Although the use of both drones and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) has become common in archaeology in recent years, LiDAR scanning from drones is still in its infancy. The technological development related to drones as well as laser scanner instruments has gradually reached the point where these can be integrated. In this paper we present the results from a test where the applicability of LiDAR used from a drone was studied. The study had two objectivesboth based on comparative studies: (i) whether LiDAR from drones represents an improvement in terms of detection success; and (ii) whether LiDAR from drones can increase the quality of the documentation of archaeological features and their physical properties based on remote sensing. A modest improvement of detection success was found, but was not as convincing as one would perhaps expect given the relatively large increase in terms of ground points. This has led us to the conclusion that very dense vegetation obstructs laser beams from reaching all the way to the bare earth. As regards accuracy in documenting archaeological features, the study showed more significant improvements. The last part of the paper is dedicated to a discussion of the pros and cons of using LiDAR from drones compared to conventional airborne laser scanning from aeroplanes or helicopters. The main advantages concern flexibility, low flight altitude and small laser footprint as well as the advantages of a far-reaching field of view. The disadvantages are related to price, battery capacity, size of area and especially the requirement of line of sight between the drone operator and the drone, a fact that restricts the efficiency in terms of mapping large areas. Nevertheless, the final conclusion is that LiDAR from drones has the potential to make a substantial improvement to archaeological remote sensing.
This paper presents results from a study where identification and documentation of landscape changes using a combination of historical aerial photographs and newer airborne laser scanning (ALS) data were examined. The study was based on remotely sensed data covering a Norwegian protected cultural environment consisting of several pebble-stone built grave cairns. Georeferenced digital elevation models (DEMs) were generated using historical air photographs from the years 1968, 1979 and 1999. In addition ALS datasets from 2008 and 2010 were used in the study. Altogether seven difference models were generated as a result of conducting automated change detections between the different epochs. In this way detailed information about changes that occurred in the landscape and to individual monuments for almost the last 50 years was obtained. Further, the incidents that caused the identified changes were interpreted based on documents from archives. Using this approach the dynamic character of the studied protected site was proven. The study demonstrates the importance of historical aerial photographs as a valuable source that makes possible retrospective monitoring of past landscape changes on a detailed scale.
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