Capturing Complexity

Abstract

Medium-scale archaeological phenomena (large settlements, landscape features and infrastructural systems, road networks, etc.) pose significant challenges to archaeological documentation. Traditionally, such features are mapped either schematically or via labor-intensive (or otherwise costly) high-resolution methods. The advent of inexpensive, packable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and lighter-than-air platforms, combined with increasingly sophisticated photogrammetric and mobile geographic information system (GIS) software systems, presents opportunities for improving on these compromises. Here, we present results from test flights and photogrammetric mapping using UAVs and a meteorological balloon, combined with mobile GIS-based attribute registry of architectonic features at a large, complex colonial planned settlement (Mawchu Llacta de Tuti) in highland colonial Peru. First, the operating parameters of UAVs are presented, as well as the imagery capture and photogrammetric processing work flows. Second, we provide an overview of the tablet-based mobile GIS system used to digitize a site plan (based on the imagery from the UAV) and register architectural attributes from each building. The results from initial testing suggest that in the near future, such combined close-range photogrammetry and mobile GIS-based systems will significantly enhance and expedite high-resolution data registry of a wide range of archaeological features, sites, and landscapes.

Recent Trends and Long-standing Problems in Archaeological Remote Sensing

“…Together with the proliferation of UAV use in archaeology, SfM allows the creation of high spatial resolution topographic models over limited areas at relatively low cost. Examples including Mozas et al (2012) and Wernke, Adams and Hooten (2014) illustrate the clear practical utility of SfM as a way to fulfil a basic archaeological desire -better maps of the area under study and detailed data on local surface topography (Figure 2). The creation of terrain models for larger areas by processing historic imagery not collected explicitly with photogrammetric processing in mind, as carried out by Risbøl et al (2015) and Sevara et al (2017) demonstrate the potential for SfM to support landscape archaeological research by allowing archaeologists to reconstruct terrains that have since been transformed, and by opening new avenues for tracking landscape change at a higher resolutions and through deeper timelines than satellite imagery will permit.…”

Unstructured satellite survey detects up to 20% of archaeological sites in coastal valleys of southern Peru

“…To the extent that our quantification of site discovery may be useful, these specific numerical results would only apply to southern coastal Peru and should be extended to similar contexts with caution. Due to the lack of tree and ground cover, archaeological sites in this region are not occluded in satellite imagery, making it an ideal region for this approach to site discovery [ 57 ]. Moreover, the scale and complexity of Andean architecture renders these sites exceptionally visible.…”

Rethinking the Landscape: Emerging Approaches to Archaeological Remote Sensing

“…Rapid developments in drone technologies and photogrammetric processing software have transformed archaeological field documentation over the past few years (e.g., Campana 2017a, Wernke et al 2014), and a new generation of drone-optimized sensors, including multispectral infrared (Hill et al 2020), uncooled thermal (Casana et al 2014), and microlidar (VanValkenburgh et al 2020, are offering unparalleled opportunities for ultrahigh-resolution imaging of archaeological sites. Drone surveys are increasingly being undertaken in coordination with terrestrial geophysical surveys using magnetic gradiometry, ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistivity, and electromagnetic induction.…”