International audienceAirborne thermal prospecting is based on the principle that there is a fundamental difference between the thermal characteristics of buried remains and the environment in which they are buried. The French 'Archéodrone' project aims to combine the flexibility and low cost of using an airborne drone with the accuracy of the registration of a thermal digital camera. This combination allows the use of thermal prospection for archaeological detection at low altitude with high-resolution information, from a microregional scale to the site scale. The first results have allowed us to assess the contribution of this technique for the detection of ancient roads, land plots boundaries, site plans and underground caves. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Oases are subject to decreasing resources and changing human activities. Fully aware of their rich heritage, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have undertaken work to preserve and revitalize these oases. However, there is a clear lack of understanding of the dynamic links between climate change, hydraulic and agricultural management, and socioeconomic activities. To clarify these links, our team conducted a systematic geoarchaeological, geophysical, spatial, and chronological study of the Masafi oasis, UAE. Results indicate the existence of a natural humid area as early as the late Pleistocene (~18 cal ka BP). These conditions persist during the early-mid Holocene with drainage activation and soil development (~12–6.3 ka). During the late Holocene, after the emergence of the “artificial” oasis around ~3250 cal yr BP, cycles of intense management suggesting water availability (~3250–2380 cal yr BP; 550 cal yr BP) alternate with episodes of fluvial detritism (~2380–1870 cal yr BP; >550 cal yr BP) and scattered evidence of farming activities with complex hydroclimatic signatures (~2300–550 cal yr BP). These results, together with regional environmental data, indicate that water and soil resources were available and exploited strategically throughout the Holocene despite adverse climatic conditions, and the oasis of Masafi could have acted as a desert refugium.

The building of a solar power station at Thé mis, at 1650 masl on the south-facing slope of the Carlit massif in the eastern Pyrenees, led to an archaeological evaluation from April-June 2009. This evaluation covered a surface of 10 ha that included a medieval village as well as the surrounding agricultural land in terraces. Non-destructive archaeological methods were used for the village. A detailed study of the 6 ha of terraces began with a fieldwalking survey, mapping every visible feature, followed by systematic trial trenches. Fifty-five trenches, 11 in the village and 44 in the fields, were opened. The stratigraphies were then compared with a series of 22 radiocarbon dates and eight relative dates provided by ceramic typologies. This combination of surface and buried evidence supported our preliminary hypothesis about the dynamics of the slope. The results suggest the existence of agrarian features beginning in the Bronze Age and reveal that the field patterns were frequently transformed, both in the Medieval and Early Modern periods. The transformations in the terrace fields after the village was abandoned are as interesting as those during occupation because, contrary to the idea of a fixed, unchanging landscape after the end of the Middle Ages, they challenge the idea that mountain zones are marginal spaces by nature, or were marginalized later.

La cartographie des sites archéologiques forestiers au moyen d'un LiDaR embarqué par drone. Un retour d'expérience du Sud-Ouest de la France en archéologie du paysage et du peuplement.

Dans le cadre du programme ANR Archeostraits, une cartographie de l'habitat du site archéologique de la Silla del Papa (sud de l'Espagne) a été entreprise. Elle est rendue complexe par la topographie combinant de forts dénivelés et une végétation persistante. De plus, les bâtiments de la fin de l'âge du fer sont ancrés à plusieurs niveaux dans les parois de barres rocheuses, ce qui rend inopérante une analyse architecturale traditionnelle à partir de planimétries en 2D. L'analyse 3D à plusieurs échelles, de l'environnement au sondage, demande une adaptation des outils d'acquisition 3D à cet espace. Trois technologies présentes au sein du laboratoire Traces générant des nuages de points denses ont été utilisées. ABSTRACT. As part of the ANR Archeostraits program, a mapping of the archaeological remains of the site of Silla del Papa (Southern Spain) was undertaken. It is made complex by a rugged topography, with strong unevenness and a ground covered by persistent vegetation. In addition, Late Iron Age buildings are embedded in rock walls at several levels, making traditional architectural analysis ineffective with 2D planimetry. Multi-scale 3D analysis, from the surrounding territory to the excavation of a house, requires an adaptation of 3D acquisition tools. For this purpose, we have used three technologies developed in the Traces laboratory to generate dense point clouds. MOTS-CLÉS. acquisition 3D, nuage de points dense, Lidar, topographie.

Depuis trente ans, les milieux d'altitude européens constituent un cadre novateur de recherche sur les dynamiques des systèmes pastoraux des espaces de montagne dans la longue durée. Les différentes équipes de recherche impliquées dans ces travaux se trouvent confrontées au problème de l'acquisition de l'information primaire lors de la phase de prospection. Accéder à une information archéologique qui soit la plus complète possible dans un temps relativement court est l'enjeu de la phase de prospection en milieu d'altitude. Le programme de recherche TAHMM (Télédétection Archéologique en Haute et Moyenne Montagne) a pour objectif de réviser les méthodes de détection des structures archéologiques de ces milieux en déployant différentes méthodes non invasives, du satellite à l'analyse chimique des sols, pour mettre en place une approche intégrée multi-source, multi-échelle et multi-temporelle. Établir de nouvelles procédures de prospection demande également de pousser plus avant l'analyse de l'information et souvent de sortir des schémas trop stricts des formats propriétaires. Le présent article exposera les premiers résultats du travail de refonte de la chaîne de traitement et d'analyse des images thermiques acquises par drone sur des sites pastoraux d'altitude en s'appuyant sur des tests réalisés en 2018.Abstarct: For 30 years, European mountain environments have provided an innovative framework for research on the dynamics of pastoral systems in mountain areas over the long term. The various research teams involved in this work are confronted with the problem of acquiring primary information during the surveving phase. Accessing archaeological information that is as complete as possible in a relatively short period of time is the challenge of the mid-altitude prospecting phase. The TAHMM (Archaeological Remote Sensing in High and Medium Mountains) research program aims to revise the methods for detecting the archaeological structures of these environments by deploying different non-invasive methods, from satellites to chemical soil analysis, to implement an integrated multi-source, multi-scale and multi-temporal approach. Establishing new prospecting procedures also requires further data analysis and often leaving too strict schemes of proprietary formats. This article will present the first results of the work to redesign the processing and analysis chain for thermal images acquired by drone at high altitude pastoral sites, based on tests carried out in 2018.

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Les pratiques actuelles de la recherche en archéologie confirment une tendance forte au regroupement des chercheurs et à la mutualisation des données imposant désormais la mise en place de plateformes communes. Ce changement des pratiques se traduit par le passage du travail en local à l'ouverture vers des bases de données partagées entre plusieurs équipes, plusieurs institutions, voire plusieurs pays. Depuis 2005, l'expérience de sept travaux réalisés au sein du laboratoire Traces (Architerre, ChasséoLab, Départ, Graph-Comp, Modelespace, Monumen, M&P) en collaboration avec des institutions partenaires françaises et étrangères (ministère de la Culture, services régionaux, CNRS, universités, organismes et entreprises de l'archéologie préventive, associations, etc.) permet d'exposer les principes de la coordination, complexe, du travail collaboratif et l'impact des choix effectués. ABSTRACT. Current archaeological research practices confirm a strong trend towards the grouping of researchers and the sharing of data, which now requires the establishment of shared platforms. This change in practices is reflected in the shift from working locally to opening up to databases shared by several teams, several institutions and even several countries. Since 2005, the experience of seven projects carried out in the Traces laboratory (Architerre, ChasséoLab, Départ, Graph-Comp, Modelespace, Monumen, M&P) in collaboration with French and foreign partner institutions (Ministry of Culture, regional services, CNRS, universities, preventive archaeology organizations and companies, associations, etc.) has helped to clarify the principles of coordination, complexity, collaborative work and the impact of the choices made. MOTS-CLÉS. Archéologie, BD partagées, Webmapping, mutualisation, interopérabilité, gestion de projet.