Cropmarks in stands of cereals, legumes and winter rape indicate sub-soil archaeological features in the agricultural landscape of Central Europe

Hejcman, Michal; Smrz, Z.

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2010.06.004

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…This explains why wood ash in the subsoil can irreversibly increase stand productivity in the soil under the climatic conditions of the Central European lowlands. Irreversible changes in soil chemical properties due to ash deposition can be expected because the same positive cropmarks as those observed in this study were recorded above waste pits from the Neolithic period, which were 7,500 years old (Hejcman and Smrž 2010). To our knowledge, such long-term, still detectable, residual effects of wood ash deposition on soil chemical properties have not been reported previously.…”

Section: Soil Chemical Propertiessupporting

confidence: 54%

Ancient waste pits with wood ash irreversibly increase crop production in Central Europe

Hejcman

Ondráček

Smrz³

2010

Plant Soil

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During an aerial archeological survey performed in spring 2009, we detected positive cropmarks (increased biomass production) indicating waste pits in the subsoil in a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) stand. Based on pottery samples, the waste pits were dated to the end of the twelfth century or to the first half of the thirteenth century. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there were any differences in the soil chemical properties in arable and subsoil layers between cropmarks and the surrounding stands (controls) with normal crop growth. We also investigated how plant performance and biomass chemical properties differed between the cropmarks and controls. There were no differences in pH between cropmarks and controls in the 0-20 cm arable layer, but a substantially higher pH was recorded in the subsoil layer (30-40 cm) in cropmarks compared to controls, indicating deposited wood ash. Similar results were recorded for plant available (Mehlich III) P, Ca, Mg, As and Zn concentrations. Plant height, spike length, flag leaf length, tiller density, spike density and standing dry matter biomass were substantially higher in cropmarks than in controls on both sampling dates (

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Section: Soil Chemical Propertiessupporting

confidence: 54%

Ancient waste pits with wood ash irreversibly increase crop production in Central Europe

Hejcman

Ondráček

Smrz³

2010

Plant Soil

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“…The overall results from this study or from similar studies [74][75][76][77][78] can assist in the design of the first satellite sensor intended for archaeological studies. Indeed, the evaluation of ground spectral signatures and VIs over buried archaeological remains, along with the study of the formation of crop marks, can define the spectral regions of the spectrum most suitable for archaeological research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Evaluation of Broadband and Narrowband Vegetation Indices for the Identification of Archaeological Crop Marks

2012

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Several studies in the past have examined the spectral capability of multispectral and hyperspectral imagery for the identification of crop marks, while recent studies have applied different vegetation indices in order to support remote sensing archaeological applications. However, the use of vegetation indices for the detection of crop marks lacks in accuracy assessment and critical evaluation. In this study, 71 vegetation indices were indexed, from the relevant bibliography, and evaluated for their potential to detect such crop marks. During this study, several ground spectroradiometric campaigns took place, in a controlled archaeological environment in Cyprus, cultivated with barley crops, during a complete phenological cycle (2011)(2012). All vegetation indices, both broadband and narrowband, were evaluated for their separability performance, and the results were presented through tables and diagrams. In the end, the use of more than one vegetation index is suggested in order to enhance the final results. In fact, several not widely used vegetation indices are suggested and evaluated using both Landsat TM and EO-1 Hyperion images.

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“…For instance, the characteristics of the buried features, as well the soil characteristics, or even climatic and environmental parameters, can affect the formation of crop marks. Furthermore, the formation of crop marks is a dynamic phenomenon which may vary in each crop's phenological cycle [20][21][22][23][24][25]. Therefore, a better understanding regarding the formation of crop marks is needed based on remote sensing data.…”

Section: Remote Sensing For Archaeological Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Potentials of Sentinel-2 for Archaeological Perspective

et al. 2014

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Abstract:The potentials of the forthcoming new European Space Agency's (ESA) satellite sensor, Sentinel-2, for archaeological studies was examined in this paper. For this reason, an extensive spectral library of crop marks, acquired through numerous spectroradiometric campaigns, which are related with buried archaeological remains, has been resampled to the spectral characteristics of Sentinel-2. In addition, other existing satellite sensors have been also evaluated (Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM); Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER); IKONOS; Landsat 4 TM; Landsat 7 Enhance Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+); QuickBird; Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT); and WorldView-2). The simulated data have been compared with the optimum spectral regions for the detection of crop marks (700 nm and 800 nm). In addition, several existing vegetation indices have been also assessed for all sensors. As it was found, the spectral characteristics of Sentinel-2 are able to better distinguish crop marks compared to other existing satellite sensors. Indeed, as it was found, using a simulated Sentinel-2 image, not only known buried archaeological sites were able to be detected, but also other still unknown sites were able to be revealed.

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Cropmarks in stands of cereals, legumes and winter rape indicate sub-soil archaeological features in the agricultural landscape of Central Europe

Cited by 23 publications

References 29 publications

Ancient waste pits with wood ash irreversibly increase crop production in Central Europe

Ancient waste pits with wood ash irreversibly increase crop production in Central Europe

Evaluation of Broadband and Narrowband Vegetation Indices for the Identification of Archaeological Crop Marks

Evaluating the Potentials of Sentinel-2 for Archaeological Perspective

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