Project description (from the submission to European Union)

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The project's primary aim is to increase public and official awareness of the importance of cultural heritage within European archaeological landscapes and to conserve them for the enjoyment of future generations.

This will be achieved through training programmes and workshops to promote the widespread use of non-destructive methods of archaeological investigation, especially aerial reconnaissance, field survey and innovative techniques of satellite and airborne remote sensing.

Using a pan-European cultural network created over the past 20 years, aiming at the general public as well as specialists, the project will demonstrate the effectiveness of aerial survey and other non-destructive techniques through the following actions:

• The promotion of training schools, workshops and seminars introducing students, archaeologists and cultural resource managers to archaeological survey and air-photo interpretation. Initiation of aerial survey programmes in European countries where aerial techniques have not yet been fully implemented or their value fully appreciated.
  
• Collaboration in aerial and ground-based surveys of cultural landscapes, with a special focus on those suffering from damage and on submerged landscapes in lakes and coastal waters.
  
• The interpretation, mapping and documentation of air photo information in selected cultural landscapes, and communication of the results to the general public and cultural resource managers.
  
• Innovative surveys using laser technology (e.g. Lidar) and other forms of airborne and satellite remote sensing; testing and promoting the use of these techniques in archaeological landscape analysis and presentation for use in long-term conservation projects.
  
• The location and use of under-exploited air photo archives (including WW2 military photography), and the provision of wider access through the Internet.
  
• Enhancement of professional networks across Europe for the exchange of skills and information, and for the better implementation of techniques such as GIS and the Internet in the management and presentation of the cultural heritage.
  
• The creation of a small internationally-funded European Centre for Aerial Survey and Conservation, to continue the promotion of aerial studies after the lifetime of the project. This is required to balance our understanding of Europe's cultural landscapes following 50 years in which access to maps, photographs and the skies was forbidden in many European states.
  
• The preparation of web-sites, TV and radio programmes, education packs, especially for young children, publications and travelling exhibitions to raise public awareness of non-destructive methods in the interpretation, presentation and conservation of the landscape heritage of Europe.

The techniques used to achieve these aims will include the following:

Training in air photo interpretation and mapping, using historic as well as recent aerial photography.

Training and the transfer of skills in the use of modern field survey methods, interpretation and analysis, including GPS survey. Training in aerial photography for archaeology, with students flying in light aircraft to develop the skills that they will need to carry out further surveys in the years ahead.

Using the opportunities for interpretation, mapping and training to create a digital video suite of programmes, suitable for use on the Internet and TV, especially for children's programmes, so that each co-partner can adapt the basic message and create specific presentations for their own country.

Archaeological techniques and public appreciation

After centuries of archaeological excavation in Europe the public are excited by the results, knowing about the way past communities lived and worked from the artefacts left behind. A new, different and complementary insight into the past is offered by non-destructive techniques of airborne, satellite and field-based survey, focusing on the wider landscape and the relationship between settlement, ceremonial and military sites through space and time. The ending of the Cold War has made the spread of these techniques possible in previously 'closed' parts of Europe, revealing vast areas of historic and prehistoric landscapes, under active threat from ploughing, natural erosion and modern-day development. Aerial techniques will be equally fascinating to the general public and will have a positive impact on the conservation of cultural landscapes for the enjoyment of future generations.

Outcomes and beneficiaries

The most significant outcomes will be the training of a new generation of archaeological investigators (in the air and on the ground) and an increased public awareness of the importance of the cultural landscapes of Europe. The project will show how the historic environment exists all around us, in our present-day fields, roads and settlements, as well as beneath the soil. There is added-value in the appreciation of the cultural heritage as a finite and fragile resource, in need of sustainable conservation. The project's approach (innovative surveys, workshops, training schools, TV and video output and exhibitions) will produce the maximum impact with the most cost-effective use of resources.

The project will benefit the general public, landowners, farmers and all those who have an interest or function in the conservation and management of the historic environment. The knowledge and understanding created will add to an appreciation of our common European roots. The increased use of 'aerial archaeology' in Europe will bring a new and highly cost-effective tool in the sustainable management of the historic environment.

Project management

The co-organisers are from Britain, Germany (2), Belgium, Hungary and Italy (2), with major co-partners in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Slovak Republic. Several other countries will participate in other ways and new contacts across Europe will be sought. Each country will benefit in proportion to its own financial contribution, while pan-European co-operation and information exchange will be promoted through funds reserved for this specific purpose. The project will build on contacts, activities and events promoted across Europe in the past decade by the Aerial Archaeology Research Group, English Heritage and the co-organisers, through Culture 2000 project in 2001/2 and through air survey training schools in Europe in 1996, 1998 and 2003.

A Management Committee of the major financial contributors will meet at the start of the project to plan its detailed implementation. Meetings will coincide with workshops or other major events, and e-mail communication will assist the work of a smaller Executive Committee, meeting as necessary.