Véronique De Laet

Man, vegetation and climate during the Holocene in the territory of Sagalassos, Western Taurus Mountains, SW Turkey

Past vegetation change and the influence of climate change and anthropogenic pressure during the Holocene is constructed from a series of palynological records sampled from three locations within the territory of the antique site of Sagalassos. The disappearance of the original deciduous oak woodlands and increases in anthropogenic indicator species around 5300 and 4300 b.c. correspond with an increase in settlements in the region. A period of drought following the deforestation may have hampered the recovery of deciduous oak. The timing of the onset of the Beyşehir Occupation Phase (BO-Phase) in the territory differs between locations, estimates ranging from ca. 1000–800 b.c. to the start of the Hellenistic period (334 b.c.). The most intense period of arboriculture coincides with the Roman and late-Roman periods. Increases in human pressure on the landscape as reflected in the pollen record correspond with an increased rate of sedimentation and fire activity. The timing of the end of the BO-Phase again differs between locations. Estimates range from the 4th century a.d. to the mid 7th century a.d., when a region-wide shift to dry environmental conditions is observed. Numerical analyses show that post BO-Phase vegetation change is largely driven by climate and displays a succession of dry and wet periods that coincided with well-defined European climate shifts, including the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age. Current agricultural activities in the region are of a very recent (20th century) origin.

The data explosion: tackling the taboo of automatic feature recognition in airborne survey data

The increasing availability of multi-dimensional remote-sensing data covering large geographical areas is generating a new wave of landscape-scale research that promises to be as revolutionary as the application of aerial photographic survey during the twentieth century. Data are becoming available to historic environment professionals at higher resolution, greater frequency of acquisition and lower cost than ever before. To take advantage of this explosion of data, however, a paradigm change is needed in the methods used routinely to evaluate aerial imagery and interpret archaeological evidence. Central to this is a fuller engagement with computer-aided methods of feature detection as a viable way to analyse airborne and satellite data. Embracing the new generation of vast datasets requires reassessment of established workflows and greater understanding of the different types of information that may be generated using computer-aided methods.