A Fusion of GPR- and LiDAR-Data for Surveying and Visualisation of Archaeological Structures - a case example of an archaeological site in Strettweg, District of Murtal, Austria

Strettweg is a small community located in Upper Styria in the valley of the Mur. It is seen as one of the most outstanding prehistoric archaeological sites in Austria. In 1851 the “Strettweger Opferwagen” ( 600 BC) was discovered and is considered one of the most important Hallstatt find of Austria. More than 160 years later Airborne LiDAR and modern geophysical methods like Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and/or Magnetics have made it possible to find additional burial mounds and map the largest prehistoric settlement in the southeastern Alps (Falkenberg). These modern techniques have provided an auxiliary tool for the archaeological team’s project „Hallstattzeitlicher Furstensitz Falkenberg/Strettweg“. GPR allows for a fast and non-invasive surveying of structures and anomalies of the sub surface, by using electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range. The active remote sensing technique LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, also known as Laser Scanning), measures the runtime of discrete light pulses in order to map objects and structures on the surface of the earth.