Aerial archaeology of Hallstatt necropolises in Hungary. New results by using different platforms
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 25/01/2024

Zoltán Czajlik, László Rupnik and Péter Ódor 

The aerial archaeological research of Early Iron Age tumulus fields dates back to the period between the two world wars in Hungary. We have aerial photographs both of the mounds of Szalacska and Százhalombatta from this period. The latter site is also unique because its second topographic survey, published in 1986, was based on an archival aerial photograph. Due to its proximity to the Budapest airports, the first images of the 1993 Hungarian-French aerial archaeological program were taken of the tumulus field of Százhalombatta and the Iron Age fortified settlement.

Our systematic research was started in the 2000s as part of larger aerial archaeological topography projects. For a long time, we tried to take advantage of the early summer periods, mainly in line with
the ripening of the winter wheat. For long-known sites such as Százhalombatta, Süttő, Sopron, Szalacska, Győrújbarát and Zalaszántó, phenomena related to previously unknown or perished tumuli (encircling ditch and / or body of the mound, in some cases the remains of the burial chamber) were observed. Documentation of previously not or little known Hallstatt age burials / necropolises was successful mainly in the Little Hungarian Plain, but also in some other regions in Transdanubia.
In recent years, major changes were put into effect in the methodology of aerial archaeological photography. Thanks to GPS-based digital map navigation, we can perform high-precision flights that allows capturing uncertainly identifiable mounds not only during periods more favourable for crop marks, but also outside of the vegetation period. We discovered a lot of new marks thanks to the satellite imagery and the systematic orthophoto-monitoring of Hungary (MePAR), on behalf of the European agricultural supporting system. This does not always result in the observation of previously unknown tumuli or parts thereof, but the vegetation marks or blurred soil signals can help to identify areas suitable for geophysical research and / or field walking survey. Archaeological aerial
photography has not reached its limits in the research of these necropolises, but provides more and more information for further field research.