Matthias Kucera

University of Vienna | UniWien

We combined datasets from multiple research projects and remote sensing technologies to evaluate conservation conditions at La Fortaleza de Kuelap, a pre-Hispanic site in Peru that suffered significant damage under heavy seasonal rains in April 2022. To identify the causes of the collapse and where the monument is at further risk, we modeled surfac...

In this article, we combine datasets from multiple research projects and remote sensing tech-nologies to evaluate the conservation conditions of La Fortaleza de Kuelap, a pre-Hispanic monument in Peru’s northeastern Andes that suffered significant damage during historically high seasonal rains in April 2022. Our analyses seek to identify the main c...

In this article, we combine datasets from multiple research projects and remote sensing tech-nologies to evaluate the conservation conditions of La Fortaleza de Kuelap, a pre-Hispanic monument in Peru’s northeastern Andes that suffered significant damage during historically high seasonal rains in April 2022. Our analyses seek to identify the main c...

In archaeology, stratigraphic units are characterised by their shape, location, and physical composition. In analysing these components, archaeological research aims to reconstruct the processes of deposition and formation. Interpretations of material analyses are typically biased by this stratigraphic information as revealed through excavation. Ne...

Investigating deserted medieval castles and villages in remote rural areas paired with a scarcity of meaningful written sources is a challenging task that can be significantly enhanced by the use of non-invasive archaeological prospection methods. Furthermore, the interpolation of stratigraphic relationships among maps by analysing paths and field...

The digitization and interpretation of legacy datasets is a crucial and challenging part in order to handle old excavation data and encourage further archaeological knowledge. Old excavation data are to be modified in terms of up to date methodology.

Archaeological research is dealing with the documentation and analysis of archaeological entities in space and time. During this process information is linked with a specific location and a time stamp. An archaeological Information System (AIS) organizes archaeological entities and associated information according to their specific location using a...

The technical advancements of the past decade have rendered motorised, high-resolution ground-penetrating radar (GPR) investigations increasingly popular for archaeological research and cultural heritage management in Norway. However, the agricultural use of most survey areas limits the time available for fieldwork in spring and autumn and thus red...

For the analysis of the spatio-temporal development of an archaeological landscape the topographical situation provides basic information. Relations of archaeologically relevant features are often only interpretable if such information is available at a sufficient quality. The long-term research project of the inter- and intra-site analysis of the...

Over the course of four years (2012–2015) the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archeology (LBI ArchPro), in collaboration with the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) and on behalf of the provincial government of Lower Austria, has conducted the comprehensive, non-invasive archaeological pro...

The Harris Matrix (HM) is the fundamental diagrammatic representation of relative time for an archaeological site and the de facto standard for the representation of a stratigraphic sequence-the backbone for archaeological stratigraphy. It displays all uniquely identified units of stratification in a sequential diagram representing their relative t...

Die archäologische Wissenschaft steht wie kaum eine andere Wissenschaft im Spannungsfeld der Geistes- und Naturwissenschaften. Ein interdisziplinärere Ansatz scheint zwingend zu sein, bedarf aber exakter wissenschafts- und erkenntnistheoretischer Überlegungen. Die vorliegende Arbeit versteht sich als kleiner Beitrag bestehende Diskussionen aufrecht...

Traditionally, ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) measurements for near‐surface geophysical archaeological prospection are conducted with single‐channel systems using GPR antennae mounted in a cart similar to a pushchair, or towed like a sledge behind the operator. The spatial data sampling of such GPR devices for the non‐invasive detection and investi...

It is often said that every archaeological site – and even every artifact - is unique. Thus it must be the challenge of archaeological research to reveal patterns of similar rules and processes for describing and understanding observed phenomena. As with all sciences, results must be reproducible, which is guaranteed through the well-defined use of...

The excavated architecture of the exceptional prehistoric site of Akrotiri on the Greek island of Thera/Santorini is endangered by gradual decay, damage due to accidents, and seismic shocks, being located on an active volcano in an earthquake-prone area. Therefore, in 2013 and 2014 a digital documentation project has been conducted with support of...

While traditionally archaeological research has mainly been focused on individual cultural heritage monuments or distinct archaeological sites, the Austrian based Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology goes beyond the limitations of discrete sites in order to understand their archaeological context. This i...

Calcifications commonly occur in association with soft tissue inflammation. However, they are not often discussed in palaeopathological literature, frequently due to problems of identification and diagnosis. We present a calcified object (40 × 27 × 27 cm) found with a middle-aged male from a post-medieval cemetery in Vienna. It was not recognized d...

Archaeological research is dealing with the documentation and analysis of archaeological entities in space and time. During this process information is linked with a specific location and a time stamp. An archaeological Information System (AIS) organizes archaeological entities and associated information according to their specific location using a...

The present study investigates the faunal material from Putzenkopf Nord at Bad Dürrnberg (Austria). Animal remains, dated to the La Tène A-C 1 period, were retrieved from the settlement and the surrounding graves. A total of 12,573 bones have been identified and analyzed for the present study, demonstrating that the faunal composition fits well to...

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI ArchPro) together with its partner the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) has developed motorized magnetic prospection systems to survey entire archaeological landscapes within reasonable time at high spatial sampling resolution. With th...

Non-destructive prospection methods provide a powerful toolbox to explore Archaeological Heritage while it is still protected untouched below the actual surface. Due to recent technical developments in high resolution large scale non-invasive archaeological prospection by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Arc...

In February 2014 high-resolution ground penetrating radar and earth resistance tomography measurements have for the first time been used successfully for the distinct mapping of buried archaeological structures in the vicinity of the Bronze Age archaeological site of Akrotiri on Santorini/Thera in Greece.

The Tanum World Heritage Area, located in northern Bohuslän ca. 150 km north of Gothenburg, Sweden, is a multifaceted land-scape containing remnants of human activity from the Neolithic to Modern Historic times. This area is particularly famous for its well-preserved rock art, with no less than 1,500 recorded localities containing thousands of imag...

In the Roman town of Carnuntum 40 km south-east of Vienna (Austria) the unique discovery of a school of gladiators was made using a multi-disciplinary approach based on high-resolution near-surface geophysical prospection. The outstandingly well preserved architecture was revealed through non-invasive mapping using latest highly efficient multichan...

The future demands on professional archaeological prospection will be its ability to cover large areas in a time and cost efficient manner with very high spatial resolution and accuracy. The objective of the 2010 in Vienna established Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI ArchPro) in collaboration wi...

Stratigraphic archaeological excavations demand high-resolution documentation techniques for 3D recording. Today, this is typically accomplished using total stations or terrestrial laser scanners. This paper demonstrates the potential of another technique that is low-cost and easy to execute. It takes advantage of software using Structure from Moti...

The Boyadjian et al dental wash technique provides, in certain contexts, the only chance to analyze and quantify the use of plants by past populations and is therefore an important milestone for the reconstruction of paleodiet. With this paper we present recent investigations and results upon the influence of this method on teeth. A series of six t...

Zusammenfassung Diese Arbeit hat die Anwendung wissenschaftstheoretischer Aspekte auf allgemeine archäologische Arbeitsabläufe zum Ziel. Das Hauptaugenmerk liegt dabei auf Ausgrabungsprozessen in Verbindung mit der stratigraphischen Methode. Ausgehend von einem Zitat von Edward Harris (Harris 1989: 133), das die Notwendigkeit des Vergleichs von str...