The first thirty kilometres of the western front 1914–1918: an aerial archaeological approach with historical remote sensing data

Abstract

Abstract During the first months of World War One, most armies realized the strength and possibilities of a new weapon: military aviation carrying out aerial reconnaissance. Pilots and observers became the eyes of the army. Aerial photographs were taken all over the different theatres of war, documenting a cultural landscape from which the relicts are often still visible as scars in the landscape. These aerial photographs are a massive and overlooked source for the archaeological study of the Western Front in Europe. This paper describes how a specific, non‐destructive approach and methodology can provide new insights into extant and destroyed archaeological remains through combining GIS mapping and the interpretation of thousands of historical aerial photographs. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.