Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 50 (1) 2022   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.1.138-146

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The Aul-Koshkul-1 Cemetery in the Baraba Forest-Steppe:
Findings of a Multidisciplinary Study

Е.V. Balkov¹, Y.G. Karin¹, О.А. Pozdnyakova², P.G. Dyadkov¹, and D.А. Goglev³

¹Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Koptuga 3, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

²Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

³OOO “Geoscan”, Politekhnicheskaya 22L, St. Petersburg, 194021, Russia

We present the results of aerial photographic and magnetometric studies at Aul-Koshkul-1, a group of mounds in the Baraba forest-steppe. Photogrammetry proved highly efficient for constructing orthophotographic plans and digital models of outward features at archaeological sites. Data were processed with an original approach, generating a map of relative heights, decreasing the effect of natural relief and highlighting altitudinal anomalies of an anthropogenic origin. Aerial photography is highly efficient for revealing archaeological features that are hard to locate by visual analysis of the surface (mounds destroyed by tillage, shallow ditches, etc.). Orthophotographic plans constructed by aerial photography in oblique sun rays at sunset present the most contrastive representations. Aerial magnetometry revealed most mounds at Aul-Koshkul-1, although the site was surveyed with minimal accuracy because magnetic anomalies caused by archaeological features were rare. Our multidisciplinary study yielded new information about the mounds previously registered by ground-based magnetometry, and discovered new features, leading to a revision of the cemetery’s reconstructed boundaries and composition. The study demonstrates the great potential of a joint use of aerial magnetometry and aerial photography for locating and studying archaeological sites at a new, sophisticated level.

Keywords: Aerial magnetometry, aerial photography, unmanned aerial vehicles, photogrammetry, archaeological and geophysical research, burial mounds