AP2017: 12th International Conference of Archaeological Prospection

Abstract

Introduction: The 12th International Conference of Archaeological Prospection saw a return to the University of Bradford, the host for the 1st ICAP conference in 1995. Much has changed in the world of archaeological prospection since that inaugural event, but many things have also remained constant. Perusing the abstract list from the 1st conference reveals that there no less than 6 presenters who returned to present, and many more of the initial group returned to attend, at this, the 12th conference. For the 12th International Conference of Archaeological Prospection a number of key themes were targeted, divided in to six conference sessions: • Techniques and new technological developments • Applications and reconstructing landscapes and urban environments • Integration of techniques and inter-disciplinarity, with focus on visualisation and interpretation • Marine, inter-tidal and wetland prospection techniques and applications • Low altitude prospection techniques and applications • Commercial archaeological prospection in the contemporary world Many of the presentations in the Techniques and technological developments session highlighted the use of automated process in the filtering and recognition of data, and also the use of vehicles for the rapid capture of high resolution data. The Applications and reconstruction of landscapes and urban environments session highlighted contemporary research in a wide range of locations and temporal settings from around the world, from Stonehenge to Mexico, and from Northern Plains earthlodges to 19th century landscape gardens. The variety of presentations amply demonstrates the applicability of prospection techniques to a wide range of situations and purposes, and highlights the expansion seen in archaeological prospection since the 1st ICAP conference in 1995. Within the integration of techniques and visualisation session a number of presentations detailed the use of simultaneous data capture, and how such techniques have been integrated with specific research programmes to enhance the understanding of archaeological sites. The special sessions on Marine, inter-tidal and wetland prospection and Low altitude prospection for cussed on new and emerging technologies broadening the horizon for archaeological prospection. The use of underwater vehicles and aerial vehicles for data capture in the form of marine seismic data and LiDAR is detailed through a number of case studies. These demonstrate the novel use of emerging technologies for archaeological prospection, and the success of these applications will certainly lead to the growth of this field within coming years. A special session on commercial archaeological prospection combined a number of presentations from commercial practitioners in the field with a workshop session covering a range of key issues and standards relating to practices within both commercial and research archaeological prospection. The success of the 12th International Conference of Archaeological Prospection is due to both the presenting contributors and attending delegates. We also recognise the effort made by both the Organising Committe and Scientific committee, and thank the members for their dedication in organising the event, and for the prompt review and comments on all of the scientific papers. On behlaf of both the ICAP 2017 Organising Committee and the Scientific Committee we extend sincerest thanks to all of the presenters and attendees at the conference, and very much look forward to the 13th conference in 2019.