Crop marks and soils at two archaeological sites in Britain

Published Date

Journal of Archaeological Science

March 1977, Vol.4(1):63–76, doi:10.1016/0305-4403(77)90112-1

Author 

• R. Evans
• R.J.A. Jones ^a

• aRothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England

Available online 1 September 2004.

Abstract

The factors which create crop marks at two archaeological sites, at Glenlochar, Kirkcudbrightshire and at Fisherwick, Staffordshire, are examined in some detail. Marks are best recorded at these places in cereals and show earliest over the shallowest soils. They appear when the potential soil moisture deficit, which occurs when water transpired by a crop exceeds rainfall, is greater than the amount of water in the soil available to the plant. Marks only show in grassland when the deficit is about 40 mm more than that calculated for cereals. Marks also appear in very wet years, but are fainter than those caused by a moisture deficit, and are probably caused by waterlogging in the soil. At both sites the soils are moderately stony and shallow over terrace sands and gravels, except for soils in infilled ditches over which crop growth is better.

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Optimum temporal and spectral window for monitoring crop marks over archaeological remains in the Mediterranean region

Published Date
Journal of Archaeological Science
March 2013, Vol.40(3):1479–1492, doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.10.036

Author 

• Athos Agapiou ^a,,
• Diofantos G. Hadjimitsis ^a,
• Apostolos Sarris ^b,
• Andreas Georgopoulos ^c,
• Dimitrios D. Alexakis ^a,

• aLaboratory of Geophysical-Satellite Remote Sensing & Archaeo-environment, Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Foundation for Research & Technology, Hellas (F.O.R.T.H.), Greece
• bDepartment of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Cyprus University of Technology, 2-6, Saripolou Str., 3603 Limassol, Cyprus
• cLaboratory of Photogrammetry, School of Rural & Surveying Engineering, NTUA, Greece

Received 3 July 2012. Revised 4 October 2012. Accepted 22 October 2012. Available online 17 November 2012. 

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the formation of crops marks over archaeological features using remote sensing data. Crop marks are very important to archaeological research since they can reveal in an indirect way buried archaeological remains. Several researches have been able to locate subsurface relics via interpretation of multispectral and hyperspectral satellite images. However the best phenophase (time-window) where these crop marks are enhanced and which spectral bands are the most capable for this enhancement are still an open question for the scientific community. This study aims to address these fundamental aspects of Remote Sensing Archaeology. For this reason an extensive dataset was used: two control archaeological sites were constructed in two different areas of Cyprus (Alampra and Acheleia). In these areas both barley and wheat, were cultivated. In situ spectroradiometric measurements were taken over a whole phenological cycle (2001–2012) for both areas. More than 30 in situ campaigns were performed and more than 2600 ground measurements were collected. The phenological analysis of these measurements have shown that a period of only 15 days is best suitable for monitoring crop marks which is connected with one phenological stage; during the beginning of the boot stage of the crops. This period can be used in areas having similar climatic condition as Cyprus (Mediterranean region). Also as it was found, this phenological stage of crops might be also influenced by the climatic conditions of the area. The evaluation of a proposed Archaeological Index was performed at the Thessalian plain (central Greece), where several Neolithic settlements are established. The evaluation was made using both Hyperion and Landsat images. The results have shown that the proposed Archaeological Index is suitable for the enhancement of crop marks in satellite imagery.

Highlights

► The optimum spectral and time-window for detecting crop marks is presented. ► One phenological stage of the crops is best suitable for detection of crop marks. ► An Archaeological Index which enhance crop marks was developed. ► The Archaeological Index was evaluated successfully using hyperspectral images.

Keywords

Remote sensing archaeology

Crop marks

Detection of archaeological remains

Best phenophase

Archaeological index

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• KMZ (1K)

• KMZ (1K)

• ∗ 
  corresponding author.

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Examining links between soil management, soil health, and public benefits in agricultural landscapes: An Australian perspective

Published Date
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
15 October 2010, Vol.139(1):1–12, doi:10.1016/j.agee.2010.06.017

Review

• Author 

• Lauren T. Bennett ^a,,
• Pauline M. Mele ^b,
• Shayne Annett ^c,1,
• Sabine Kasel ^d,

• aDepartment of Forest and Ecosystem Science, The University of Melbourne, Water Street, Creswick, Victoria 3363, Australia
• bDepartment of Primary Industries, Knoxfield Centre, 621 Burwood Highway, Knoxfield, Victoria 3180, Australia
• cDepartment of Sustainability and Environment, 8 Nicholson St, East Melbourne, Victoria 3002, Australia
• dDepartment of Forest and Ecosystem Science, The University of Melbourne, 500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia

Received 10 March 2010. Revised 29 June 2010. Accepted 30 June 2010. Available online 23 July 2010. 

Abstract

Public expectations of soil management are gradually expanding beyond traditional primary production requirements to include diverse ecosystem services. In Australia, as in many other countries, the accommodation of these new expectations will require shifts in the practice of private land managers. In turn, this may require public intervention and the expenditure of public funds. However, public net benefits from soil management interventions are rarely established, in part due to a lack of understanding of the conceptual links between management changes, soil health, and associated services and benefits. This paper uses an ecosystem services-based approach to examine these links from an Australian perspective.

Entrenchment of the popular soil health concept in field-based assessments of agricultural production potential was found to limit the concept's applicability to questions of broader public benefit. Without expanding soil health to include more ecological indicators, the concept risks remaining peripheral to contemporary visions of multiple-outcome soil management in Australia. Conceptual and case study links were examined between soil properties and processes, soil-based services, and private and public net benefits. In this framework, benefits were produced from services, and were considered a more tangible point for public understanding and valuation than services. The qualitative case study highlighted many knowledge gaps relating to non-agricultural services and benefits from soils, particularly in the scaling-up of sub-paddock measurements, and in the form and constancy of relationships among services and benefits. Criteria for identifying priority public benefits from soil management were examined, namely, likelihood, degree, consequence, scale, direction, time lag, and valuation. Assumptions about these criteria require rigorous testing so that the what, where, when, and how of public benefits from changed soil management can be more clearly defined.

Keywords

Ecosystem services

Ecosystem disservices

Public benefit

Soil health

Soil indicators

Soil management

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• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 3 5321 4300; fax: +61 3 5321 4166.

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Spatial variability in surface N2O fluxes across a riparian zone and relationships with soil environmental conditions and nutrient supply

Published Date
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
15 June 2010, Vol.138(1):1–9, doi:10.1016/j.agee.2010.03.007

• Author 

• J. DeSimone ^a,1,
• M.L. Macrae ^a,,
• R.A. Bourbonniere ^b,2,

• aDept. of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
• bWater Science & Technology Directorate, Environment Canada, Burlington, ON L7R 4A6, Canada

Received 8 December 2009. Revised 3 March 2010. Accepted 5 March 2010. Available online 15 April 2010. 

Abstract

Riparian zones often serve to buffer nutrient loading from agricultural uplands but may also release greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide (N₂O) to the atmosphere. Riparian zone topography, combined with lateral chemical inputs from fields, is expected to cause variable hydrochemical environments which may lead to spatially variable N₂O emissions. We examined spatial patterns in the simultaneous measurements of subsurface nutrient supply in groundwater, subsurface N₂O production and surface N₂O fluxes along two transects across a forested riparian zone adjacent to an agricultural field. Although subsurface N₂O concentrations and ground water nitrate (NO₃⁻) concentrations displayed distinct spatial trends across the riparian zone, with larger concentrations near the riparian zone–field interface and smaller concentrations in the riparian zone interior, surface N₂O fluxes did not reflect this pattern. Instantaneous N₂O fluxes measured during this study ranged from −0.28 to 1.3 nmol m⁻² s⁻¹ and were as variable within a site as they were among sites. Surface N₂O fluxes were most strongly correlated with air and soil temperatures and N₂O concentrations in soil pores in the top 15 cm of the soil profile, and were generally not correlated with conditions found in deeper soil throughout the riparian zone, suggesting that lateral inputs in runoff from the agricultural uplands are not increasing N₂O fluxes at this site. Further research and analysis is required for a better understanding of the production and consequent movement of N₂O, as well as an improved understanding of the effects of agriculture on N₂O emissions from riparian areas.

Keywords

Nitrous oxide fluxes

Topography

Riparian wetlands

Agriculture

Nitrate

Shallow groundwater

Subsurface nitrous oxide

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Table 2.

• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 519 888 4567; fax: +1 519 746 0658.
  
  

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