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Land
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Novel Methods and Trending Topics in Landscape Archaeology
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Novel Methods and Trending Topics in Landscape Archaeology

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Landscape Archaeology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 7088

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Francesca Cigna

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy
Interests: landscape evolution; geophysical hazards; archaeology; cultural heritage; remote sensing; earth observation; InSAR; landslides; land subsidence; ground instability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue, titled “Novel Methods and Trending Topics in Landscape Archaeology”, welcomes positioning, overview, and reflecting research contributions focusing on novel data analysis methods, hot and trending topics related to the key goals of the “Landscape Archaeology” Section of the journal Land. These include the observation, recording, and interpretation of archaeological remains, traces, and sites with respect to the broader context of past human activities and interactions with the environment and landscape.

This thematic volume seeks to feature contributions that tackle one or more of the following trending topics, among others:

  • Multi-decadal surveying of human–environment interactions;
  • Novel remote sensing methods and high-resolution LiDAR in landscape archaeology;
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning in landscape archaeology;
  • Historical landscape mapping and GeoAI in human geography;
  • Past and future climate change-driven transformations of ancient landscapes;
  • Data mining and big data analytics for (geo)archaeological research;
  • Geospatial and geophysical surveying of cultural landscapes.

Feature papers (either original research articles, reviews, or communications) should provide significant pieces of research work, giving insights into current and novel theories, data, methods, and/or new discoveries, delving into key topics of landscape archaeology. As such, these articles are expected to be influential and impactful in their nature.

Expressions of interest to contribute to this Special Issue are warmly recommended and should be addressed to the Guest Editor and the journal team before manuscript submission.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Dr. Francesca Cigna
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • remote sensing
  • LiDAR
  • artificial intelligence
  • machine learning
  • GeoAI
  • climate change-driven transformations
  • data mining
  • big data analytics
  • geospatial and geophysical surveying

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

38 pages, 130393 KB  
Article
Can Spectral Anomalies in Sentinel-2 Imagery Be Used as a Proxy for Archaeological Prospection? A Demonstration on Roman Age Sites in Italy
by Antonio Corbo, Alessandro Maria Jaia and Deodato Tapete
Land 2026, 15(5), 753; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15050753 - 29 Apr 2026
Viewed by 49
Abstract
Remote sensing is widely used in archaeological prospection to detect surface anomalies (crop marks) indicating buried remains, typically through recognition of visual patterns in high- or very high-resolution imagery acquired by means of satellite, airborne, or drone sensors. In contrast, spectroscopic approaches focusing [...] Read more.
Remote sensing is widely used in archaeological prospection to detect surface anomalies (crop marks) indicating buried remains, typically through recognition of visual patterns in high- or very high-resolution imagery acquired by means of satellite, airborne, or drone sensors. In contrast, spectroscopic approaches focusing on variations in spectral signatures still remain rarely applied in archaeological research. This study proposes a technological barrier-free method addressed to archaeologists which is based on pixel-level analysis of the Reflectance Values (RV) and spectral shape variations in the visible, near-infrared and short-wave infrared (VIS-NIR-SWIR) range derived from Sentinel-2 imagery. Spectral signatures are extracted through sampling polygons designed to account for the spatial resolution of the different Sentinel-2 bands and their spatial relationship with the location and size of the archaeological features. The RV method is tested on two Roman archaeological contexts: the ancient city of Telesia Vetere (San Salvatore Telesino, Benevento) and a Roman villa at Podere Colle Agnano (Labro, Rieti) using the full Sentinel-2 archive since 2017. While Telesia has previously been investigated through aerial photo interpretation and archaeological fieldwork, the Roman villa at Labro is documented here for the first time. Results show consistent seasonal repeated spectral separability between areas corresponding to known buried archaeological features and surrounding areas. Similar anomalies were also detected in areas without previously documented remains, thus suggesting the possible presence of buried structures and highlighting the predictive potential of the RV method. Owing to its easiness to use beyond image processing specialism and reliance on open-access data, the method can support archaeological decision-making and guide further investigation with higher-resolution remote sensing data or targeted field surveys, particularly in the framework of preventive archaeology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Methods and Trending Topics in Landscape Archaeology)
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14 pages, 8107 KB  
Article
A Disappearing Lake’s Water Area Changes Since 1761 AD in Northeastern Yunnan, SW China
by Caiming Shen, Di Yang, Qifa Sun, Min Wang, Qi Suo and Hongwei Meng
Land 2026, 15(1), 153; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15010153 - 12 Jan 2026
Viewed by 727
Abstract
Over the past several centuries, many lakes in the Yunnan Plateau disappeared or are disappearing due to climate change and human activities; the developments of these lakes are thus crucial for understanding their evolutions and underlying causes. Here we present a near 260-year [...] Read more.
Over the past several centuries, many lakes in the Yunnan Plateau disappeared or are disappearing due to climate change and human activities; the developments of these lakes are thus crucial for understanding their evolutions and underlying causes. Here we present a near 260-year history of water area changes in Lake Zhehai, a disappearing lake in northeastern Yunnan of Southwest China, based on historical documents such as local and regional annals and gazetteers, water conservancy records, and old maps using GIS and remote sensing techniques, to identify the dominant drivers of the lake disappearing. Results show that the reconstructed water area of Lake Zhehai was ca. 1500, 710, 370, 340, and 110 ha in 1761, 1912, 1935, 1950, and 1975 AD; this indicates that Lake Zhehai experienced three-phase lake evolution over the past 260 years, i.e., large lake in 1761–1920 AD, shrinking lake in 1921–1980 AD, and disappearing lake since 1981. Significant changes in the water area of Lake Zhehai were mainly attributed to both climate change and human activities, especially human activities as dominant drivers during the last two phases of lake evolution. Our findings provide a reference for both understanding the driving mechanisms of large shallow lake evolution during historical times in Yunnan, as well as assessing strategies of lake environmental protection under global warming and increasing human activities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Methods and Trending Topics in Landscape Archaeology)
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48 pages, 41760 KB  
Article
Environmental Challenges and Vanishing Archaeological Landscapes: Remotely Sensed Insights into the Climate–Water–Agriculture–Heritage Nexus in Southern Iraq
by Francesca Cigna, Louise Rayne, Jennifer L. Makovics, Hope K. Irvine, Jaafar Jotheri, Abdulameer Algabri and Deodato Tapete
Land 2025, 14(5), 1013; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14051013 - 7 May 2025
Viewed by 5417
Abstract
Iraq faces significant challenges in sustainable water resource management, due to intensive agriculture and climate change. Modern irrigation leads to depleted natural springs and abandoned traditional canal systems, creating a nexus between climate, water availability, agriculture, and cultural heritage. This work unveils this [...] Read more.
Iraq faces significant challenges in sustainable water resource management, due to intensive agriculture and climate change. Modern irrigation leads to depleted natural springs and abandoned traditional canal systems, creating a nexus between climate, water availability, agriculture, and cultural heritage. This work unveils this nexus holistically, from the regional to the local scale, and by considering all the components of the nexus. This is achieved by combining five decades (1974–2024) of satellite data—including declassified HEXAGON KH-9, Copernicus Sentinel-1/2/3, COSMO-SkyMed radar, and PlanetScope’s Dove optical imagery—and on-the-ground observations (photographic and drone surveying). The observed landscape changes are categorised as “proxies” to infer the presence of the given land processes that they correlate to. The whole of southern Iraq is afflicted by dust storms and intense evapotranspiration; new areas are desertifying and thus becoming local sources of dust in the southwest of the Euphrates floodplain and close to the boundary with the western desert. The most severe transformations happened around springs between Najaf Sea and Hammar Lake, where centre-pivot and herringbone irrigation systems fed by pumped groundwater have densified. While several instances of run-off and discharge highlight the loss of water in the western side of the study area, ~5 km2 wide clusters of crops in the eastern side suffer from water scarcity and are abandoned. Here, new industrial activities and modern infrastructure have already damaged tens of archaeological sites. Future monitoring based on the identified proxies could help to assess improvements or deterioration, in light of mitigation measures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Methods and Trending Topics in Landscape Archaeology)
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