Biography
I received my MA degree in archaeology in 2002 (with a dissertation on the Roman rural occupation in the Regione Marche, Italy), at Ghent University. I specialized in archaeological geophysics at the University of Bradford (UK), where I received my MPhil degree in 2008. Since then, I have carried out geophysical prospections in the NW Europe (UK, Belgium, Germany, France) and the Mediterranean (Italy, Corsica, Greece, Malta, Portugal). In 2012, I finished my PhD at Ghent University, on GPR prospection applied to archaeology. I was a postdoctoral fellow at the FWO (Research Foundation – Flanders) from 2013–2019 and at the Ecole normale supérieure in Paris within the ‘Paris Region Fellowship Programme’ (2022–2023). I joined the Faculty of Classics at the University of Cambridge in 2023, as a UK Research and Innovation Postdoctoral fellow (Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Guarantee).
Research
The focus of my research is on the geophysical prospection of Roman sites and landscapes. Geophysical techniques map archaeological traces such as walls, floors, ditches or streets on the basis of the differences they cause in the physical properties of the soil, e.g. small changes in the earth magnetic field (magnetometer prospection), in the electrical soil properties (electrical resistance survey), or both (electromagnetic induction). More specifically, I have specialised in the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey of Roman cities. GPR is based on the reflection of electromagnetic (radio) waves by archaeological traces.
I investigate dense sampling strategies for GPR by means of a multi-antenna GPR-array towed by an ATV, and efficient data processing tailored to GPR data acquired at Roman sites. I undertook the GPR survey of two complete Roman cities in Central-Italy (Falerii Novi and Interamna Lirenas), within the ‘Beneath the surface of Roman Republican cities’ project of the Faculty of Classics. The results of these surveys have been deposited as an open-access archive with the Archaeology Data Service. Recently, I have conducted GPR surveys within the ‘Roman York beneath the streets’ project of the Faculty of Classics. Currently, my research focuses on the archaeological interpretation of geophysical data (including the application of machine learning and computer vision methods), and on the automation of geophysical data acquisition by developing an autonomous measurement platform towed by a robot vehicle.
Publications
- Verdonck, L., A. Launaro and M. Millett. “The urban survey: methodology.” In: Interamna Lirenas. A Roman town in Central Italy revealed. A. Launaro & M. Millett. Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monographs, 2023. 19–37 [Open access].
- Verdonck, L., A. Launaro, F. Vermeulen, and M. Millett. “Ground-penetrating radar survey at Falerii Novi: a new approach to the study of Roman cities” ANTIQUITY 94 (2020): 705–723. [Open access].
- Verdonck, L., Ph. De Smedt, and J. Verhegge. “Making Sense of Anomalies : Practices and Challenges in the Archaeological Interpretation of Geophysical Data.” Innovation in Near-surface Geophysics : Instrumentation, Application, and Data Processing Methods. Ed. R. Persico, S. Piro, & N. Linford. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier, 2019. 151–194.
- Verdonck, L.. “Detection of Buried Roman Wall Remains in Ground-penetrating Radar Data Using Template Matching.” ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION 23.4 (2016): 257–272.
- Verdonck, L., D. Taelman, F. Vermeulen, and R. Docter. “The Impact of Spatial Sampling and Migration on the Interpretation of Complex Archaeological Ground-penetrating Radar Data.” ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION 22.2 (2015): 91–103 [Open access].
