Digital Imaging and Geophysical Prospection Techniques at Paleolithic Cave and Rockshelter Sites in Croatia

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Interdisciplinary Research into the Late Pleistocene of Europe" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Conducting archaeological investigations in cave and rockshelters presents researchers with multiple unique challenges as compared to typical open-air sites. Reduced space, low light, and complex stratigraphic sequences are frequently the norm. Additionally, the nature of limestone cave walls and floors is an undulating, irregular surface that creates many pockets, troughs, and ridges where sediment may accumulate unevenly beneath a relatively level surface. This creates a problem for the research team to select productive locations for excavations within time constraints for the project and within the limited space available. The application of electrical resistance tomography (ERT) to model sediment depths has been utilized at five sites in Croatia to seek a means of addressing this issue. Conversely, the smaller spaces in caves and rockshelters present an opportunity for high density image collection of the surface features and excavation in process that may, at times, include the entire site. Photogrammetry and hand-held lidar have been used for localized spatial data collection at many of the same sites where ERT was employed. This paper presents the methodologies associated with each approach and details their potential benefits or weaknesses as applied to Paleolithic cave and rockshelter sites in south central Europe.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Interdisciplinary Research into the Late Pleistocene of Europe   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39634.0