Airborne laser altimetry in alluviated landscapes

Abstract

Scanning airborne laser altimetry, usually referred to as LiDAR, generates high spatial resolution, high accuracy elevation data. The technique has found considerable use in the earth sciences, for example for flood modelling and prediction. This paper examines some geoarchaeological applications for LiDAR in alluviated landscapes. The LiDAR data for several lowland river valleys in England are examined. The technique has considerable potential for identifying archaeologically significant geomorphological features through examination of the microtopography of floodplain and terrace surfaces and for mapping upstanding archaeological earthworks.

Now You See It… Now You Don’t: Understanding Airborne Mapping LiDAR Collection and Data Product Generation for Archaeological Research in Mesoamerica

“…The exponential development of ALS technology triggered an explosion in its use for archaeology with early applications in Europe [4][5][6][7][8][9] and one target of opportunity in Mesoamerica in 2001 [10]. However the application of the technique gained significant momentum for prospection in regions covered with dense vegetation, including the multi-layer tropical and sub-tropical rain forests of South and Central America [11,12], as well as South East Asia [13][14][15].…”

Odtworzenie przebiegu linii okopów z II wojny światowej (OKH Stellung b1) w Paśmie Jałowieckim i Grupie Mędralowej na podstawie numerycznego modelu terenu z danych LiDAR i badań terenowych

“…Shell, Roughley 2004;Sittler 2004;Devereux i in. 2005;Challis 2006). Badania te przyczyniły się do utworzenia w wielu krajach dużych programów badawczych skierowanych na ogólnokrajowe identyfikacje zasobów dziedzictwa kulturowego za pomocą danych LiDAR (Banaszek 2014).…”

On the Airborne Lidar Contribution in Archaeology: from Site Identification to Landscape Investigation

“…These data comprised a single return without the possibility to access and separate First Pulse, Last Pulse or intensity data. Since 2002, such huge Lidar datasets has been exploited for archaeological prospections (Holden et al, 2002;Challis, 2006;Challis & Howard, 2006;Challis et al, 2008).…”

“…The second is able to detect the entire echo waveform for each emitted laser beam, thus offering improved capabilities especially in areas with complex morphology and/or dense vegetation cover. Nowadays the majority of published studies are based on data collected by conventional ALS, for the management of archaeological monuments (Barnes, 2003), landscape studies (Shell & Roughley, 2004;Challis, 2006) and archaeological investigations to depict microtopographic earthworks in bare ground sites (Corns & Shaw, 2008) and in forested areas (Sittler 2004;Devereux et al, 2005;Crutchley, 2008;Gallagher & Josephs, 2008). The potential of FW LiDAR for archaeological purposes has been assessed in a few studies, among which, for sake of brevity, we cite the study of an Iron Age hill fort covered by dense vegetation (Doneus et al 2008) and the investigations performed on two medieval settlements, located on bare ground hilly places .…”