Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2010, Page 117

ON THE precipice: aerial archaeology in iceland
surveyors use aerial photographs at some
stage during their work. In most cases, the
aerials are vertical photographs, often
taken at a fairly high altitude, as their main
usage is for large-scale mapping. Such
images are used to plot known ruins and
show their location in reports. However
the photographs used are often taken at
too high altitudes for new and unknown
sites to be easily identified from them.
Therefore the systematic use of aerial
sources to identify new sites is not a
routine element in current archaeological
surveying practice in Iceland which is still
dominated by written sources, as well as
contemporary oral histories. Nonetheless
some archaeologists have, in the last few
years, began to take low-level oblique
photographs for their own purposes.
The fírst use of aerial photographs for
a large scale mapping and identifying
features was conducted in 2001 (Ami
Einarsson et al. 2002). The study
revealed the potential of using vertical
photographs to identify archaeological
remains in the form of a system of
earthworks in valleys and on heaths in
the north-east of Iceland. This became a
pilot study for a more detailed three-year
project that took place between 2004 and
2006. The project covered an area of
3,164 sq km, and the objective was to
map all linear earthworks that could be
seen from aerial photographs (both
vertical and oblique) as well as satellite
imagery, in combination with ground
survey and limited excavation. To date c.
404 km of linear earthworks have been
recorded and 27 trenches have been
excavated. Concurrently, the project
aimed to promote and develop the
methodology of aerial survey in Iceland,
as well as to date some of the earthworks
thereby gaining a general understanding
of the planning and organisation of the
landscape and relate them to early
settlement patterns (from ninth to
eleventh century) (Aldred et al. 2004;
2005; 2007).
Another recent study where the
benefits and advantages of using aerial
sources (such as aerial photographs and
satellite imageries) in archaeology were
clearly shown is a comparative study
from 2008. The study looked at four
areas in Iceland and mapped features
from aerial photographs from different
times and compared the results to ground
surveys where they were available.
Mapping from aerial photographs, in
relation to satellite imagery helped
identify a large number of sites in
extensive areas and during the project
103 km of earthworks were mapped in an
area of 196 sq km. A prior pedestrian
survey in two of four of the project areas
had proved to be laborious and the scale
of the linear and earthwork systems was
difficult to comprehend from the ground.
(Bima Lárasdóttir and Aldred 2008).
In addition, it is worth mentioning a
small project conducted in 2007 where
an undergraduate student undertook a
study on the use of high altitude vertical
aerial photographs for archaeological
survey in Iceland. The photographs were
viewed at a zoom of lOx, and
consequently new features were mapped.
However, the results showed that linear
and larger features such as areas of peat
cutting and boundaries were mainly
detected, since the ability to recognise
115