Field Analysis:Air Photos

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Aerial photography
The use of aerial photography for locating crop mark sites and surveying earthworks is well known to archaeologists. However, aerial photos and more recently satellite imagery may also provide useful geological and geomorphological information.

Changes in vegetation and land use may mark changes in the soil environment, whilst some geological features are most easily observed from the air. For example, the geological fault bounding this tell site at Lefkandi, Euboea, Greece. The sharp, straight line of the fault is immediately visible from the air and may have had a substantial influence on the cultural history of the site, and site erosion processes.

Aerial photography of floodplains during periods of flooding can also be informative as the position of former river channels are marked by oxbow lakes. This provides information on channel migration and avulsion, and identifies areas of previously active channel erosion.