Finding the lost settlement. Case study with application of non-destructive archaeology.
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | This contribution is a combination of a Ph.D. thesis assignment focused on the internal structure of La Tene settlements with subsequent application of non-destructive methods and a result from a case study. The dissertation covers the area from southwestern Slovakia to the border of the Baden-Württemberg region. Therefore, it aims to offer a trans-regional synthesis with a focus on lowland rural settlements. The main aim of the thesis is to focus on the inner settlement structure with the additional application of non-destructive methods. Besides the presentation of settlement and non-destructive archaeology is another goal of this contribution inform about a case study from south-west Slovakia. The research itself is a combination of various non-destructive methods such as geophysical survey, LiDAR and satellite imagery with a subsequent comparison with objects that previously undergone an archaeological excavation. This polycultural site Tvrdošovce is of a primarily settlement character. The period of the largest settlements can be dated into the earlier and middle La Tene Age in LTB2/LTC1 and LTC2. An archaeological excavation was performed on the site from 2017 to 2019. Prior to this, intense surface prospecting using metal detectors had been carried out on this site since 2015. This prospecting indicated significant Roman, and, to a lesser extent, Bronze Age, Hallstatt, La Tene and Middle Age settlements. In addition, two geophysical surveys were carried out here in 2017 and 2022. The first survey was carried out over an area of 1.38 ha at the location of the determined settlement structures with indications of urban development. The second magnetometry survey covered an area of almost 23 ha. Terrain irregularities observed on the images acquired using lidar correlate with the results of the geophysical surveys. The satellite images in turn complement the overall interpretation. Non-destructive methods are often considered ineffective in the case of lowland sites. Nevertheless, we will try to present a successful example of a combination of these different approaches in the presented contribution. |