Since the formation of the contemporary Northern-Spanish autonomic community of Cantabria in 1981 the Iron Age has become increasingly important for its regional identity, symbolically embedded in,...Show moreSince the formation of the contemporary Northern-Spanish autonomic community of Cantabria in 1981 the Iron Age has become increasingly important for its regional identity, symbolically embedded in, for example, its name and flag. Although this in itself can be viewed as problematic, it also fuelled more archaeological investigations into Iron Age Cantabria. These investigations have mainly been focused on Iron Age hillforts of which currently approximately fourty-three (43) can be found throughout the autonomic community. The relatively late development of this field of study is one of the reasons why this number is significantly lower than the other northern Spanish autonomic communities of Asturias and Galicia. Simultaneously, Eucalyptus plantations have become the dominant form of forestation covering approximately 8% of total ground surface and forming 19% of the total amount of forests in Cantabria. This vegetation cover is found predominantly in the coastal region, where few of the identified Iron Age hillforts are found and where the plantations encroach on identified hillforts, making identification of new hillforts more difficult. While new digital tools and data for cultural resource management have become available, such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), their usage have been limited in this region. To address this issue the research poses the question: ‘How can available methods and tools of archaeological prospection and cultural heritage management be used in an integrated workflow to find, map and preserve Iron Age hillforts under Eucalyptus plantations in Cantabria?’. The proposed integrated workflow consists of narrowing down suitable locations for Iron Age hillforts through object-based predictive modelling (OBPM) and subsequently remote prospection of those locations to identify potential features associated with archaeological sites. To test this approach it has been put into practice. The proposed workflow proved effective, but has also shown limitations. The parameters chosen are most-likely not solely relevant for Iron Age hillforts, consisting out of Geomorophon, incoming visibility-index and out-going visibility index. Also the research focus on Eucalyptus plantations showed a variability of noise in the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for locations under Eucalyptus plantations, sometimes impeding readability of those areas. Nevertheless, the use of Sky View Factor (SVF) and the sufficiently narrowed down study area still proved effective in finding and documenting possible archaeological features, of which fifty (50) different locations have been identified with a variation of characteristics, all adhering to the set parameters. This suggests that the proposed integrated workflow is currently an effective tool in the finding, mapping and preserving archaeological sites near or encroached by Eucalyptus plantations.Show less
