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Around 6,000 years ago, our ancestors began to build the first monuments, which for centuries have symbolically shaped the landscape - such as tombs or shrines. Petr Krištuf's team is investigating how their construction influenced today's landscape with the help of 3D modelling and other digital technologies. "We focus on the development and perception of ritual places, and one of these areas is the surroundings of Mount Říp. This has undergone significant transformations over the last millennium, completely changing the once sacred landscape of ancestors and spirits into the agricultural heart of the Czech Republic. Today we are able to create digital models of the now extinct landscape and compare them with other data, such as the chemical composition of the soil. This will reveal to us the settlement strategies of our ancestors," described the advantages of modern technology and one of the projects, Petr Krištuf from the Faculty of Arts of UWB.

But with the help of cameras or drones, it is also possible to investigate a relatively recent period, and thus how people coped with Nazi and communist totalitarianism from the perspective of archaeology, when the country went through several waves of savagery, whether state or institutional, or people's revenge. The technologies available at the newly established centre will allow the creation of models of landscapes and artefacts, transporting the public to this dynamic period of the recent past. "Over the last fifteen years, the archaeology of modernity has taken shape in the Czech Republic and is now one of the most dynamically developing specialisations in the field at the national level. The Department of Archaeology of the University of UWB has been at the forefront of such research in Europe since the beginning," said Pavel Vařeka, head of the Department of Archaeology, who is cooperating with the Czech Academy of Sciences and Charles University on the project.

Among the most modern instrumentation and software equipment of the new Centre for Digital Archaeology at the Faculty of Arts, which helps archaeologists with mapping these periods, there are for example a drone equipped with LiDAR technology, laser scanners, 3D printer, GPS meters or a drone (wing). The latter differs from conventional drones in its ability to image large areas of the landscape in just one pass. This allows archaeologists to detect archaeological objects obscured by vegetation based on so-called vegetation signs.

"We have managed to build a workplace that can now compete with similar teams across Europe in terms of equipment, staff and know-how. This is also evidenced by our involvement in international projects," explained Lenka Starková, the head of the centre, which focuses on landscape changes after the al-Anfal genocide and the destruction of thousands of villages in Iraqi Kurdistan. She is working on the project with Palacký University in Olomouc.

The centre is also beneficial for teaching of continuing master and doctoral students. They are routinely part of the field projects of the Department of Archaeology of the Faculty of Arts UWB and now they have at their disposalby modern facilities worth approximately CZK 12 million, which were financed mainly from the PhD Infra programme and the NPO programme.

Its further development should, in addition to teaching and cutting-edge research, also aim at linking with other research institutions and creating a strong multidisciplinary team that will offer clients comprehensive solutions for applied archaeological research. "But equally, we want to be a place that connects researchers from all over the world. We want to start by organising the Aerial Archaeology Research Group's international conference in 2026," concludes Lenka Starková.