovery from Airborne Laser Scanning data of a deserted medieval/post medieval settlement... more A new discovery from Airborne Laser Scanning data of a deserted medieval/post medieval settlement in lowland Scotland is described. The implications of this data for such studies is outlined.

Remote Sensing, 2020

Applications of remote sensing data for archaeology rely heavily on repurposed data, which carry ... more Applications of remote sensing data for archaeology rely heavily on repurposed data, which carry inherent limitations in their suitability to help address archaeological questions. Through a case study framed around archaeological imperatives in a Scottish context, this work investigates the potential for existing satellite systems to provide remote sensing data that meet defined specifications for archaeological prospection, considering both spatial and temporal resolution, concluding that the availability of commercial data is currently insufficient. Tasking a commercial constellation of 12 spacecraft to collect images of a 150 km 2 region in Scotland through the month of July 2020 provided 26 images with less than 50% cloud cover. Following an analysis of existing systems, this paper presents a high-level mission architecture for a bespoke satellite system designed from an archaeological specification. This study focuses on orbit design and the number of spacecraft needed to meet the spatial and temporal resolution requirements for archaeological site detection and monitoring in a case study of Scotland, using existing imaging technology. By exploring what an ideal scenario might look like from a satellite mission planning perspective, this paper presents a simulation analysis that foregrounds archaeological imperatives and specifies a satellite constellation design on that basis. High-level design suggests that a system of eight 100 kg spacecraft in a 581 km altitude orbit could provide coverage at a desired temporal and spatial resolution of two-weekly revisit and <1 m ground sampling distance, respectively. The potential for such a system to be more widely applied in regions of similar latitude and climate is discussed.

Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 2020

A suite of archaeological remains, including a group of barrows, a later Iron Age settlement and ... more A suite of archaeological remains, including a group of barrows, a later Iron Age settlement and a stretch of Roman road at Barwhill, just north of Gatehouse of Fleet, are explored using aerial photographic records, geophysical survey and Airborne Laser Scanning data. These have provided new insights into the remains which were first recorded in 1949. Of note is the revision of an earlier identification of a square example amongst the barrows. This paper highlights the importance of systematic review of the survey evidence and the benefits of complementary datasets. The wider context for the group of barrows is discussed, identifying the need for excavation to provide dating evidence for a poorly understood corpus of burial sites that may span the Iron Age, Roman and early medieval periods.

Drones, 2020

In intensively cultivated landscapes, many archaeological remains are buried under the ploughed s... more In intensively cultivated landscapes, many archaeological remains are buried under the ploughed soil, and detection depends on crop proxies that express subsurface features. Traditionally these proxies have been documented in visible light as contrasting areas of crop development commonly known as cropmarks. However, it is recognised that reliance on the visible electromagnetic spectrum has inherent limitations on what can be documented, and multispectral and thermal sensors offer the potential to greatly improve our ability to detect buried archaeological features in agricultural fields. The need for this is pressing, as ongoing agricultural practices place many subsurface archaeological features increasingly under threat of destruction. The effective deployment of multispectral and thermal sensors, however, requires a better understanding of when they may be most effective in documenting archaeologically induced responses. This paper presents the first known use of the FLIR Vue Pro-R thermal imager and Red Edge-M for exploring crop response to archaeological features from two UAV surveys flown in May and June 2019 over a known archaeological site. These surveys provided multispectral imagery, which was used to create vegetation index (VI) maps, and thermal maps to assess their effectiveness in detecting crop responses in the temperate Scottish climate. These were visually and statistically analysed using a Mann Whitney test to compare temperature and reflectance values. While the study was compromised by unusually damp conditions which reduced the potential for cropmarking, the VIs (e.g., Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI) did show potential to detect general crop stress across the study site when they were statistically analysed. This demonstrates the need for further research using multitemporal data collection across case study sites to better understand the interactions of crop responses and sensors, and so define appropriate conditions for large-area data collection. Such a case study-led multitemporal survey approach is an ideal application for UAV-based documentation, especially when "perfect" conditions cannot be guaranteed.

Scottish Archaeological Journal, 2005

This is a review of Dalglish, C. 2003: Rural Society in the Age of Reason -An Archaeology of the ... more This is a review of Dalglish, C. 2003: Rural Society in the Age of Reason -An Archaeology of the Emergence of Modern Life in the Southern Scottish Highlands.

'We were always chasing time' Papers presented to Keith Blood, 1999

This paper describes the work by the 'Archaeology Division' of the Ordnance Survey (OS) mapping a... more This paper describes the work by the 'Archaeology Division' of the Ordnance Survey (OS) mapping archaeological sites in the north of Scotland. The work of the OS Archaeology Division is a foundation stone of the archaeological record of much of the UK.

Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 2020

The characteristics and form of heritage data are fundamental to its utility in a range of applic... more The characteristics and form of heritage data are fundamental to its utility in a range of applications, particularly so for heritage agencies who have a remit in management, policy, and the creation and curation of national databases of monuments, sites, and landscapes. Written from the perspective of an archaeological survey function in a national heritage agency, this paper draws on preliminary outcomes from a research and development project that aims to proof protocols for creating systematic data across large areas drawing heavily on remotely sensed data. This recognises that a systemic consideration of the implications of changing technology and data is sometimes desirable, rather than gradual assimilation of developments into existing practice. In particular, the issues being addressed relate to the challenges and opportunities of proliferating remote sensed data and digital workflows. These include the strategic assessment of threat, consideration of fitness for purpose of different datasets relative to landscape characteristics, the documentation of processes and sources of information, the suitability of data structures, and the mechanisms for automating site detection and data creation.

Banaszek, Ł., Cowley, D. 2019. Mapping of the field remains. In D. Strachan, D. Sneddon, R. Tipping, Early Medieval Settlement in Upland Perthshire: Excavations at Lair, Glen Shee: 2012-17. Oxford: Archaeopress, 19-24., 2019

Archeologia Aerea, 2019

Selected achievements of an aerial archaeological perspective are reviewed, highlighting the huge... more Selected achievements of an aerial archaeological perspective are reviewed, highlighting the huge impact of this approach on known site distributions and landscape understanding. These advances provide the background to pose several challenges to traditional aerial survey, questioning the continuing effectiveness of observer-directed reconnaissance in the face of changing climate and land use, and considering the representivity of the information it produces. Looking forward to an approach fit for the 21st century a shift in emphasis towards area-coverage imagery and a serious engagement with a computational approach to feature detection is advocated.

British Archaeology, 2020

Preliminary results of work on automating aspects of archaeological survey are presented, alongsi... more Preliminary results of work on automating aspects of archaeological survey are presented, alongside discussion of issues and some context of this approach.

Cowley, D.; Fernández-Götz, M.; Romankiewicz, T. and Wendling H. (2019): Exploring Rural Settlement in Iron Age Europe. In D. Cowley, M. Fernández-Götz, T. Romankiewicz and H. Wendling (eds.), Rural Settlement. Relating Buildings, Landscape, and People in the European Iron Age. Sidestone, Leiden.

The Archaeologist, 2009

Scottish Archaeological News, 2006

Archaeological Prospection, 2022

Confronting Complexity: Interpretation of a Dry Stone Walled Landscape on the Island of Cres, Croatia, 2022

FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Cowley, D.; Hamilton, D.; Hardwick, I. and McDonald, S. (2022): Beyond Walls: Reassessing Iron Age and Roman Encounters in Northern Britain. Antiquity 96(388): 1021-1029.

AARGnews 64, 2022

The Archaeologist, 2021

Medieval Archaeology: Newsletter of the Society for Medieval Archaeology, 2020

Remote Sensing, 2020

Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 2020

Drones, 2020

Scottish Archaeological Journal, 2005

'We were always chasing time' Papers presented to Keith Blood, 1999

Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 2020

Archeologia Aerea, 2019

British Archaeology, 2020

MDPI - ISBN: 978-3-0365-1376-8, 2021

Despite the many (r)evolutions in remote sensing technology over the past three decades, integrat... more Despite the many (r)evolutions in remote sensing technology over the past three decades, integration in archaeological practice and theory has sometimes been limited by reliance on practice and theory imported from other disciplines, without questioning or deep understanding. This collection of papers aims to contribute to the exploration of developing practice and theory in remote sensing archaeology for the 21st century. The scope of this volume is the use of remotely sensed data from either air- or spaceborne platforms for the benefit of archaeology and cultural heritage in general, with a specific focus on better defining the roles and contexts that detail why archaeologists may apply remote sensing techniques. With this focus, it is our hope that remotely sensed data will be better and more intrinsically integrated into the symbiosis of archaeological practice and theory.
The editorial for this volume suggests that many aspects of archaeological practice can be characterised as ‘beg, borrow and steal’. This collection provides the reader with thoughtful papers that contribute to the development of archaeological remote sensing as a mature interdisciplinary field characterised by explicit and theoretically engaged approaches to understanding the past.

Hidden behind the dramatic Ochils to the north-east of Stirling, Menstrie Glen is now largely the... more Hidden behind the dramatic Ochils to the north-east of Stirling, Menstrie Glen is now largely the preserve of sheep and the occasional hillwalker. The apparent tranquillity belies a rich history and a thriving population that occupied these hills and worked the land prior to the agricultural improvements of the 1700s. The architect of change, James Wright, lived in the heart of the glen and his documentary records illuminate the land use changes that transformed this glen. These historical documents are integrated with the results of archaeological survey work, providing a rich record of a landscape at a key point in the development of Scotland’s landscapes.

This report summarises the results of an archaeological survey of 55 sq km in south-west Scotland... more This report summarises the results of an archaeological survey of 55 sq km in south-west Scotland. The survey documented a range of monuments, including areas of prehistoric landscapes and medieval/post medieval remains.

Lying at the heart of Scotland, the Cairngorms have long attracted visitors to enjoy their natura... more Lying at the heart of Scotland, the Cairngorms have long attracted visitors to enjoy their natural heritage. Drawing together the diverse strands of past land-use from prehistory to the present, this book illustrates the fundamental role archaeology can play in the understanding of our landscape and will be of interest to both general readers and heritage managers.

Cowley, D.; Fernández-Götz, M.; Romankiewicz, T. and Wendling H. (eds.) (2019): Rural Settlement. Relating Buildings, Landscape, and People in the European Iron Age. Sidestone Press, Leiden.

The majority of humanity have lived out their lives in a ‘rural’ context, and even in our increas... more The majority of humanity have lived out their lives in a ‘rural’ context, and even in our increasingly urbanised world almost half of the global population still live in rural areas. In the European Iron Age, the vast mass of the population clearly lived in small hamlets and farmsteads, and this overarching ‘rurality’ is important for understanding these societies. While there has been a pronounced focus in recent archaeological research on patterns of centralisation and urbanisation, there is a need to reincorporate ‘rural life’ or rurality into these discussions of how people lived.
This book is a contribution to the study of rural life in Iron Age Europe, collating case studies extending from southern Spain to northern Scotland and from Denmark to the Balkans. Papers are grouped thematically to open up cross-regional comparisons, ranging across studies of buildings, farms – the basic unit of Iron Age life consisting of its inhabitants, its livestock and associated agricultural lands – to wider settlement patterns and land use strategies.
The 29 papers in this volume discuss the disposition, form and organisation of rural settlements, as well as underlying social and economic networks, illustrating both the variability between regions, and also common themes in cultural, economic and social interactions. This volume provides an up-to-date overview of current research, presenting new results for the Iron Age specialist as well as a wider audience interested in the rich tapestry of rural settlement in Europe.

The study of conflict archaeology has developed rapidly over the last decade, fuelled in equal me... more The study of conflict archaeology has developed rapidly over the last decade, fuelled in equal measure by technological advances and creative analytical frameworks. Nowhere is this truer than in the inter-disciplinary fields of archaeological practice that combine traditional sources such as historical photographs and maps with 3D digital topographic data from Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) and large scale geophysical prospection. For twentieth-century conflict landscapes and their surviving archaeological remains, these developments have encouraged a shift from a site oriented approach towards landscape-scaled research. This volume brings together an wide range of perspectives, setting traditional approaches that draw on historical and contemporary aerial photographs alongside cutting-edge prospection techniques, cross-disciplinary analyses and innovative methods of presenting this material to audiences. Essays from a range of disciplines (archaeology, history, geography, heritage and museum studies) studying conflict landscapes across the globe throughout the twentieth century, all draw on aerial and landscape perspectives to past conflicts and their legacy and the complex issues for heritage management. Organized in four parts, the first three sections take a broadly chronological approach, exploring the use of aerial evidence to expand our understanding of the two World Wars and the Cold War. The final section explores ways that the aerial perspective can be utilized to represent historical landscapes to a wide audience. With case studies ranging from the Western Front to the Cold War, Ireland to Russia, this volume demonstrates how an aerial perspective can both support and challenge traditional archaeological and historical analysis, providing an innovative new means of engaging with the material culture of conflict and commemoration.

The results of a field survey of 95 square km in the Strath of Kildonan, Sutherland, northern Sco... more The results of a field survey of 95 square km in the Strath of Kildonan, Sutherland, northern Scotland are presented, covering remains of all periods, from prehistoric settlement and land use to post medieval townships. The wider context of the material from the survey area within the Strath of Kildonan is discussed, and a broad model for aspects of the prehistoric settlement is outlined.

Recovering Lost Landscapes

Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS), or lidar, is an enormously important innovation for data collectio... more Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS), or lidar, is an enormously important innovation for data collection and interpretation in archaeology. The application of archaeological 3D data deriving from sources including ALS, close-range photogrammetry and terrestrial and photogrammetric scanners has grown exponentially over the last decade. Such data present numerous possibilities and challenges, from ensuring that applications remain archaeologically relevant, to developing practices that integrate the manipulation and interrogation of complex digital datasets with the skills of archaeological observation and interpretation. This volume addresses the implications of multi-scaled topographic data for contemporary archaeological practice in a rapidly developing field, drawing on examples of ongoing projects and reflections on best practice.Twenty papers from across Europe explore the implications of these digital 3D datasets for the recording and interpretation of archaeological topography, whether at the landscape, site or artefact scale. The papers illustrate the variety of ways in which we engage with archaeological topography through 3D data, from discussions of its role in landscape archaeology, to issues of context and integration, and to the methodological challenges of processing, visualisation and manipulation. Critical reflection on developing practice and implications for cultural resource management and research contextualize the case studies and applications, illustrating the diverse and evolving roles played by multi-scalar topographic data in contemporary archaeology.

Remote sensing is one of the main foundations of archaeological data, underpinning knowledge and ... more Remote sensing is one of the main foundations of archaeological data, underpinning knowledge and understanding of the historic environment. The volume, arising from a symposium organised by the Europae Archaeologiae Consilium (EAC) and the Aerial Archaeology Research Group (AARG), provides up to date expert statements on the methodologies, achievements and potential of remote sensing with a particular focus on archaeological heritage management. Well-established approaches and techniques are set alongside new technologies and data-sources, with discussion covering relative merits and applicability, and the need for integrated approaches to understanding and managing the landscape. Discussions cover aerial photography, both modern and historic, LiDAR, satellite imagery, multi- and hyper-spectral data, sonar and geophysical survey, addressing both terrestrial and maritime contexts. Case studies drawn from the contrasting landscapes of Europe illustrate best practice and innovative projects.

This volume presents the rich, but under-utilised and in parts inaccessible, archival historic ae... more This volume presents the rich, but under-utilised and in parts inaccessible, archival historic aerial imagery, traditional photographs and those captured from satellites, for the exploration and management of cultural heritage. An unparalleled resource, for archaeologists and all with an interest in landscapes, images spanning the second half of the 20th century provide an unrivalled means of documenting and understanding change and informing the study of the past.

Case studies, written by leading experts in their fields, illustrate the applications of this imagery across a wide range of heritage issues, from prehistoric cultivation and settlement patterns, to the impact of recent landscape change. Contemporary environmental and land use issues are also dealt with, in a volume that will be of interest to archaeologists, historians, geographers and those in related disciplines.

Education in Aerial Remote Sensing for Archaeology

AARG Occasional Publication Series No 1 was published in April 2009. It focuses on Education in A... more AARG Occasional Publication Series No 1 was published in April 2009. It focuses on Education in Aerial Remote Sensing for Archaeology and includes the draft report of the AARG/EAC Working Group on Education, which is available for comment until the end of July 2009. The publication also has papers on the general theme of education that should be of interest to many.

Aerial photography is one of the most important and cost-effective ways of recording traces of th... more Aerial photography is one of the most important and cost-effective ways of recording traces of the past and discovering new sites. It also offers the archaeologist an alternative viewpoint on these archaeological traces, and is one of the most exciting and challenging types of fieldwork. The experiences of the contributors to this volume highlight the role that bias, subjectivity and perception play in the shaping of flights and in the results themselves. They draw on important aspects of archaeological fieldwork such as experience, intuition, improvisation, emotion and stress, which are all too often left unarticulated. These contributions from the practitioners, photographers and interpreters that from the aerial archaeological community present a counterpoint to the traditional textbook.