Using Airborne LiDAR Survey to explore Historic-era archaeological landscapes of Montserrat in the Eastern Caribbean

Abstract

This article describes what appears to be the first archaeological application of airborne LiDAR survey to historic-era landscapes in the Caribbean archipelago, on the island of Montserrat. LiDAR is proving invaluable in extending the reach of traditional pedestrian survey into less favorable areas, such as those covered by dense neotropical forest and by ashfall from the past two decades of active eruptions by the Soufriè re Hills volcano, and to sites in localities that are inaccessible on account of volcanic dangers. Emphasis is placed on two aspects of the research: first, the importance of ongoing, real-time interaction between the LiDAR analyst and the archaeological team in the field; and second, the advantages of exploiting the full potential of the three-dimensional LiDAR point cloud data for purposes of the visualization of archaeological sites and features.

Contours of the Past: LiDAR Data Expands the Limits of Late Pre-Columbian Human Settlement in the Santarém Region, Lower Amazon

“…This would mean that a road network integrating both land-and waterways, and riverine and inland areas, was established during this late phase of Figure 10. A) Shaded relief based on the LiDAR ground return data for the northeastern part of the TAP A01 2012 dataset (Opitz et al 2015) and interpretation of this data (B). Maps by Per Stenborg 2016. pre-Columbian human activity.…”

“…LiDAR technology offers new and promising options for mapping topographical and morphological conditions in densely vegetated forest regions, and has recently been used for archaeological purposes in several Mesoamerican studies (Chase et al 2012;Daukantas 2014;Prufer et al 2015), in Southeast Asia (Evans 2016), and for mapping historical landscapes in the Caribbean (Opitz et al 2015). In the Amazon region, stone buildings and structures are rare, and more typical building materials, such as wood and clay, poorly withstand the ravages of time.…”

Mapping Indigenous Settlement Topography in the Caribbean Using Drones

“…Unlike places of particular interest, such as the volcano of Montserrat [36] or promising natural resources, few regions in the Caribbean have been flown with high resolution LiDAR, and the Dominican Republic is not one of these countries. Drone photogrammetry can fill the void for mapping surveys in a local perspective.…”

Lasers Without Lost Cities: Using Drone Lidar to Capture Architectural Complexity at Kuelap, Amazonas, Peru

“…To be sure, some airborne lidar surveys have merely served to confirm existing interpretations of archaeological landscapes rather than generating novel insights about them. Yet a great number of surveys have indeed enabled scholars to create extensive ground models of unmapped sites and yielded transformational insights into the scale and character of urban and agricultural landscapes, particularly in forested environments (Canuto et al 2018;Chase et al 2011;Chase et al 2012;Chase et al 2014;Fisher and Leisz 2013;Fisher et al 2016;Garrison, Houston, and Alcover Firpi 2019;Golden et al 2016;Hesse 2010;Masini, Coluzzi, and Lasaponara 2011;Opitz et al 2015).…”