Aims

By the end of this course, students will be familiar with the basic research methods employed in Archaeological Prospection. Due to the increasingly frequent discoveries of archaeological sites which cannot be excavated, the explosion in preventive research and vastly improved applied scientific methods in the field, Archaeological Prospection has now become a quite separate area of research.

Main themes

This course demonstrates the current importance of Archaeological Prospection. Students will learn the stages involved in preventive archaeology and how to draw up a preliminary survey. They will also be introduced to methods of aerial and ground prospection and scientific, geophysical and geochemical methods of prospection.

Content and teaching methods

This course introduces students to the methods of Archaeological Prospection, taking them first through the stages of drawing up a preliminary survey, aerial prospection and photographic and topographic interpretation. The second stage introduces students to techniques of ground prospection, which encompasses primarily micro-regional surveys and land occupation. Manual and then scientific prospection techniques are both discussed. The scientific techniques include geophysical prospection methods, geoelectric and geomagnetic techniques, the use of radar and chemical prospection methods, which make it possible to detect ancient habitations on the basis of phosphate analysis.

Other credits in programs