Internet Archaeol 15. Armin Schmidt. Introduction

0. Introduction

Archaeological prospection methods have become an integral part of the archaeologists' toolbox. In fact, geophysical surveys are now seen as a commodity, being regularly used for site assessment, either in their own right or as part of an integrated prospection strategy. Computers are required to manipulate the volume of resulting data so that geophysical techniques and informatics have become inseparably intertwined. It is therefore useful to analyse the role of informatics in archaeological prospection, investigate its contribution to past developments and explore possible future directions. The following text will discuss the use of computers in aerial photography and satellite imagery (summarised as 'remote sensing'), as well as geophysical prospection.