Revealing Archaeological Sites under Mediterranean Forest Canopy Using LiDAR: El Viandar Castle (husum) in El Hoyo (Belmez-Córdoba, Spain)

Abstract

Light detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology is a valuable tool for archaeological prospection in areas covered by dense vegetation. Its capacity to penetrate dense forest environments enables it to detect archaeological remains scattered over orographically complex areas. LiDAR-derived digital terrain models (DTMs) have made an exceptional contribution towards identifying topographic landscapes of archaeological interest. In this study, we focus on an area of intense historic settlement from the Chalcolithic to the Middle Ages, which today is completely covered by Mediterranean forest. Due to the dense canopy, and the fact that it is a protected area on private land, it has never been analyzed. To reveal the settlement, we primarily used a series of LiDAR mapping surveys to gather data and analyzed other open access remote sensing resources from the National Geographic Institute of Spain (IGN). The IGN LiDAR data proved to be of particular interest. These resources enabled us to detect an ancient fortress (El Viandar Castle) and its surrounding settlement. LiDAR, in conjunction with other products, was fundamental in identifying the site. Equally, the mapping surveys enabled us to analyze the limits and scope of the IGN airborne LiDAR and other free access remote sensing products. Our background in this research demonstrates that low-cost products applied to LiDAR research in archaeology have major limitations when it is necessary to have a high level of spatial resolution in order to define the layout and the main components of an archaeological site.

UAV-Based Remote Sensing for Detection and Visualization of Partially-Exposed Underground Structures in Complex Archaeological Sites

“…Therefore, TLS is often preferred for smaller, unwooded areas as well as architectural remains. Considering this, the use of LiDAR units onboard UAVs is becoming an interesting concept for the mapping of archaeological sites [27][28][29].…”

UAV LiDAR in coastal environments: Archaeological case studies from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, and Vega, Norway

“…Although the use of UAV LiDAR in archaeology remains limited compared with conventional LiDAR, it has been successfully employed to detect archaeological features under tree canopies in various environments across the world. This includes building foundations and field systems in Hawaii (Casana et al, 2021; McCoy et al, 2022), building features from a deserted village in Italy (Masini et al, 2022), deserted settlements in Spain (Monterroso‐Checa et al, 2021), grave mounds and charcoal production sites in Norway (Risbøl & Gustavsen, 2018), graves and clearance cairns in Finland (Roiha et al, 2021), building features and field systems in Mexico (Schroder et al, 2021), mapping historical conflict landscapes in Germany (Storch et al, 2022), an ancient walled settlement in Peru (VanValkenburgh et al, 2020) and mounds and building foundations in China (Zhou et al, 2020). Most of these projects involved field verifications of LiDAR identifications or evaluations of previous field surveys by employing LiDAR mapping.…”

Potential and limitations of LiDAR altimetry in archaeological survey. Copper Age and Bronze Age settlements in southern Iberia

“…The first of them examined an area of the Portuguese Alentejo region and Spanish Extremadura with known fortified sites and ditched enclosures, using 1 m resolution DTM from the LiDAR datasets obtained through the facilities of the Spanish National Geographic Institute (IGN in its Spanish acronym) (Cerrillo‐Cuenca & Bueno Ramírez, 2019). The same IGN data were used to map the topography of Iron Age, Ancient and Medieval Cordoba (Monterroso‐Checa et al, 2021), the amphitheatre of the Roman city of Torreparedones, as well as to suggest a new location for the Phoenician temple of Melkart (Hercules) in San Fernando, Cádiz, combining the laser altimetry with sonar bathymetry produced by the Spanish Oceanography Institute (Monterroso‐Checa, 2017, 2019, 2021). Other very recent examples also include the reconnaisance of 135 Iron Age ‘castros’ (hillforts) in Galicia, including 25 previously unknown ones, with buried features, ditches, pathways, field boundaries and levelled defensive elements (Parcero‐Oubiña, 2021), also a fresh cartography of the pre‐Roman ‘castro’ at Irueña, Salamanca, combining surface surveys with LiDAR and GIS technology (Berrocal‐Rangel et al, 2017) as well as a study of the Roman military presence in the northern fringe of the Duero basin, where 66 new archaeological sites were discovered thanks to the combined use of different remote sensing techniques and open access geospatial datasets, mainly aerial photography, satellite imagery and airborne LiDAR (Menéndez Blanco et al, 2020).…”