Methodology

In this study, we propose a novel combination of non-destructive technologies for mapping the conflict landscape of WW I, including the deployment of a multireceiver EMI soil sensor, the processing of WW I aerial photographs and a study of the landscape and its dynamics.

 

Historic Aerial Photography of WWI

  • Geodatabase with 22.000 aerial images of WWI
  • Inventory and photo-interpretation of WWI-features
  • Impact of the war on the landscape, destruction by artillery

Landscape Research

  • Landscape characterisation
  • Landscape trajectories from pre-WWI to the present
  • Link between landscape and war infrastructure

Geophysical Soil Sensing

  • Detection and characterisation of WWI features below the surface
  • Relation between subsoil and conflict landscape
  • EMI, magnetometry, GPR…

Other Techniques

  • Use of LiDAR (DHMV II Flanders) to detect surface structures of WWI
  • Augerings and test excavations to validate data from geophysics
  • Link with data from all archaeological excavations in the study area
 ….