Aerial Survey Project in Tuscany: years 2000-2005

In year 2000 the Laboratory of Landscape Archaeology and Remote Sensing at the University of Siena began an annual programme of aerial survey over Tuscany. In the first six years over 360 hours have been flown, producing more than 27000 oblique aerial photographs and documenting around 2000 archaeological sites. From the experience gained so far it is clear that aerial survey in Tuscany, like all the other methods of remote sensing, will not produce significant results if applied in isolation. For this reason we wish to emphasise in this contribution the way in which aerial survey forms just one part of a wider strategy developed in the last ten years to counteract the low level of archaeological visibility in Tuscany, mainly due to heavy clay soils and woodland areas. Source-integration now represents the prime focus of our research. Without this approach we foresee little possibility in an area like Tuscany of obtaining results which will have a real effect on our understanding of the development of the landscape across time.