Journal of Maps

Archaeological Mapping: Humans, Environments, and Landscapes

Mapping has long been a fundamental tool in archaeology, allowing researchers to document, analyze, and interpret past human activities within their environmental and landscape contexts. Advances in geospatial technologies, including LiDAR and other remote sensing techniques, GIS, and machine learning, have revolutionized the way we visualize archaeological sites and cultural landscapes. These tools enable the reconstruction of ancient environments, the identification of human modifications to the landscape, and the assessment of long-term interactions between societies and their surroundings. By integrating archaeological, environmental, and spatial data, mapping fosters a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the past, revealing patterns of settlement, resource use, and adaptation.

Understanding past human-environment interactions is crucial for addressing contemporary challenges related to climate change, land use, and cultural heritage preservation. Archaeological mapping provides essential insights into how societies adapted to environmental changes, managed resources, and shaped their landscapes over time. The analysis of multi-temporal data obtained through advanced remote sensing and fieldwork techniques enables the detection of previously unknown natural and anthropogenic features, as well as their temporality, thereby shedding light on the chronological dimensions of the landscape palimpsest. Furthermore, by analyzing spatial patterns of past human activities, researchers can identify long-term trends in settlement dynamics, agricultural practices, and resilience strategies. This knowledge is particularly valuable for informing sustainable land management, heritage conservation, and policy-making. Additionally, it supports efforts to protect sites threatened by urbanization, erosion, or climate-related impacts. As archaeology becomes increasingly interdisciplinary, integrating spatial data with environmental and historical evidence enhances our ability to reconstruct past landscapes and anticipate future challenges. This Collection underscores the importance of archaeological mapping as a tool for both scientific discovery and the preservation of cultural heritage.

This Article Collection explores innovative methodologies in archaeological mapping, emphasizing the role of spatial analysis in uncovering human-environment dynamics across diverse temporal and geographical settings. Through case studies and methodological advances, it highlights how mapping continues to shape our knowledge of past landscapes and their enduring legacies. The Collection welcomes contributions that showcase the diverse applications of archaeological mapping across geoarchaeology, environmental archaeology, field archaeology, and landscape archaeology. By integrating spatial data with archaeological and environmental evidence, researchers can explore human-environment interactions, past land use practices, and cultural landscape transformations over time. We encourage submissions that employ innovative geospatial techniques such as GIS, remote sensing, spatial modeling, and predictive mapping to analyze archaeological sites and past landscapes. Studies focusing on methodological advancements, case studies demonstrating best practices in archaeological mapping, and interdisciplinary approaches that bridge archaeology with environmental sciences are particularly welcome. Through this Collection, we aim to highlight the role of mapping in understanding the spatial dimensions of past human activities and their lasting environmental impacts.

Article Collection Guest Advisors

Filippo Brandolini is a Marie Curie Research Fellow conducting research jointly at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA) and Università degli Studi di Milano (Milan, Italy). As the Principal Investigator of the RhECAST project, his research integrates environmental science, geospatial analysis, and computational modeling to explore the relationship between historical land-use strategies and carbon sequestration for climate change mitigation. His work focuses on the long-term sustainability of traditional agricultural landscapes, with particular attention to terrace farming and agroforestry systems. Through advanced GIS, remote sensing, and environmental modeling, he investigates how these historic land-use strategies influenced carbon storage, soil erosion, and biodiversity. He has also participated in geoarchaeological fieldwork in diverse environments, including Italy, Morocco, Oman, and Spain, applying interdisciplinary approaches to landscape research.

Giacomo Fontana directs the Texas Tech Digital Archaeology Research and Exploration Lab (DARE Lab) and the Ancient Hillforts Survey (Italy). He serves on the scientific committee of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) and the board of CAA North America. His research examines complex societies and their environmental interactions, focusing on alternative social systems that challenge urban models, particularly in highland and deserted areas. To do so, he relies on the integration of remote sensing, geospatial analysis, landscape modelling, and fieldwork.

Giacomo Vinci earned his Ph.D. in archaeology from the University of Udine in May 2015. Since 2016, he has held postdoctoral positions at the Multidisciplinary Lab of the ICTP and the Universities of Trieste and Siena. In late 2022, he joined the Department of Geosciences at the University of Padua as a fixed-term researcher. His expertise lies in the study of archaeological landscapes, with a primary focus on prehistoric and protohistoric periods. His research integrates geoarchaeological fieldwork, remote sensing techniques, and GIS-based spatial analysis to explore settlement dynamics and paleo-environments. More recently, he has expanded his approach by incorporating the study of vegetation history and human impact, particularly through pollen analysis.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisors for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts.

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 30 November 2025. Please contact Alex Johnson at alex.johnson@tandf.co.uk with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Please be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system. Please also select 'Social Science' from the list of available sections during submission. Failure to select the appropriate Article Collection or Section name can result in delays.

Article Collection Key Words:

1. Landscape Archaeology
2. Environmental Archaeology
3. Geoarchaeology
4. Remote Sensing & GIS
5. Geospatial Analysis