Michael Doneus
2012 - 2013
Director of the Vienna Institute of Archaeological Science (VIAS – http://vias.univie.ac.at).
Since 2011
Professor for “Ur- und Frühgeschichte, environmental- and landscape archaeology” at the University of Vienna.
Since 2011
Co-founder and member of the Initiative College for Archaeological Prospection at the University of Vienna (http://ic-archpro.univie.ac.at).
Since 2010
Deputy-Director and Key-Researcher at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and virtual Archaeology (http://archpro.lbg.ac.at).
Research areas: airborne laser scanning, hyperspectral scanning, aerial archaeology, interpretation of prospection data and landscape archaeology.
Since 1992 I am being employed at the Institute for Prehistoric and Medieval Archaeology (Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte) at the University of Vienna as director of the aerial archive. I am specialised on all aspects of aerial archaeology, airborne laser scanning (ALS), photogrammetry, surveying and GIS. My main focus is the development of new techniques and methodologies and their application to archaeology within the conceptual framework of landscape archaeology.
I have a long track record of national and international teaching experience at universities, workshops, seminars and summer schools. Recently (2011), I became full professor for Prehistoric and Medieval Archaeology as wella as landscape and environmental archaeology at the University of Vienna.
I am long-term committee member of the Aerial Archaeology Research Group - http://aarg.univie.ac.at, and Vice-President of CIPA - http://cipa.icomos.org, the ICOMOS & ISPRS committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage.
Phone: +43 1 4277 40486
Address: Institut f. Urgeschichte und Historische Archäologie
Franz-Klein-Gasse 1
A-1190 Wien
Director of the Vienna Institute of Archaeological Science (VIAS – http://vias.univie.ac.at).
Since 2011
Professor for “Ur- und Frühgeschichte, environmental- and landscape archaeology” at the University of Vienna.
Since 2011
Co-founder and member of the Initiative College for Archaeological Prospection at the University of Vienna (http://ic-archpro.univie.ac.at).
Since 2010
Deputy-Director and Key-Researcher at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and virtual Archaeology (http://archpro.lbg.ac.at).
Research areas: airborne laser scanning, hyperspectral scanning, aerial archaeology, interpretation of prospection data and landscape archaeology.
Since 1992 I am being employed at the Institute for Prehistoric and Medieval Archaeology (Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte) at the University of Vienna as director of the aerial archive. I am specialised on all aspects of aerial archaeology, airborne laser scanning (ALS), photogrammetry, surveying and GIS. My main focus is the development of new techniques and methodologies and their application to archaeology within the conceptual framework of landscape archaeology.
I have a long track record of national and international teaching experience at universities, workshops, seminars and summer schools. Recently (2011), I became full professor for Prehistoric and Medieval Archaeology as wella as landscape and environmental archaeology at the University of Vienna.
I am long-term committee member of the Aerial Archaeology Research Group - http://aarg.univie.ac.at, and Vice-President of CIPA - http://cipa.icomos.org, the ICOMOS & ISPRS committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage.
Phone: +43 1 4277 40486
Address: Institut f. Urgeschichte und Historische Archäologie
Franz-Klein-Gasse 1
A-1190 Wien
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Papers by Michael Doneus
villae. Detection and mapping of other, less dramatic landscape features require systematic large-scale prospection, but this faces
significant difficulties in the Mediterranean environment. However, the developments in the field of airborne laser scanning
offer the possibility to create archaeologically usable digital terrain models under water and under very dense and low maquis
vegetation. This paper reports on the use of terrain models created using a green laser and a sophisticated archaeologically driven
ground point filtering strategy. Combined with archaeological aerial photo interpretation, this provides the means for landscape
mapping and interpretation that has revealed a wealth of archaeological structures hinting at Roman agricultural practices and
landscape. Our case study is based on a laser scan of about 24 km 2 of land and underwater terrain in Medulin Bay. Processed,
visualised and interpreted for archaeological purposes, the data reveal not only features ranging from prehistoric hilltop set-
tlements to modern military installations but also features a complex picture of the Roman land use. Of particular interest is
the large number of planting pits, which extend over a total length of 4 km. They were laid on a regular grid of approximately
35 × 35 m, sometimes combined in contiguous parcels. They can be interpreted as remains of orchards or tree nurseries of Roman
date, and the paper examines also the question of whether they can be linked to the associated Roman estates. The case study
area presented here shows that the potential of remote sensing methods goes far beyond the mere finding of traditional sites but
can open up new landscape-scale perspectives on regions that have been archaeologically little explored.
Most old quarries were quarried also in subsequent periods, commonly destroying virtually all pre-existing traces. According to our results two types of quarries represent highly interesting targets for more detailed studies in the search for Roman quarries: (i) areas in historical maps with suspicious uneven terrain, which have never been outlined as quarries and areas that have been mapped as “old quarries” – especially in the Third Military Survey; examples represent areas northwest and west of Pfaffenberg in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg (Lower Austria), “Gruibert” in Winden am See (Burgenland) and “Hoher Berg” in Stotzing (Burgenland); (ii) Shallow quarries, which neither appear in historical maps nor in the mining archive of the Geological Survey of Austria like the one from the saddle between Pfaffenberg and Hundsheimer Berg.
Fundstellen Österreichs, welche in den späten 1980er und frühen
1990er Jahren mittels integrierter archäologischer Prospektion untersucht wurden. Aufgrund der Fortschritte im Bereich der nicht-invasiven Methoden großflächiger archäologischer Prospektion wurde
drei Jahrzehnte später die Landschaft der villa rustica erneut systematisch prospektiert. Dabei konnten auf einem Gebiet von mehreren Quadratkilometern archäologische Spuren verschiedener Epochen dokumentiert werden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine großflächige integrierte Prospektion auf der Landschaftsebene selbst im Areal einer längst bekannten Fundstelle für neue Erkenntnisse sorgen
kann. Neben der besseren Datenqualität und damit einhergehenden
neuen Details zu den schon bekannten Siedlungs- und Grabplätzen
erscheint vor allem die Tatsache wichtig, dass der landschaftsarchäologische Ansatz einen völlig neuen Blickwinkel auf archäologische Hinterlassenschaften ermöglicht. Eine erste Übersicht der Resultate wird in dieser Arbeit vorgelegt.
This melange of data generates new challenges concerning its joint interpretation; the generated information has to be understood, interpreted and interlinked within its given archaeological setting. In particular, non-invasive high-resolution archaeological prospection projects, offer a great potential for the detailed investigation of archaeological sites. The combination of remote sensing and nearsurface geophysical survey methods is a specifically
useful approach as the methods complement each other without damaging the archaeological heritage.
One of the LBI ArchPro case studies is to investigate the phenomenon of Neolithic circular enclosures (Kreisgrabenanlagen) in eastern Austria. These monuments are usually built on loess, a soil type that is favourable for magnetometry but provides no or only very limited penetration for ground-penetrating radar (GPR) pulses. Therefore, these prehistoric monuments were overwhelmingly discovered and investigated using aerial photography and magnetic prospection. Both methods are well suited to detect and map these sites. However, three-dimensional depth information could only be gathered through cost intensive and destructive excavations.
The presented site of the circular ring ditch system of Velm (parish of Himberg in Lower Austria) is situated on gravel, deposited as river sediments. Discovered by aerial photography in 2000 and re-photographed in 2001 (Fig. 1), it offered itself as an ideal candidate for a multi-methodological prospection approach. Due to the unique ground conditions, several non-invasive archaeological prospection methods, including GPR, could be successfully applied and generated spectacular results.