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Remote sensing. The lost city of Dzwonowo and serendipity effect Summary The discovery of the abandoned medieval town of Dzwonowo at the beginning of 2014 might be seen as coincidental. The orthophotomap used for this purpose was not... more
Remote sensing. The lost city of Dzwonowo and serendipity effect
Summary
The discovery of the abandoned medieval town of Dzwonowo at the beginning of 2014 might be seen as
coincidental. The orthophotomap used for this purpose was not meant for recording archaeological sites mani
festing themselves in the form of crop marks. The imagery, on which identification of the former town layout
was based, had been taken on the 8th July 2010 between June and July is assumed by archaeologists in Poland to
be an optimal period for taking aerial photographs documenting vegetation marks. Thus, what happened there
is something, in aerial photography concerned literature, called a serendipity effect. Therefore, by chance, there
was a phenomenon recorded, in aerial photographs taken for completely different purpose, of a great signifi
cance from the point of view of archaeologists. Identification of this particular town pattern was also possible
on the basis of analogies with former archaeological discoveries in Poland (e.g. in Stare Szamotuły).
Whereas a serendipity effect was concerned, available historical remote sensing photographs taken for car
tography purposes, as well as obtained from national archives, have been analysed, including aerial photogra
phy (AP) and airborne laser scanning (ALS) derivatives. In the photographs from years 1960, 1976, 1995, and
2010 it was indeed possible to successfully identify structures of the former town layout. These materials have
been also used for an analysis of transformations of Dzwonowo and its vicinity.
The area where the town was located slopes gently westwards, towards a valley, nowadays marshy and for
ested, and partially dried, as a result of melioration works undertaken recently. In the past, a minor meander
ing river used to flow through it. Paleochannels illustrating its original course are still visible in NMT deriva
tives. Within the discussed valley also relics of dykes, used for transportation purposes, were preserved.
Remote sensing data provided new details concerning history of the place, also the most recent.
Summary
The discovery of the abandoned medieval town of Dzwonowo at the beginning of 2014 might be seen as
coincidental. The orthophotomap used for this purpose was not meant for recording archaeological sites mani
festing themselves in the form of crop marks. The imagery, on which identification of the former town layout
was based, had been taken on the 8th July 2010 between June and July is assumed by archaeologists in Poland to
be an optimal period for taking aerial photographs documenting vegetation marks. Thus, what happened there
is something, in aerial photography concerned literature, called a serendipity effect. Therefore, by chance, there
was a phenomenon recorded, in aerial photographs taken for completely different purpose, of a great signifi
cance from the point of view of archaeologists. Identification of this particular town pattern was also possible
on the basis of analogies with former archaeological discoveries in Poland (e.g. in Stare Szamotuły).
Whereas a serendipity effect was concerned, available historical remote sensing photographs taken for car
tography purposes, as well as obtained from national archives, have been analysed, including aerial photogra
phy (AP) and airborne laser scanning (ALS) derivatives. In the photographs from years 1960, 1976, 1995, and
2010 it was indeed possible to successfully identify structures of the former town layout. These materials have
been also used for an analysis of transformations of Dzwonowo and its vicinity.
The area where the town was located slopes gently westwards, towards a valley, nowadays marshy and for
ested, and partially dried, as a result of melioration works undertaken recently. In the past, a minor meander
ing river used to flow through it. Paleochannels illustrating its original course are still visible in NMT deriva
tives. Within the discussed valley also relics of dykes, used for transportation purposes, were preserved.
Remote sensing data provided new details concerning history of the place, also the most recent.
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