Multi‐technique Geophysical Survey in and around the Hillfort Lossow – a Bronze and Iron Age Central Site in Brandenburg, Germany

Abstract

At the hillfort Lossow, integrated geophysical surveys were applied as part of an interdisciplinary research project. The importance of the prehistoric and Slavic site rests on various shafts within the hillfort, which are dated to the Early Iron Age and contain findings of offering processes associated with cult practices. At present more than 60 shafts with a depth of 5 to 7.5 m are known from test trenches and excavations inside the hillfort. In the settlement in front of the hillfort, large-scale magnetic gradiometer surveys and electrical resistivity mapping were applied to detect new archaeological features, verified by field surveys and targeted excavation. Inside the hillfort, a combination of magnetic gradiometer surveys, electrical resistivity imaging, ground-penetrating radar, and pulse-induction metal detection were used to reveal the complexity of structures like archaeological pits, shafts, pit houses and modern disturbances in varying soil types. These measurements resulted in a very complex signal of the geophysical data. We used an integrated approach for the interpretation of data from magnetic gradiometer surveys, pulse-induction metal detection and ground-penetrating radar surveys. Thus it became possible to interpret most of the detected anomalies as archaeological features from the Slavic period or modern metal artefacts in the topsoil. The detection of the Iron Age shafts covered by complex settlement structures only became possible using high resolution electrical resistivity tomography and low frequency ground-penetrating radar.

Understanding complexity: the case-study of al-Ḥīra, Iraq

“…The 50 ha magnetometer survey conducted in 2021 (HIRA2021/AoI2, Kniess et al 2022) is the continuation of the survey of 75 ha carried out in 2016 (HIRA 2016/AoI1, Ullrich et al 2016). The manual interpretation of 40 ha of HIRA2016/AoI1 with 5298 identified anomalies delineating 9 classes was taken as baseline and extended to 16 archaeo-geophysical classes in the case of HIRA2021/AoI2.…”

“…To address this, the "Hira Survey Project" (predecessor of the DFG project) reassessed between 2015 and 2018 previous archaeological research and conducted field surveys and prospections to understand the exact location, extent, chronology, and material culture of the settlement. In 2016 UAV (Stremke 2016) and magnetometer surveys were undertaken (HIRA2016/AoI1, Ullrich et al 2016) in the area of a planned second runway of the al-Najaf International Airport. In 2018, the area south of the Airport was surveyed by UAV (Müller-Wiener et al 2015;Müller-Wiener and Siegel 2018;Müller-Wiener et al 2019;Stremke 2018).…”

Two Iron-Age Settlement Sites in Germany: From Field Work via Numerical Modeling towards an Improved Interpretation

“…The area has been mapped extensively with several geophysical methods, and results are described in detail in Ullrich (2010) and Ullrich et al (2013). Here we will only summarize the key findings characteristic for the site.…”

“…The site Lossow on the banks of the river Oder close to Frankurt/Oder has been a fortified central site with a complex settlement history. Both sites have been investigated intensively with multi-geophysical surveys (Ullrich, 2010;Ullrich et al, 2011;Freibothe et al, 2011;Ullrich et al, 2013), based on gradiometer magnetics, electrical resistivity tomography, georadar, and transient electro-magnetics. The results of these surveys are summarized and then used for a predictive model of the sub-surface features dominating the geophysical responses of the localities.…”

The contribution of non‐destructive geophysical surveys to archaeological research of early medieval hillforts in Bohemia: A case study of the Tismice hillfort area

“…In the earlier period of the application of archaeological prospecting in the final decades of the 20th century, geophysical methods were mostly used in surveys of partial areas of Czech, Moravian and Slovak hillforts only in connection with ongoing archaeological research (Bátra et al, 1989;Hašek & Unger, 2001;Marek et al, 1979;Šolle, 1978). A new expansion and the swift development of nondestructive archaeology and various remote sensing techniques recent decades have also changed possibilities in the spatial mapping and documentation of various hillforts (Henning et al, 2007;Křivánek, 2013Křivánek, , 2018Křivánek, , 2019aMilo et al, 2011;Payne, 1996;Sikora et al, 2018;Ullrich et al, 2016). Due to combinations of different methods, we can uncover forgotten or unexpected areas of known and partially excavated hillforts (Dresler et al, 2013;Křivánek et al, 2013;Ruttkay et al, 2006) but also define the extent or internal structure of unexcavated fortified localities, or document new, unknown, unprotected and unexcavated fortified sites (Křivánek, 2015;Nowaczinski et al, 2012).…”