ABSTRACT
The Western Front extends over an area of 700 kilometres, from the Belgian coast through France to the Swiss border. This area is one of the largest continuous archaeological sites in the world, and with the centennial commemorations remembering the beginning of World War I, international academic and public attention in the site is growing. In Flanders, especially, this increased attention has prompted a growth in archaeological excavations into the traces left by World War 1 (for an overview, see Van Hollebeeke et al. 2014). Inevitably, questions about the presence, nature, diversity and value of this heritage are raised by such excavations, alongside practical considerations such as the need for the preservation of such remains, and their treatment during infrastructure developments (agriculture, industry, and urban expansion). Such complex questions cannot be answered solely through traditional archaeological field investigations, but require an interdisciplinary non-invasive approach conducted on a landscape scale.
