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This article discusses the deployment of mobile data capture software developed by the Field Acquired Information Management Systems project (FAIMS Mobile) to document systematic pedestrian surface survey and legacy feature verification at the Perachora Peninsula Archaeology Project (PPAP), Greece, in 2020. FAIMS Mobile is an open-source platform that generates customized Android applications for data capture during field research. We reused and adapted two existing customizations from the FAIMS library for comprehensive digital recording of two workflows, integrating a collection of structured data, geospatial data, photos, and text. FAIMS Mobile required only modest hardware but supported offline setup, synchronization, and data export, allowing PPAP to deploy it despite unreliable internet access. The system proved successful; it was tailored to our aims and methods, captured consistent and well-described data rapidly, and minimized post-processing. All collected data was available daily for planning, and a comprehensive dataset adhering to Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data standards was ready for analysis with only a few hours of processing after fieldwork.

The Traces in a Lost Landscape: Aboriginal archaeological sites, Dyarubbin/Nepean River Project uses geospatial recording and analysis to recover, integrate, and map data from published and unpublished reports on Aboriginal archaeological sites on Dyarubbin/the Nepean River in New South Wales, Australia. This dataset consists of Australian Aboriginal archaeological locations of interest in the greater Nepean River area in New South Wales, Australia.

This article uses an ordered logistic regression (logit) model to assess the vulnerability of ancient burial mounds to human activity in the Kazanlak Valley, Bulgaria. This model yields probabilities of damage to burial mounds subject to changing conditions, based on the present condition and situation of a large dataset of mounds ( n = 773), as estimated through direct visual assessment. Results for the Kazanlak Valley indicate that changing land use (conversion of pasture to arable land) and depopulation or de-urbanisation (increased distance to the nearest city, town, or village) represent two anthropogenic factors that degrade burial mounds. These factors likely represent threats from ploughing related to annual agriculture, and looting fostered by the decreased scrutiny associated with remoteness. After an initial survey to acquire the requisite data, local cultural heritage personnel can use this approach to predict quickly and continuously how mound vulnerability will respond to changing circumstances, and then direct resources to the most vulnerable monuments. Unlike typical predictive modelling for cultural heritage management, use of a logit regression on a large dataset quantifies the probable impact of changing circumstances on monuments without relying on site location models, prior knowledge of specific hazards, or forecasts of future development. This approach can be applied widely, wherever sufficient observational data are available. Our results also provide a reminder that agriculture is not wholly benign, and that depopulation – not just urban sprawl – can threaten cultural heritage.

The Thracian Plain in the SE Balkans was one of the main corridors through which Neolithic agriculture spread into continental Europe. Previous studies have invoked rapid sea-level and climatic changes to explain the timing of agricultural expansion. We present a new record of vegetation, fire and lacustrine sedimentation from Bulgarian Thrace to examine environmental change in this region since the Last Glacial Maximum. Our record indicates the persistence of cold steppe vegetation from ∼37,500 to 17,900 cal. a BP, semidesert vegetation from ∼17,900 to 10,300 cal. a BP, forest-steppe vegetation from ∼10,300 to 8900 cal. a BP, and mixed oak woods from ∼8900 to 4000 cal. a BP, followed by widespread deforestation, burning and grazing. Early-Holocene forest expansion in Bulgarian Thrace closely followed changes in the Black Sea's regional moisture balance and appears to have been influenced by solar-forced changes in seasonality. We suggest that climatic aridity and/or enhanced seasonality – lasting until at least ∼8900 cal. a BP – could have delayed the spread of early agriculture from the Aegean coast into the continental lowlands of the Balkans and thence into the rest of Europe.

When deployed in combination with ground control, archaeological surface survey, and environmental research, remote sensing based upon high-resolution multispectral satellite imagery allows large areas to be evaluated efficiently by a small team of researchers and contributes to a better understanding of an archaeological landscape. In 2007 and 2008, we analyzed ca. 100 sq km of imagery centered on L'Amastuola, Italy. Combining the evaluation of high-resolution multispectral imagery with concurrent ground control led to the discovery of 29 sites and significant off-site scatters during about four weeks of fieldwork. Our analysis indicates that most of the detected features reflect geological conditions amenable to past human habitation rather than subsurface archaeological remains. Earlier fieldwork by the Murge Tableland Survey (MTS) provided independent definitions for various types of sites and a large sample of sites and off-site scatters in the study area. Comparison of our remote-sensing gu...

In this article, the Federated Archaeological Information Management Systems (FAIMS) project presents its stocktaking activities and software development towards the creation of a comprehensive digital infrastructure for archaeologists. A National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources (NeCTAR)-funded initiative, the FAIMS project aims to develop tools to facilitate the creation, sharing, reuse and dissemination of high-quality digital datasets for research and cultural heritage management. FAIMS has engaged in an extensive stocktaking and liaison programme with archaeologists and related professionals, the results of which have shaped the development plans. Project development is focusing on highly customisable mobile applications for data collection, a web application for data processing, and an online repository for archiving and disseminating data, with provisions for creating semantically and technically compatible datasets embedded throughout. Data exchange using standard formats and approaches ensures that components work well together, and that new, externally developed tools can be added later. Our goal is to create a digital system that respects the current workflow of archaeological practice, improves the availability of compatible archaeological data, and delivers features that archaeologists want to use.