Geological and archaeological analysis of stone masonries in standing structures helps reveal information aboutuse of natural resources. At the same time, the study of historical materials is useful for conservators and culturalheritage management. Geochemical and petrographic analysis of building material types is usually done throughdestructive analysis on a few selected samples and can be problematic due to the costs of operations and the sizeof buildings themselves. This paper demonstrates that the combination of hyperspectral imaging portable NearInfrared (NIR) spectroscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF) spectroscopy can be useful foranalysing types of raw materials used in distinct construction phases of the inner defensive wall in the citadel ofCarcassonne (Aude, France). Stratigraphic analysis of the architecture, short-range spectral remote sensing andportable ED-XRF measurements were combined in an interdisciplinary approach to classify sandstone elements.The experimental protocol for in situ non-destructive analysis and classification of the masonry types allows theinvestigation of the monument in a diachronic perspective, collecting information to delineate raw materialsvarieties and their use or re-use through time.

This study proposes a method for the classification of lithic raw materials by means of hyperspectralimaging, a non-destructive fast analytical technique. The information potential of this approach wastested on a dwelling site dated to mid-late Mesolithic (7200–5800 BP) at Lillsjön, Ångermanland,Sweden. A dataset of lithic tools and flakes (2612 objects) made of quartz and quartzite, wasanalyzed using a shortwave infrared hyperspectral imaging system. The classification of the rawmaterials was performed applying multivariate statistical models. A random test set of 55artefacts was selected, classified according to spectral signature and divided into categoriescorresponding to different geological materials. The same test set was analyzed with EnergyDispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (ED XRF) to validate the classification. The entire dataset of lithicscollected on the site was then classified applying a SIMCA model. The distribution of items onthe site was visualized in a 3D GIS platform according to their geological characteristics tohighlight patterns that could indicate different use of the space and dynamics of raw materialssupply over time.

A total of 322 bulk samples, 267 bulk subsamples and 1632 survey samples from the excavation of Iron Age settlements at Ørland, Vik, Sør-Trondelag, were analysed at the Environmental Archaeology Laboratory (MAL) at Umeå University. The overall aim of these analyses was to look for evidence which could help identify possible prehistoric activity areas, understand building functions and divisions, and shed light on land management around the farmsteads.

Specific soil micromorphological, broader geoarchaeological and environmental archaeology signatures of settlement activities and land use have been identified from numerous case studies across Europe – from Romania to western Norway. In order to demonstrate how such investigations contribute to our understanding of settlement morphology and its wider landscape, an improved way of organising site-specific information or guide was created (Macphail and Goldberg, in press). Activities and land use are divided into 'Within Settlement', 'Peripheral to Settlement' and 'The Settlement's Wider Landscape'. Major themes identified are: Constructions (and materials), Trackways and paths (and other communication/transport-associated features), Animal Management, Water Management, Waste Disposal (1: middening; 2: human waste), Specialist Domestic and Industrial Activities and Funerary Practices. In the case of trackway deposits, their characterisation aids the identification of intensely occupied areas compared to rural communications, although changing land use within urban areas has also produced 'rural signatures' (e.g. as associated with animal management), for example in Late Roman cities. Specialist activities such as fish and crop processing or working with lead and other metals, in-field and within-wall manuring, stabling and domestic occupation floor-use evidence, and identification of different funerary practice – cremations, boat graves and other inhumations, and excarnation features – and peripheral constructions such as boat-houses, are also noted. New information from the Chalcolithic tell site of Borduşani-Popină, Romania and seasonally occupied Viking settlement of Heimdaljordet, Norway, is introduced.