Archaeological Survey in the South Caucasus (Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia)

Anderson, William A.; Birkett-Rees, Jessie; Cleary, Michelle Negus; Krsmanovic, Damjan; Tskvitinidze, Nikoloz

doi:10.4000/anatoliaantiqua.283

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 1 publication

(1 reference statement)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As many archaeologists in the Caucasus have attested (Anderson et al 2014;Badalyan and Avetisyan 2007;Hammer 2014;Lindsay et al 2022;Neumann et al 2018;Smith et al 2009), Soviet-era amelioration programs of the latter twentieth century-including field clearance, leveling and terraforming, dam construction, irrigation schemes, and managed forest development-led to industrial-scale transformations to landscapes that create perennial challenges for settlement survey. Historic alterations to the terrain and seasonally variable land-cover conditions are two important factors that heavily impact the probabilities of locating archaeological sites, so understanding these processes can help research teams be more efficient in where to focus limited time and resources in a survey area.…”

Section: Assessing Landscape Characteristics and Transformationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free and Low-Cost Aerial Remote Sensing in Archaeology

Lindsay

Mkrtchyan

2023

Adv. archaeol. pract.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent years have seen the rapid expansion of airborne and spaceborne remote-sensing products adopted by archaeologists for interpreting ancient landscapes and managing heritage resources. A growing and increasingly specialized literature attests to the promise and availability of commercial and publicly funded satellite imagery, as well as UAV-mounted sensors across a range of resolutions and price points. In the South Caucasus (including the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia), a growing commitment to landscape approaches in archaeology is stimulating the adoption of satellite remote sensing as an important new tool for identifying and managing archaeological resources while tracing the impact of historic land-use alterations in survey areas. Nevertheless, budgetary challenges and a lack of training opportunities among international partners and heritage organizations outside of the funding streams of large academic institutions can lead to widening technological gulfs in the discipline that reinforce colonial relationships. Building on recent technical articles covering specific imagery datasets, this article aims to address this by providing a general review of free or low-cost remotely sensed datasets available to archaeologists, with the aim of broadening awareness of these important tools and their vocabularies, and illustrating them with recent published examples from the South Caucasus.

show abstract