Burgenforschung Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Approximately 68 % of the Selke valley (Harz district, Saxony-Anhalt) is covered by forest. Here and elsewhere, woods fulfil an important archive function. Thousands of archaeological structures have been preserved in dense forests, many... more

Approximately 68 % of the Selke valley (Harz district, Saxony-Anhalt) is covered by forest. Here and elsewhere, woods fulfil an important archive function. Thousands of archaeological structures have been preserved in dense forests, many of which are still unknown. The vast number of these cultural landscape elements, and occasionally heavy vegetation and rough terrain, render a complete field documentation impossible. Here the technology of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) offers completely new possibilities for recording the archaeological monuments. The entire terrain surface is captured in a highly precise, effective, and non-destructive manner. With this method, the cultural landscape characterised by centuries of mining, rulership, and settlement activities can be recorded and reconstructed in its entirety, and the previously known heritage inventory enormously consolidated. The region of the Selke River valley is a core area of the eastern Harz Mountains from the point of view of manorial, legal, and mining history. This is where the state of Anhalt, one of the oldest cultural regions in Germany, has its origins. In this 366 sqm area, per DTM (digital terrain model) so far more than 23.600 cultural landscape elements preserved above ground could be recorded, precisely localised, and their exact extent documented, which are now largely covered by forest. Among others, more than 8000 remnants of ancient ways, 7300 charcoal kiln sites, 3200 mining relics, more than 3500 ancient fields, 300 water management sites, 40 castles or hillforts, and 60 abandoned villages (or parts of them) could be detected.