Monumental Surveys: New Insights from Landscape-Scale Geophysics

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Monumental Surveys: New Insights from Landscape-Scale Geophysics," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Landscape-­scale geophysical surveys are becoming increasingly cost-­effective due to recent advances in instrumentation and data processing. For the first time, researchers can conduct surveys of an extent commensurate with the monumental scale of many ancient cultural landscapes. In particular, the availability of multi­-sensor arrays and real-­time positioning systems permits us to widen our field of view and place individual features, sites, and monuments in their broader context. This symposium showcases results from recent large-scale surveys in the Americas, Europe, and beyond. These studies demonstrate how landscape-scale surveys often add rich texture and detail to the archaeological record, and provide opportunities for novel interpretations. Also highlighted are extensive datasets with potential for improvements in heritage resource management, and mapping that can lead to greater public appreciation of the sites and deeper engagements with local communities. At the same time, the scale of these datasets presents new challenges for data processing, analysis, visualization, and storage. This session will explore these issues with a view to advancing archaeological theory and practice in step with advances in archaeo­geophysical instrumentation.