Topographic Wetness Index and Prehistoric Land Use (original) (raw)
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Archaeological Prospection, 2022
This paper discusses how the use of AI (artificial intelligence) detected later prehistoric field systems provides a more reliable base for reconstructing palaeodemographic trends, using the Netherlands as a case study. Despite its long tradition of settlement excavations, models that could be used to reconstruct (changes in) prehistoric land use have been few and often relied on (insufficiently mapped) nodal data points such as settlements and barrows. We argue that prehistoric field systems of field plots beset on all sides by earthen banks—known as Celtic fields—are a more suitable (i.e. less nodal) proxy for reconstructing later prehistoric land use. For four 32.25 km2 case study areas in different geogenetic regions of the Netherlands, prehistoric land use surface areas are modelled based on conventional methods and the results are compared to the results we obtained by using AI-assisted detection of prehistoric field systems. The nationally available LiDAR data were used for automated detection. Geotiff DTM images were fed into an object detection algorithm (based on the YOLOv4 framework and trained with known Dutch sites), and resultant geospatial vectors were imported into GIS. Our analysis shows that AI-assisted detection of prehistoric embanked field systems on average leads to a factor 1.84 increase in known surface areas of Celtic fields. Modelling the numbers of occupants from this spatial coverage, yields population sizes of 37–135 persons for the case study regions (i.e. 1.15 to 4.19 p/km2). This range aligns well with previous estimates and offers a more robust and representative proxy for palaeodemographic reconstructions. Variations in land use coverage between the regions could be explained by differences in present-day land use and research intensity. Particularly the regionally different extent of forestlands and heathlands (ideal for the (a) preservation and (b) automated LiDAR detection of embanked field systems) explains minor variations between the four case study regions.
Updating the maps of prehistoric landscapes by DEMS.
W. Börner, S. Uhlirz & L. Dollhofer (eds.), Proceedings of the 12th Vienna Conference on Heritage and New Technology, 2008
In the Pleistocene sand-areas of The Netherlands still lie the remains of prehistoric farmlands. These fields are characterized by their checkerboard layout of small earthen embankments surrounding small rectangular fields, and called Celtic Fields. They date from late Bronze Age, Iron Age into the early Roman era, and are among the best visible archaeological remains in the Dutch Pleistocene sandy landscape. The nature of these monuments make them prone to erosion. That is why the National Service for Archaeology, Cultural Landscape and Built Heritage, the RACM, ‘Dutch Heritage’, started a pilot project to reassess these archaeological terrains. The aim of this pilot was twofold: on the one hand evaluate the conservational state and actual size of the Celtic Fields and on the other to develop a methodology for research on Celtic Fields. Next to field surveys, aerial photography and the maps of earlier researchers, a new tool proofed invaluable for studying Celtic Fields; the use of the data from the Detailed Digital Elevation Map of the Dutch Ordnance Survey, the AHN. Combining the ‘older’ data with the DEMs made from AHN-data not only reassessed state and size of known Celtic Fields, but also proofed to be a tool for finding new ones, and so updating our knowledge on the Dutch prehistoric landscape.
Mapping buried Holocene landscapes. Past lowland environments, palaeoDEMs and preservation in GIS
In: R.C.G.M. Lauwerier, M.C. Eerden, B.J. Groenewoudt, M.A. Lascaris, E. Rensink, B.I. Smit, B.P. Speleers and J. van Doesburg (Eds.) 2017. Knowledge for Informed Choices. Tools for more effective and efficient selection of valuable archaeology in the Netherlands. Nederlandse Archeologische Rapporten 55. In a geological GIS-data recombination project, a digital map was produced that contains information on the Netherlands’ former coastal and delta plain landscapes over the last 14,000 years: the Holocene and the very end of the Pleistocene. The polygon map product is accompanied by a set of palaeoDEMs (Digital Elevation Models) indicating the attention depth for buried land surfaces and aquatic deposits for four time slices. This paper provides conceptual background information on the legend and construction principles behind the polygon maps and the palaeoDEMs, i.e. the decisions taken during the making of. It also provides a basic overview of the map product: landscape structure, burial depth and preservation, visualised for the four time slices in the RCE’s Archaeology Knowledge Kit. The text links coastal plain buried landscape mapping for four time slices to the other Knowledge Kit activities described in this volume, notably that of the Archaeological Landscapes map (for the most recent time slice in the coastal plain area of the Netherlands, and for all time slices in the Pleistocene uplands).
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2002
Past landscape characteristics were reconstructed in Nynäs, south-eastern Sweden, using geographical and archaeological data together with pollen stratigraphy and an existing shore displacement model, with the aim to explore the development of semi-natural grasslands in the area. A 2.3 m peat core was analysed and radiocarbon dated at three levels. BP and onwards cultivation is intensified at the same time as spruce (Picea abies) expands. Maps on land-cover distribution in the late 17th century was used as a model for the utilisation of the landscape during the Iron Age. Land-covers on very thin soils were grazed and sometimes mown within the village boundaries, but they were also used for cultivation in narrow strips where bedrock is adjacent to clays. Till and varved glacial clays would have been used for cultivation. A reasonable estimation is that 10% of the study area could have been used for cultivation 1900 14 C years BP, compared to 28% in the end of the 17th century. During the last century there has been a shift towards more arable fields and more forestry. There are 10% open or semi-open grassland left today, and 6% wooded grassland, compared with 47% open or semi-open grassland in the 17th century. Little more than half of the open grasslands are managed today, all by grazing. It is argued that encroachment of trees and shrubs on open or semi-open grasslands will not only reduce species richness in the landscape but also threaten parts of our cultural heritage.
GIS Models of Past Vegetation: An Example from Northern England, 10,000–5000BP
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2000
Archaeological interpretations of past societies, particularly those of past hunter-gatherer groups, have traditionally drawn heavily on evidence for past environments and environmental changes. Ironically however our understanding of these environments is typically far from ideal, particularly at the scale most relevant to broad settlement patterns. Limitations lie not just in the lack of evidence, but also the nature of the evidence that we have for past environments. Most notably, descriptions of environments and environmental change tend to be either very simplistic at the large scale, or detailed, but limited to small scale local landscapes. It is thus difficult to find regional reconstructions to relate to interpretations or models of population and settlement (particularly important when considering mobile populations). The models described here have been developed in order to improve understanding of large scale spatial changes in terrestrial vegetation. The limitations and potentials for developing models of vegetation patterns are considered, and one such model (constructed using GIS techniques) of changes in the distribution of woodland types in northern England from the Early Holocene is described.
Holata, L., & Světlík, R. 2015. Detailed Digital Terrain Models in the Research of Deserted Settlement: Hydrological Modelling and Environment of Settlement Areas. In K. Růžičková & T. Inspektor (eds) Surface Models for Geosciences. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography, 113–123. Springer., 2015
This paper presents the use of detailed terrain models in archaeological research. We apply a LiDAR data (DTM of the 5th generation provided by the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre) in the areas of five villages abandoned during the 15th and the 17th century. Surveyed sites are preserved in the woodlands in the form of relief formations and there have been carried out many surface surveys and geodetic-topographic surveys. Except the detection of previously unknown remains of human activities in LiDAR data (especially field boundaries, tracks or mining areas) we use also an analytical potential of detailed DEM to affect parameters of physical landscape. In particular, we focused on the attachment of deserted villages to water sources and slope gradient of their ploughlands. This allows us to reopen the old-fashioned questions regarding the role of the natural environment in shaping cultural landscape and try to answer them in the new perspective. Although three of considered deserted villages are situated outside of water sources, hydrological modelling of DTM 5G generates higher values of topographic wetness index within close proximity to each of these villages. The ploughlands of deserted villages were situated also in the areas with high slope gradient. These outcomes extend or revised the ‘traditional statements’ in older Czech literature.
This paper discusses a couple of basic methodological problems inherent in predictive modelling as used today in mapping the location of Stone Age settlements based solely on landscape topography/bathymetry. It argues that the modelling approach employed is based on elements adopted from a type of landscape ecology that was abandoned more than 20 years ago, because it was unable to produce reasonable results, and that it can be difficult to develop prediction methodology based on the present understanding of landscape ecology as being extremely complex and dynamic. Furthermore, it maintains that the modelling approach currently employed in Stone Age archaeology is based on assumptions about prehistoric resource-strategic behaviour that are simplistic and out of tune with what we now know. It therefore questions whether it is possible to develop a precise and efficient predictive procedure for modelling the locations of Stone Age sites.