Abstract
Archaeology of north-eastern Poland has been poorly recognized owing to vast forest areas and numerous lakes. This
particularly refers to the Warmian–Masurian Voivodship, where forest covers over 30% of its area. Prospection of forested
areas has become possible in Poland just over 10 years ago with the Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) and Light
Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). These techniques allow obtaining 3-D documentation of recognized and also unknown
archaeological sites in the forested areas. Thanks to ALS/LiDAR prospection a significant number of archaeological
structures have been identified also in the Warmia and Masuria regions. Among them oval-shaped hillforts, surrounded
by perfectly spaced concentric moats and ramparts, located mainly on islands and in wetland areas, have raised particular
attention. Based on field prospection and results of preliminary excavations, these objects have been considered as Iron
Age hillforts. One of the best preserved objects of this type is on the Radomno Lake island, located several kilometres to
the south of Iława town. Integrated geoarchaeological prospection of this hillfort emphasized benefits of using LiDAR in
combination with results of geophysical prospection and shallow drillings. Applied methodology enabled to document
the hillfort shape, and to study its geological structure and stratigraphy. The results clearly indicate that integration
of LiDAR data with geophysical prospecting is indispensable in future archaeological surveys. It is a perfect tool for
remote sensing of archaeological objects in forest areas, so far not available for traditional archaeology.
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