AERIAL ARCHAELOGY

Dave MacLeod (on the right) with colleague
Pete Horne and the Cessna 172 ©






Future directions



In the last 80 years aerial photography has done more than any other survey technique to change our perception of the distribution of archaeological remains in Britain. In Europe too, there have been tremendous advances in archaeological knowledge, due to aerial survey.

Indeed, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, vast regions of eastern Europe have opened up to civil aviation, a prerequisite for archaeological reconnaissance. These are being explored from the air for the first time, with rich results. In contrast, some European countries, for example Spain and Greece, still do not allow aerial photography by civilians. Things are changing though. In December 2000, Italy responded to requests from the aerial archaeology community and removed long-standing restrictions that banned aerial photography. Let's hope more countries follow this lead soon.

'The most effective results will come out of projects that routinely employ a suite of survey and investigative techniques.'

Aerial survey is one of the most cost-effective methods for the archaeological survey of landscapes.

What we must remember, though, is that aerial survey, like any of the other ways of collecting archaeological data, does not hold all the answers. Integration is the key, and in future the most effective results will come out of projects that routinely employ a suite of survey and investigative techniques, tailored to the specific needs of each site or landscape.