Proceedings of Session VIII-1 of the XVIII UISPP World Congress (2018, Paris); papers reflect on the need to develop sustainable and reliable approaches to mapping our landscape heritage, guided by the crucial concept termed the ‘archaeological continuum’.

This book addresses the true 'landscape' perspective approach that archaeologists in Italy, and in many parts of the Mediterranean, use to study the archaeology of landscapes, marking a departure from the traditional site-based approach. The aim of the book is to promote the broader application of new paradigms for landscape analysis, combining traditional approaches with multidisciplinary studies as well as comparatively new techniques such as large-scale geophysical surveying, airborne laser scanning and geo-environmental studies. This approach has yielded tangible and striking results in central Italy, clearly demonstrating that identifying the 'archaeological continuum' is a realistic aim, even under the specific environmental and archaeological conditions of the Mediterranean world.

Session VIII-1 of UISPP 2018 in Paris 'Mapping the Past' brought together several contributions reflecting on the need to develop sustainable and reliable approaches to mapping our landscape heritage. The session was guided by the crucial concept termed the 'archaeological continuum'. This concept can be defined as a proactive approach to landscape survey based on the summative evidence detected (or detectable) within the area under examination, reducing spatial and chronological gaps as far as possible through the intensive and extensive application of a wide variety of exploratory methods and analytical techniques. Research work across Europe as well as contributions presented in this session have demonstrated that it is now possible to explore the whole landscape of carefully chosen areas and study them as an archaeological continuum. Archaeological interpretations derived from this kind of approach can be expected to reveal different layers of information belonging to a variety of chronological horizons, each displaying mutual physical (stratigraphic) and conceptual relationships within that horizon. The raising of new archaeological questions and also the development of alternative conservation strategies directly stimulated by the radical ideas inherent in the concept of the 'archaeological continuum' are among the major outcomes of the session.

The study of landscape has in recent years been a field for considerable analytical archaeological experimentation. Although the Mediterranean is the home of classicism, it has seen the implementation of projects of this new kind, and in regions of Spain and Italy, after some delay, the proliferation of landscape archaeology studies.

This volume addresses the creation, documentation, preservation, and study of the archaeology of lunar, planetary, and interstellar exploration. It defines the attributes of common human technological expressions within national and, increasingly, private exploration efforts, and explore the archaeology of both fixed and mobile artifacts in the solar system and the wider galaxy. This book presents the research of the foremost scholars in the field of space archaeology and heritage, a recent discipline of the field of Space Archaeology and Heritage. It provides the emerging archaeological perspective on the history of the human exploration of space. Since humans have been creating a vast archaeological preserve in space and on other celestial bodies. This assemblage of heritage objects and sites attest to the human presence off the Earth and the study of these material remains are best investigated by archaeologists and historic preservationists. As space exploration has reached the half century mark, it is the appropriate time to reflect on the major events and technological development of this particular unique 20th century arena of human history. The authors encapsulate various ways of looking at the archaeology of both fixed and mobile human artifacts in the solar system. As missions continue into space, and as private ventures gear up for public and tourist visits to space and to the Moon and even Mars, it is the appropriate time to address questions about the meaning and significance of this material culture.

Mapping Archaeological Landscapes from Space offers a concise overview of air and spaceborne imagery and related geospatial technologies tailored to the needs of archaeologists. Leading experts including scientists involved in NASA’s Space Archaeology program provide technical introductions to five sections: 1) Historic Air and Spaceborne Imagery 2) Multispectral and Hyperspectral Imagery 3) Synthetic Aperture Radar 4) Lidar 5) Archaeological Site Detection and Modeling Each of these five sections includes two or more case study applications that have enriched understanding of archaeological landscapes in regions including the Near East, East Asia, Europe, Meso- and North America. Targeted to the needs of researchers and heritage managers as well as graduate and advanced undergraduate students, this volume conveys a basic technological sense of what is currently possible and, it is hoped, will inspire new pioneering applications. Particular attention is paid to the tandem goals of research (understanding) and archaeological heritage management (preserving) the ancient past. The technologies and applications presented can be used to characterize environments, detect archaeological sites, model sites and settlement patterns and, more generally, reveal the dialectic landscape-scale dynamics among ancient peoples and their social and environmental surroundings. In light of contemporary economic development and resultant damage to and destruction of archaeological sites and landscapes, applications of air and spaceborne technologies in archaeology are of wide utility and promoting understanding of them is a particularly appropriate goal at the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention.​