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Archaeological sites can be discovered and recorded in a high-resolution and non-invasivemanner using geophysical methods. These measure the spatial variation of a range ofphysical properties of the soil which may be representative proxies of the subsurfacearchaeology. Less-invasive and cost-effective field procedures have become top-priority tomitigate the destructive effects on our cultural heritage from intensified land use, climatechange and the current conflict panorama. At a time when many organisations are investing in advanced geophysical equipment, amajor problem is that our ability to fully interpret the information available from geophysical datasets is still very limited. This deficiency prevents geophysical survey moving beyond basic prospection and becoming a significant tool for answering nuanced questions about archaeology and their host landscapes. This limitation arises from an incomplete understanding of the relationship between soil properties and geophysical measurements. Bridging this gap requires multi-disciplinary teams, testing novel methods, plus scholarly discussion to collate the outcomes of projects on this topic. Overcoming these challenges is a prerequisite for maximising the costeffectiveness of geophysical methods, realising the expected benefits of technological investment and allowing broader utility of geophysical methods in the cultural heritage sector. SAGA will build an international network of geophysicists, archaeologists, soil scientists and other experts to develop our capability to interpret geophysical data and promote research collaborations. Our vision is that after four years, SAGA will have created an environment within which emerging field procedures, enhanced data interpretation and a broader understanding of integrated geophysical methods can flourish.

The systematic exploration of large archaeological sites in the Mediterranean has evolved considerably since the “big dig” excavations. Pedestrian field surveying and remote sensing applications, including satellite and airborne image analysis, are now practical and relatively cost-efficient methods of characterizing large and diachronically diverse landscapes on regional scales. However, the use of geophysical techniques as a means for exploring manifold archaeological contexts is still in its infancy. In this paper, we highlight the advantages of archaeological geophysics to conduct regional surveys in the Mediterranean. Through a multi-site geophysical fieldwork campaign to investigate the patterns and dynamics of ancient cities in Greece, we show how geophysics offer new opportunities for characterizing the spatial attributes and regional dynamics of urban landscapes, and, in doing so, we make an argument for its wider adoption on regional survey projects.

The Sensing Archaeology in the North workshop was partially funded by the Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, NTNU University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway. In August 2018, a group of experts working with terrestrial/marine geophysics and remote sensing methods to explore archaeological sites in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Scotland and Sweden gathered together for the first time at the Workshop ‘Sensing Archaeology in The North’. The goal was to exchange experiences, discuss challenges, and consider future directions for further developing these methods and strategies for their use in archaeology. After the event, this special journal issue was arranged to publish papers that are based on the workshop presentations, but also to incorporate work that is produced by other researchers in the field. This paper closes the special issue and further aims to provide current state-of-the-art for the methods represented by the workshop. Here, we introduce the aspects that inspired the organisation of the meeting, a summary of the 12 presentations and eight paper contributions, as well as a discussion about the main outcomes of the workshop roundtables, including the production of two searchable databases (online resources and equipment). We conclude with the position that the ‘North’, together with its unique cultural heritage and thriving research community, is at the forefront of good practice in the application and development of sensing methods in archaeological research and management. However, further method development is required, so we claim the support of funding bodies to back research efforts based on testing/experimental studies to: explore unknown survey environments and identify optimal survey conditions, as well as to monitor the preservation of archaeological remains, especially those that are at risk. It is demonstrated that remote sensing and geophysics not only have an important role in the safeguarding of archaeological sites from development and within prehistorical-historical research, but the methods can be especially useful in recording and monitoring the increased impact of climate change on sites in the North. Publisher PDF

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During the 13th and 12th centuries BCE, Dromolaxia - Vyzakia (Hala Sultan Tekke) was a flourishing coastal settlement located at the shores of the Larnaca salt lake and for this reason the site has attracted a great deal of scholarly interest. Evidence of ceramic, ivory and metal manufacturing processes supports the belief that this site was not only a location active in trade, but also an important crafts centre. Despite the fact that a significant number of archaeological missions invested considerable time and expertise to study the site, its spatial extent and makeup is still not fully understood. Significant efforts are currently underway to reveal the extent of the whole settlement and to pinpoint possible anthropogenic activities. The detection of intriguing magnetic anomalies during a preliminary geophysical survey over an unexcavated area adjacent to the main excavation, and the presence of nearby surface scattered slag fragments, suggested further investigation. These locations were ideal for an extensive geochemical survey through micro-XRF measurements. Therefore, an extensive geochemical survey, the objective of this study, was carried out to measure concentrations of elements (K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Zn) using a micro-XRF. Soil samples were collected at an excavated area of known anthropogenic activity as well as from other unexcavated areas including the one assessed by the geophysical survey. Results were analyzed with the method of principal components analysis (PCA) and Pearson's correlation coefficients focusing on the identification of possible patterns amongst sampling areas. The site's normal background concentration values (NBC) were also determined in order to evaluate elemental enhancement by enrichment factors. The statistical analysis of results indicated the impact of metalworking or other related processes in the soil's chemistry. In addition, it identified elements that can be attributed to anthropogenic activities (K, Ca, Ni, Cu, and Zn) and also corroborated with the geophysical data highlighting specific zones where future archaeological efforts should focus.

Archaeological sites can be discovered and recorded in a high-resolution and non-invasive manner using geophysical methods. These measure the spatial variation of a range of physical properties of the soil which may be representative proxies of the subsurface archaeology. Less-invasive and cost-effective field procedures have become top-priority to mitigate the destructive effects on our cultural heritage from intensified land use, climate change and the current conflict panorama. At a time when many organisations are investing in advanced geophysical equipment, a major problem is that our ability to fully interpret the information available from geophysical datasets is still very limited. This deficiency prevents geophysical survey moving beyond basic prospection and becoming a significant tool for answering nuanced questions about archaeology and their host landscapes. This limitation arises from an incomplete understanding of the relationship between soil properties and geophysical measurements. Bridging this gap requires multi-disciplinary teams, testing novel methods, plus scholarly discussion to collate the outcomes of projects on this topic. Overcoming these challenges is a prerequisite for maximising the costeffectiveness of geophysical methods, realising the expected benefits of technological investment and allowing broader utility of geophysical methods in the cultural heritage sector. SAGA will build an international network of geophysicists, archaeologists, soil scientists and other experts to develop our capability to interpret geophysical data and promote research collaborations. Our vision is that after four years, SAGA will have created an environment within which emerging field procedures, enhanced data interpretation and a broader understanding of integrated geophysical methods can flourish. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Lime is a fundamental component in many industrial, agricultural and chemical processes, and is itself produced by an industrial process, namely, the heating in kilns (calcining, or more colloquially ‘burning’) of calcium carbonate rock or other carbonate material. Research and literature on lime burning in Scotland, based largely on lime production in Scotland's eastern Central Belt, are dominated by the view that lime burning in draw kilns is the paradigm for Scottish lime production. Other parts of Scotland, however, largely or completely ignored, draw kilns in favour of simpler clamp kilns, even in major industrial sites of lime production. This paper reports our map- and field-based surveys in Scotland's western Central Belt, which clearly point to the enduring importance and almost exclusive use of clamp kilns in that area's historical lime-burning industry.

An extensive geophysical survey at the ancient Greek settlement of Mantineia in Peloponnese identified near surface features of archaeological interest that provide valuable information about the internal organization of the city. A multi-method approach was adopted for the application of various geophysical methods, spanning from magnetics to electromagnetics, soil resistance and GPR techniques, coupled with aerial and satellite remote sensing. The resolution of the GPR approach was crucial in identifying the details of the urban space and its development over time. The supremacy of the GPR in revealing the lateral expansion of the architectural residues and their vertical extent was obvious with respect to the rest of the methods applied.

La magnetometría es una importante herramienta para detectar estructuras enterradas y reconstruir el urbanismo The magnetometry is an important tool to revealing the hidden structures

—The main challenge of ground penetrating radar\ud GPR) based foundation detection is to have an accurate image\ud analysis method. In order to solve the detection problem a\ud system level analysis of the issues involved with the recognition of\ud foundations using image reconstruction is required. The SIMCA\ud (’SIMulated Correlation Algorithm’) is a technique based on\ud an area correlation between the trace that would be returned\ud by an ideal point reflector in the soil conditions at the site\ud and the actual trace. During an initialization phase, SIMCA\ud carries out radar simulation using the design parameters of the\ud radar and soil properties. Then SIMCA takes the raw data as\ud the radar is scanned over the ground and in real-time uses a\ud clutter removal technique to remove various clutter such as cross\ud talk, initial ground reflection and antenna ringing. The trace\ud which would be returned by a target under these conditions\ud is then used to form a correlation kernel. The GPR b-scan is\ud then correlated with the kernel using the Pearson correlation\ud coefficient, resulting in a correlated image which is brightest at\ud points most similar to the canonical target. This image is then\ud raised to an odd power >2 to enhance the target/background\ud separation. To validate and compare the algorithm, photographs\ud of the building before it was demolished along with processed data\ud using the REFLEXW package were used. The results produced\ud by the SIMCA algorithm were very promising and were able to\ud locate some features that the REFLEXW package were not able\ud to identify.