An Integrated Archaeological Prospection and Excavation Approach at a Middle Neolithic Circular Ditch Enclosure in Austria

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present an approach combining archaeological excavation with geophysical prospection. This is achieved by a combination of magnetometry, magnetic susceptibility, ground penetrating radar (GPR) and pXRF measurements, on archaeological features before and during excavation. Soil properties, such as soil colour, organic content, pH, magnetic susceptibility, chemistry and composition are influenced by natural and human activities and these changes can be identified by various prospection methods. The data was collected at the Middle Neolithic circular ditched enclosure (Kreisgrabenanlage, KGA) at Hornsburg, Austria in the Kreuttal area, which is a case study area of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI Arch Pro, http://archpro.lbg.ac.at/). Archaeological prospection in the majority of cases is carried out prior to excavation, in order to map the archaeology for the excavation or for planning procedures. The full archaeological potential of the various prospection methods therefore is not attained; as these measurements can help corroborate excavation results as well as providing further archaeological data that cannot be seen by the excavator’s eye. Furthermore, excavations provide an opportunity to investigate specific anomalies allowing for an examination of the processes, whether human or natural, influencing the prospectability or non-prospectability of these features. This can provide a link between past human actions and specific anomaly signatures, adding further archaeological interpretation to the prospection data as well as providing a greater archaeological insight during and after the excavation. Data analysis is still ongoing, so the paper will mainly focus on preliminary results obtained from the magnetometry and magnetic susceptibility measurements. Additionally smaller contributions from GPR, aerial photographs and orthophotos are presented here whilst future publications will integrate these alongside ultraviolet and infrared photographs and pXRF measurements.