CALL FOR ABSTRACTS > Theme 3. Objects, material, outer and underground environments: innovative tools for characterizing, imaging and dating

Coordination : Anne BOCQUET-LIÉNARD, Carole NEHMÉ, Stoil CHAPKANSKI, Guillaume BLANCHET

Archaeometry studies are constantly evolving, particularly due to the technological and analytical advances they benefit from. New methods, techniques and improved protocols contribute to increasing scientific knowledge about our tangible and intangible heritage. This theme focuses on methodological developments and innovative instruments implemented for the study of archaeological contexts and artifacts, on site or in the laboratory. It will bring together contributions on: (3.1) geophysical and remote sensing methods, (3.2.) photo- and lasergrammetry methods applied in archaeology, (3.3.) new instrumentation and non-invasive analytical techniques to analyse archaeological matter and objects, (3.4.) dating and processing of chronological data in outer environment and (3.5.) geochronological approaches and anthropogenic markers in underground environment.

Session 3.1. Geophysical and remote sensing techniques applied to geoarchaeology

Coordination : Cécile FINCO, Guillaume HULIN

Geoarchaeology, which combines Earth science and archaeology aims to understand geological and geomorphological processes affecting human settlements and taphonomic processes in archaeological sites. Geophysics and remote sensing techniques can provide crucial elements to answer these questions for geoarchaeologists by collecting non-invasive data about soil characteristics and the environment. The different scales of investigation of these techniques are a key point, offering a change of scale from a broad vision (e.g. satellite imagery, airborne by plane, or drone) to very targeted measurements (e.g. magnetic susceptibility measurements on cores) at the scale of the site and its immediate surrounding (e.g. electrical resisitivity tomography, electromagnetic surveys...). Combining these methods with a geoarchaeological approach goes beyond the detection of remains to characterise the geological and environmental context., enabling to learn more about ancient societies and interactions with their surrounding.

Keywords : Geophysics, Remote sensing techniques, Non-invasive approach, Geoarchaeology

Session 3.2. 3D acquisition and multi-dimensional analysis

Coordination : Paul FRANÇOIS, Sylvain RASSAT, Kim GENUITE, François DELISLE

3D data of all kinds (e.g. LiDAR, TLS, multibeam, photogrammetry, structured light using handheld scanners) are used for prospecting, archaeological interpretation and documentation of excavation sites and material. A set of practices common to the archaeological world has emerged for processing and analyzing these data. However, these practices, which came from different disciplinary fields, sometimes ignore complex environments and objects, compartmentalize acquisition techniques, or restrict the use of three-dimensional data. Communications will be about steps in the 3D data life cycle: acquisition with tools or methods adapted to constrained environments and objects (aerial, underground, underwater, complex objects, shiny or transparent materials); processing to enhance data (e.g. manual or deep learning classification, alignment and fusion of three-dimensional data from several acquisition methods, georeferencing); exploitation aimed at maintaining the third dimension in the archaeological exploitation phase (e.g. HBIM) or visualization (augmented/virtual reality), possibly right through to restitution, as 3D model extractions are often limited to two dimensions (e.g. plans, elevations), data durability and openness (e.g. archiving, indexing, FAIR principles, etc.).

Keywords : photogrammetry, lasergrammetry, 3D scanner, LIDAR, Terrestrial Laser Scanner, Multibeam, 3d restitution, HBIM

Session 3.3. New approaches to study archaeological material and objects

Coordination : Ludovic BELLOT-GURLET, François Xavier LE BOURDONNEC, Alain QUEFFELEC, Xavier GALLET, Damase MOURALIS

A better understanding of the matter and/or the archaeological object requires knowing many factors such as: 1) characterization in order to identify its origin, 2) transformation, 3) trajectories, 4) uses 5) alteration. Recent analytical advances integrating different approaches are used to study in-situ archaeological artefacts, as well as the degree of conservation of such artefacts, or their analyses in the laboratory. The overall objective is to better understand such (im)material heritage, its conservation and its added-value. This session aims to bring together contributions on new measurement protocols, sampling techniques and/or non-invasive instrumentation, which are portable or used in the laboratory (e.g. mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, pXRF, portable OSL, LIBS, infrared); Such methods can be applied on artifacts in archaeological or natural sites.

Keywords : portable analytical methods, instrumentation, sampling, protocols

Session 3.4. Dating and processing of chronological data in outer environment

Coordination : Philippe LANOS, Emmanuelle DELQUÉ-KOLIC, Jean-Claude LEFÈVRE,  Guillaume GUÉRIN

This session focuses on: 1) studies using different dating methods (e.g. C14, OSL, paleomagnetism), 2) analytical progress (e.g. protocols, metrology) to better constrain the chronology of archaeological sequences and 3) the combination with other indicators such as stratigraphy. All the contributions will bring together recent studies in numerical and relative data, in order to address new or renewed applications of chronological data to the study of archaeological sites. Particular attention will be given to multi-technical and multi-support approaches on the same site. These approaches aim to solve chronostratigraphic problems, and to process integrative chronological models based on statistical datasets.

Keywords : absolute and relative dating, chronostratigraphy, methodological developments, chrono-statistical model

Session 3.5. Geochronological approaches and anthropogenic markers in underground environments

Coordination : Sophie VERHEYDEN, Edwige PONS-BRANCHU, Carole NEHMÉ

Human communities have been using underground environments since prehistory and throughout the history. Underground environments can be used for cultural or even religious, social or economic purposes. Underground environments (e.g. caves, rock shelters, quarries) comprise anthropic sites and/or contain markers (e.g. soot, DNA) or anthropic objects (see tools, bones). Such markers and objects can sometimes be trapped in deposits, such as detrital deposits covering the entire Quaternary or speleothems. This session focuses on archaeological sites in underground environments covering the Quaternary. It covers : 1) dating methods (e.g. C14, U-Th, OSL, cosmogenic) applied to underground deposits in order to constrain archaeological events/episodes or to define the frequency of human frequentations, 2) new analytical protocoles applied to anthropogenic markers, and 3) new approaches to reconstruct the physical context of sites and the transformations related to the human uses.

Keywords : geochronology, anthropic markers, sedimentary archives, underground environment