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Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology

Irwin Scollar - Pioneer of Archaeological Prospection - turns 90

Archaeological prospection is celebrating one of its very first pioneers: Irwin Scollar turns 90 in November 2018. Since the early 1960s, the ingenuitive US-born engineer, archaeologist and early computing expert has fundamentally formed, defined, advanced and influenced archaeological prospection methods and technology in the fields of near-surface geophysics and aerial archaeology.

Archaeologists armed with a motorized high resolution georadar have found a Viking ship and a large number of burial mounds and longhouses in Østfold County in Norway. The discoveries were made by archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) with technology developed by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI ArchPro). The Viking ship find is just below the topsoil, at a depth of approximately 50 cm initially buried in a burial mound.

In September the LBI ArchPro took part in the Vienna Research Festival 2018. At the three-day event the team presented key facts about the institute's research and answered many questions on archaeological prospection and virtual archaeology. The interactive exhibition also featured a virtual journey back to Viking times where visitors could explore a Viking hall at Borre (Norway) with a VR-headset – an all-time favorite among kids and grown-ups alike. The event took place from September 14 to 16, at the CREAU in Vienna.

In July 2018, a team of the LBI ArchPro together with specialists from its partner ZAMG went to Italy to test the suitability of modern archaeological prospection methods for the large-scale investigation of Etruscan cities. Motorized ground-penetrating radar measurements with different systems for extensive surveys and complementary near-surface geophysical prospection methods were used at Vulci, Cerveteri and Tarquinia, to evaluate their potential for the large-scale exploration of the Etruscan cities that have existed there.

The Institute is dedicated to the development of new techniques and methodological concepts for landscape archaeology. It combines geophysics, computer science, geomatics and archaeology to develop efficient and universally applicable methods and techniques for the non-destructive detection, documentation, investigation, visualisation and integrative interpretation and spatial analysis of the cultural heritage of archaeological landscapes.