The study aims to examine the prehistoric landscape in order to identify settlement patterns and relations between contemporary sites. In the Șomuzul Mare basin, Northeastern Romania, the local topography, resources and climate compelled its prehistoric occupants to adapt for a better exploitation of resources and protection. The archaeological database includes 30 archaeological sites dated to the Late Bronze Age discovered in the study area. GIS software was employed in order to gather information about the topographic and climatic characteristics of the areas where prehistoric sites were established. Slope, solar exposure, wind shelter and density maps, as well as the distances to the closest water source were used to identify settlement patterns.
GIS
Oblique Air Photography for Chalcolithic Sites from Eastern Romania. Analysis and Interpretation. Some Examples
To intervene efficiently in protecting the archaeological heritage it requires precise information, as well as the exact location, the limits of the site or the geomorphological features of the area. As such, an interdisciplinary research based on non-destructive, complementary methods of investigation, which can provide precious information on the underground archaeological remains, is required. The most convenient (affordable) prospection methods employed by archaeologists are, on the one hand, surface research (fieldwalking), which provides the data necessary for a chronological setting, and, on the other, air photography, which offers the possibility to identify the buried structures. The present paper focuses on the use of oblique air photography in the study of prehistoric sites and a case for generalising such practices in archaeological research, with reference to preliminary results obtained for a number of sites from north-eastern Romania.