Integrating aerial and satellite imagery: discovering Roman imperial landscapes in southern Dobrogea (Romania)

Oltean, I.A. and Hanson, W.S. (2013) Integrating aerial and satellite imagery: discovering Roman imperial landscapes in southern Dobrogea (Romania). In: Hanson, W.S. and Oltean, I.A. (eds.) Archaeology from Historical Aerial and Satellite Archives. Springer: New York, NY, USA, pp. 315-336. ISBN 9781461445050 (doi: 10.1007/978-1-4614-4505-0_18)

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the value of analysing a range of remotely sensed imagery in order to study the development of the historic landscape in Southern Dobrogea (Romania). The methodology involves integrating within a GIS environment low altitude oblique aerial photographs, obtained through traditional observer-directed archaeological aerial reconnaissance; medium altitude historical vertical photographs produced by German, British and American military reconnaissance during the Second World War; and high altitude de-classified United States military satellite imagery (Corona) from the 1960s. The value of this approach lies not just in that it enables extensive detailed mapping of large archaeological landscapes in Romania for the first time, but also that it allows the recording of previously unrecognised archaeological features now permanently destroyed by modern urban expansion or by industrial and infrastructural development. Various results are presented and illustrated, and some of the problems raised by each method of data acquisition are addressed.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hanson, Professor William
• Authors: Oltean, I.A., and Hanson, W.S.
• Subjects: C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CC Archaeology
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Archaeology
• Publisher: Springer
• ISBN: 9781461445050