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This study aims to provide new insights into Europe’s largest known Bronze Age earthworks using open-access and freely distributed medium resolution satellite images. The most extensive Bronze Age fortifications in Europe, namely, the Corneşti-Iarcuri and Sântana – Cetatea Veche sites, were investigated through the Sentinel 2 and the newly launched Landsat 9 optical sensors. Image processing techniques were applied to both datasets, including vegetation indices, orthogonal spectral transformations, and pan-sharpening techniques. The final results revealed several known and unknown archaeological proxies by enhancing a number of linear and curved crop marks in the vicinity of the archaeological sites. Indeed, while previously implemented geophysical results confirmed some of these archaeological proxies, new findings (crop marks) were also revealed, representing archaeological structures that were unknown until now. The study's overall findings indicate that medium resolution satellite images can be used in appropriate areas with archaeological interest as a first step toward better understanding the broader context of an area. The findings addressed in this study have a direct impact on the non-invasive aspect of archaeology, as the methodology employed in this paper may be applied to various types of sites in southwestern Romania and beyond and might serve as a solid starting point for any archaeological project. Finally, this is the first elaboration of Landsat 9 intended for archaeological research and our study proves that its utility for archaeological and heritage purposes.

This study aims to investigate potential archaeological proxies at a large Bronze Age fortification in Hungary, namely the Csanádpalota–Juhász T. tanya site, using open-access satellite data. Available Sentinel-2 images acquired between April 2017 and September 2022 were used. More than 700 images (727) were initially processed and filtered, accounting at the end of more than 400 (412) available calibrated Level 2A Sentinel images over the case study area. Sentinel-2 images were processed through image analysis. Based on pan-sharpened data, the visibility of crop marks was improved and enhanced by implementing orthogonal equations. Several crop marks, some still unknown, were revealed in this study. In addition, multi-temporal phenological observations were recorded on three archaeological proxies (crop marks) within the case study area, while an additional area was selected for calibration purposes (agricultural field). Phenological observations were performed for at least four complete phenological cycles throughout the study period. Statistical comparisons between the selected archaeological proxies were applied using a range of vegetation indices. The overall results indicated that phenological observations could be used as archaeological proxies for detecting the formation of crop marks.