Austin C Hill | University of Pennsylvania (original) (raw)

Papers by Austin C Hill

The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2015

The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2015

Journal of The Polynesian Society, Mar 1, 2022

At present there is no systematic record of the size, form or density of architecture at Hawaiian... more At present there is no systematic record of the size, form or density of architecture at Hawaiian royal centres. We report on the results of a UAV LiDAR survey of one of the best-preserved examples of a royal centre in the archipelago: Hōlualoa Royal Centre, Kona District, Hawai‘i Island. The resolution of our data (0.3–0.1 m) is far superior to previous airborne LiDAR surveys (1.0 m); however, several factors, including thick understory vegetation, made resolving archaeological targets challenging. We nonetheless were able measure the volume of building material of the largest features, which allows us to compare structures in this royal centre with other monuments in the region. This study highlights the advantages, and limitations, of UAV LiDAR as well as the need for more high-quality quantitative data on architecture at royal centres.

The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2019

The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2018

The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2018

The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2017

The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2019

Advances in Archaeological Practice, 2021

ABSTRACTThe collection of 3D point data is a common bottleneck for archaeological excavations des... more ABSTRACTThe collection of 3D point data is a common bottleneck for archaeological excavations despite an increasing range of powerful spatial data collection technologies. Total stations often require a dedicated operator, and they are optimal for excavation-level data collection over relatively short line-of-site distances. Precision Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) require reliable communication with constellations of distant satellites and may not be accurate enough for all data recording contexts. A new category of spatial data collection hardware, called Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS), or “indoor GPS,” has the potential to provide a more cost-effective and efficient approach to the collection of point data during excavations by making 3D point data collection widely available and accessible. Additionally, such systems may allow greater detail in digital field data recording by enabling the collection of shape data via continuous recording. In this article, we presen...

Post-Medieval Archaeology, 2016

Ruwayda was first identified as an archaeological site in the 1970s and was excavated between 200... more Ruwayda was first identified as an archaeological site in the 1970s and was excavated between 2009 and 2014. Despite a paucity of documentary evidence, this large settlement, which extends over an area of more than 90 hectares, contains a number of features indicative of an urban settlement including two mosques, a series of warehouses, a large multi-period fort, large courtyard houses interspersed with smaller, less substantial structures and a number of cemeteries. In addition to these buildings, there is also evidence for associated field systems and a walled garden.

Antiquity

The megalithic pillar sites found around Lake Turkana, Kenya, are monumental cemeteries built app... more The megalithic pillar sites found around Lake Turkana, Kenya, are monumental cemeteries built approximately 5000 years ago. Their construction coincides with the spread of pastoralism into the region during a period of profound climate change. Early work at the Jarigole pillar site suggested that these places were secondary burial grounds. Subsequent excavations at other pillar sites, however, have revealed planned mortuary cavities for predominantly primary burials, challenging the idea that all pillar sites belonged to a single ‘Jarigole mortuary tradition’. Here, the authors report new findings from the Jarigole site that resolve long-standing questions about eastern Africa's earliest monuments and provide insight into the social lives, and deaths, of the region's first pastoralists.

Remote Sensing

This paper presents the results of a large scale, drone-based aerial survey in northeastern Jorda... more This paper presents the results of a large scale, drone-based aerial survey in northeastern Jordan. Drones have rapidly become one of the most cost-effective and efficient tools for collecting high-resolution landscape data, fitting between larger-scale, lower-resolution satellite data collection and the significantly more limited traditional terrestrial survey approaches. Drones are particularly effective in areas where anthropogenic features are visible on the surface but are too small to identify with commonly and economically available satellite data. Using imagery from fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, along with photogrammetric processing, we surveyed an extensive archaeological landscape spanning 32 km2 at the site of Wadi al-Qattafi in the eastern badia region of Jordan, the largest archaeological drone survey, to date, in Jordan. The resulting data allowed us to map a wide range of anthropogenic features, including hunting traps, domestic structures, and tombs, as well a...

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 2021

In the southern Levant, fundamental changes in economic organization, mortuary practices, and set... more In the southern Levant, fundamental changes in economic organization, mortuary practices, and settlement patterns took place during the 5th to early 4th millennium b.c.e., or the Chalcolithic period (ca. 4500–3700/3600 b.c.e.). Our best evidence derives from sites in the Negev, and to a lesser degree, the Jordan Valley and Golan Heights, and the mortuary sites along the coast. The goal of the Galilee Prehistory Project is to examine this period based on information from a different environmental region, by undertaking survey and excavation in the Galilee, a region with virtually no radiocarbon dates or plans derived from Chalcolithic sites. The multi-faceted investigation of the Wadi el-Ashert included unpiloted aerial vehicle fly-overs during different seasons, geophysical and pedestrian survey, and methodical sub-surface test sampling. The comprehensive approach to this prehistoric landscape resulted in a more nuanced understanding of the site.

PLOS ONE

In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant chan... more In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant changes in land cover, plant and animal distributions, surface hydrology, and biochemical cycles. Earth system models suggest that this anthropogenic land cover change influenced regional and global climate. However, the representation of past land use in earth system models is currently oversimplified. As a result, there are large uncertainties in the current understanding of the past and current state of the earth system. In order to improve representation of the variety and scale of impacts that past land use had on the earth system, a global effort is underway to aggregate and synthesize archaeological and historical evidence of land use systems. Here we present a simple, hierarchical classification of land use systems designed to be used with archaeological and historical data at a global scale and a schema of codes that identify land use practices common to a range of systems, both imp...

American Antiquity

This article presents results of a multi-sensor drone survey at an ancestral Wichita archaeologic... more This article presents results of a multi-sensor drone survey at an ancestral Wichita archaeological site in southeastern Kansas, originally recorded in the 1930s and believed by some scholars to be the location of historical “Etzanoa,” a major settlement reportedly encountered by Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate in 1601. We used high-resolution, drone-acquired thermal and multispectral (color and near-infrared) imagery, alongside publicly available lidar data and satellite imagery, to prospect for archaeological features across a relatively undisturbed 18 ha area of the site. Results reveal a feature that is best interpreted as the remains of a large, circular earthwork, similar to so-called council circles documented at five other contemporary sites of the Great Bend aspect cultural assemblage. We also located several features that may be remains of house basins, the size and configuration of which conform with historical evidence. These findings point to major investment in the ...

Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy

A long tradition of landscape studies in the prehistory and history of the ancient Middle East ha... more A long tradition of landscape studies in the prehistory and history of the ancient Middle East has developed over the past century. From the early systematic surveys of Braidwood (1937) through the expansive approaches of Adams (1981) in southern Mesopotamia, Middle Eastern landscape studies frequently focused on the rise and fall of civilisations and associated features such as irrigation and soil salinisation. The easy availability of a range of satellite imagery products has vastly improved the ability of archaeologists to locate and map sites and features on the largest scale. Landscape studies became more interdisciplinary as the integration of satellite imagery and archaeological data with the historical records of ancient texts allowed more sophisticated modelling of phenomena such as agricultural potential (Wilkinson, 2003; Wilkinson et al., 2007). These landscape studies were particularly focused on the Mesopotamian sphere, while the different geography and ancient texts relevant to the southern Levant led to very different attitudes towards landscape analysis. Cultural landscapes, the networks of constructed and natural places, are thus treated quite differently based on a variety of factors dependent upon region, national research traditions and accessibility to field sites. The limited modern development and aridity of the badia (especially the Black Desert) region of eastern Jordan has left many built features, large and small, visible on the surface. The availability of satellite and photographic imagery, along with improved and powerful software to process it, has witnessed a virtual flood of studies of the region with impressive results, much of which has focused on the remarkable networks of mass-kill animal traps known as desert kites. Interpreting the landscape primarily based on the powerful tools of satellite imagery nevertheless limits those studies Abstract Petroglyphs are well known in the Negev, eastern and southern Jordan, and the Arabian Peninsula. Intensive documentation of hundreds of petroglyphs at the site of Wisad Pools in the Black Desert of eastern Jordan records animals, humans, hunting traps and geometric designs, connecting people and places to the larger landscape. These were recorded at the landscape scale with drones and photogrammetry, and the local scale through the construction of a database combined with GPS recording and terrestrial photogrammetry. Petroglyphs of animals and hunting traps are significant because the site is located within a landscape that includes enormous and enigmatic hunting traps (desert kites). Mapping these depictions highlights typological distribution , association of types, and relation to landscape features as well as the topography of the basalt boulders on which they were pecked. The depictions of animals and hunting traps provide clues about the use of desert kites, the social role of hunting, communal gatherings, and feasting in the region. K E Y W O R D S rock art, petroglyphs, desert kites, Jordan

Journal of Field Archaeology

International Journal of Cultural Property

How do archaeologists, governments, law enforcement, and a local non-governmental organization re... more How do archaeologists, governments, law enforcement, and a local non-governmental organization react to a hole in the ground-a hole that is the direct result of archaeological site looting? Whatever the response, the aim is the same: the protection of Jordanian cultural heritage through a curtailing of archaeological looting. New to the standard suite of responses are unpiloted aerial vehicles (UAVs). A comprehensive approach to the landscape, which includes UAV flyovers, ground truthing, oral interviews, collaborative efforts with the Jordanian Department of Antiquities and local cultural heritage organizations, is essential to safeguarding and documenting what remains of a series of Early Bronze Age sites (3600-2000 bc) along the Dead Sea Plain in Jordan. This is an examination of the (w)hole picture-individual and institutional responses to looters' holes-diverse reactions with the common goal of preserving and protecting Jordanian cultural heritage.

Advances in Archaeological Practice

While a long history of experimental data shows that aerial thermal images can reveal a wide rang... more While a long history of experimental data shows that aerial thermal images can reveal a wide range of both surface and subsurface archaeological features, technological hurdles have largely prevented more widespread use of this promising prospecting method. However, recent advances in the sophistication of thermal cameras, the reliability of commercial drones, and the growing power of photogrammetric software packages are revolutionizing…

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 2016

Endangered today, gazelles were both economically and symbolically important to the peoples of th... more Endangered today, gazelles were both economically and symbolically important to the peoples of the ancient Near East. In various contexts, the gazelle has represented liminality, death, and rebirth. Gazelles held special significance in the southern Levant, where archaeologists have documented cases, spanning 20,000 years, of ritual behavior involving gazelle body parts. What roles did gazelles play during the Chalcolithic (ca. 4500-3600 b.c.), a period of both decreased hunting and ritual intensification? In this article, we discuss a unique find of burned gazelle feet at the site of Marj Rabba (northern Israel). The feet were found within a well-constructed building that was used for rituals and included two articulated human feet. The gazelle foot bones, the majority of which derive from adult male mountain gazelles (Gazella gazella), appear to reflect the remains of intentionally destroyed skins or severed limbs. This unique find highlights the evolving symbolic importance of gazelles, perhaps as forces of liminality, in Chalcolithic rituals.

The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2015

The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2015

Journal of The Polynesian Society, Mar 1, 2022

At present there is no systematic record of the size, form or density of architecture at Hawaiian... more At present there is no systematic record of the size, form or density of architecture at Hawaiian royal centres. We report on the results of a UAV LiDAR survey of one of the best-preserved examples of a royal centre in the archipelago: Hōlualoa Royal Centre, Kona District, Hawai‘i Island. The resolution of our data (0.3–0.1 m) is far superior to previous airborne LiDAR surveys (1.0 m); however, several factors, including thick understory vegetation, made resolving archaeological targets challenging. We nonetheless were able measure the volume of building material of the largest features, which allows us to compare structures in this royal centre with other monuments in the region. This study highlights the advantages, and limitations, of UAV LiDAR as well as the need for more high-quality quantitative data on architecture at royal centres.

The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2019

The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2018

The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2018

The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2017

The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2019

Advances in Archaeological Practice, 2021

ABSTRACTThe collection of 3D point data is a common bottleneck for archaeological excavations des... more ABSTRACTThe collection of 3D point data is a common bottleneck for archaeological excavations despite an increasing range of powerful spatial data collection technologies. Total stations often require a dedicated operator, and they are optimal for excavation-level data collection over relatively short line-of-site distances. Precision Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) require reliable communication with constellations of distant satellites and may not be accurate enough for all data recording contexts. A new category of spatial data collection hardware, called Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS), or “indoor GPS,” has the potential to provide a more cost-effective and efficient approach to the collection of point data during excavations by making 3D point data collection widely available and accessible. Additionally, such systems may allow greater detail in digital field data recording by enabling the collection of shape data via continuous recording. In this article, we presen...

Post-Medieval Archaeology, 2016

Ruwayda was first identified as an archaeological site in the 1970s and was excavated between 200... more Ruwayda was first identified as an archaeological site in the 1970s and was excavated between 2009 and 2014. Despite a paucity of documentary evidence, this large settlement, which extends over an area of more than 90 hectares, contains a number of features indicative of an urban settlement including two mosques, a series of warehouses, a large multi-period fort, large courtyard houses interspersed with smaller, less substantial structures and a number of cemeteries. In addition to these buildings, there is also evidence for associated field systems and a walled garden.

Antiquity

The megalithic pillar sites found around Lake Turkana, Kenya, are monumental cemeteries built app... more The megalithic pillar sites found around Lake Turkana, Kenya, are monumental cemeteries built approximately 5000 years ago. Their construction coincides with the spread of pastoralism into the region during a period of profound climate change. Early work at the Jarigole pillar site suggested that these places were secondary burial grounds. Subsequent excavations at other pillar sites, however, have revealed planned mortuary cavities for predominantly primary burials, challenging the idea that all pillar sites belonged to a single ‘Jarigole mortuary tradition’. Here, the authors report new findings from the Jarigole site that resolve long-standing questions about eastern Africa's earliest monuments and provide insight into the social lives, and deaths, of the region's first pastoralists.

Remote Sensing

This paper presents the results of a large scale, drone-based aerial survey in northeastern Jorda... more This paper presents the results of a large scale, drone-based aerial survey in northeastern Jordan. Drones have rapidly become one of the most cost-effective and efficient tools for collecting high-resolution landscape data, fitting between larger-scale, lower-resolution satellite data collection and the significantly more limited traditional terrestrial survey approaches. Drones are particularly effective in areas where anthropogenic features are visible on the surface but are too small to identify with commonly and economically available satellite data. Using imagery from fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, along with photogrammetric processing, we surveyed an extensive archaeological landscape spanning 32 km2 at the site of Wadi al-Qattafi in the eastern badia region of Jordan, the largest archaeological drone survey, to date, in Jordan. The resulting data allowed us to map a wide range of anthropogenic features, including hunting traps, domestic structures, and tombs, as well a...

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 2021

In the southern Levant, fundamental changes in economic organization, mortuary practices, and set... more In the southern Levant, fundamental changes in economic organization, mortuary practices, and settlement patterns took place during the 5th to early 4th millennium b.c.e., or the Chalcolithic period (ca. 4500–3700/3600 b.c.e.). Our best evidence derives from sites in the Negev, and to a lesser degree, the Jordan Valley and Golan Heights, and the mortuary sites along the coast. The goal of the Galilee Prehistory Project is to examine this period based on information from a different environmental region, by undertaking survey and excavation in the Galilee, a region with virtually no radiocarbon dates or plans derived from Chalcolithic sites. The multi-faceted investigation of the Wadi el-Ashert included unpiloted aerial vehicle fly-overs during different seasons, geophysical and pedestrian survey, and methodical sub-surface test sampling. The comprehensive approach to this prehistoric landscape resulted in a more nuanced understanding of the site.

PLOS ONE

In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant chan... more In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant changes in land cover, plant and animal distributions, surface hydrology, and biochemical cycles. Earth system models suggest that this anthropogenic land cover change influenced regional and global climate. However, the representation of past land use in earth system models is currently oversimplified. As a result, there are large uncertainties in the current understanding of the past and current state of the earth system. In order to improve representation of the variety and scale of impacts that past land use had on the earth system, a global effort is underway to aggregate and synthesize archaeological and historical evidence of land use systems. Here we present a simple, hierarchical classification of land use systems designed to be used with archaeological and historical data at a global scale and a schema of codes that identify land use practices common to a range of systems, both imp...

American Antiquity

This article presents results of a multi-sensor drone survey at an ancestral Wichita archaeologic... more This article presents results of a multi-sensor drone survey at an ancestral Wichita archaeological site in southeastern Kansas, originally recorded in the 1930s and believed by some scholars to be the location of historical “Etzanoa,” a major settlement reportedly encountered by Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate in 1601. We used high-resolution, drone-acquired thermal and multispectral (color and near-infrared) imagery, alongside publicly available lidar data and satellite imagery, to prospect for archaeological features across a relatively undisturbed 18 ha area of the site. Results reveal a feature that is best interpreted as the remains of a large, circular earthwork, similar to so-called council circles documented at five other contemporary sites of the Great Bend aspect cultural assemblage. We also located several features that may be remains of house basins, the size and configuration of which conform with historical evidence. These findings point to major investment in the ...

Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy

A long tradition of landscape studies in the prehistory and history of the ancient Middle East ha... more A long tradition of landscape studies in the prehistory and history of the ancient Middle East has developed over the past century. From the early systematic surveys of Braidwood (1937) through the expansive approaches of Adams (1981) in southern Mesopotamia, Middle Eastern landscape studies frequently focused on the rise and fall of civilisations and associated features such as irrigation and soil salinisation. The easy availability of a range of satellite imagery products has vastly improved the ability of archaeologists to locate and map sites and features on the largest scale. Landscape studies became more interdisciplinary as the integration of satellite imagery and archaeological data with the historical records of ancient texts allowed more sophisticated modelling of phenomena such as agricultural potential (Wilkinson, 2003; Wilkinson et al., 2007). These landscape studies were particularly focused on the Mesopotamian sphere, while the different geography and ancient texts relevant to the southern Levant led to very different attitudes towards landscape analysis. Cultural landscapes, the networks of constructed and natural places, are thus treated quite differently based on a variety of factors dependent upon region, national research traditions and accessibility to field sites. The limited modern development and aridity of the badia (especially the Black Desert) region of eastern Jordan has left many built features, large and small, visible on the surface. The availability of satellite and photographic imagery, along with improved and powerful software to process it, has witnessed a virtual flood of studies of the region with impressive results, much of which has focused on the remarkable networks of mass-kill animal traps known as desert kites. Interpreting the landscape primarily based on the powerful tools of satellite imagery nevertheless limits those studies Abstract Petroglyphs are well known in the Negev, eastern and southern Jordan, and the Arabian Peninsula. Intensive documentation of hundreds of petroglyphs at the site of Wisad Pools in the Black Desert of eastern Jordan records animals, humans, hunting traps and geometric designs, connecting people and places to the larger landscape. These were recorded at the landscape scale with drones and photogrammetry, and the local scale through the construction of a database combined with GPS recording and terrestrial photogrammetry. Petroglyphs of animals and hunting traps are significant because the site is located within a landscape that includes enormous and enigmatic hunting traps (desert kites). Mapping these depictions highlights typological distribution , association of types, and relation to landscape features as well as the topography of the basalt boulders on which they were pecked. The depictions of animals and hunting traps provide clues about the use of desert kites, the social role of hunting, communal gatherings, and feasting in the region. K E Y W O R D S rock art, petroglyphs, desert kites, Jordan

Journal of Field Archaeology

International Journal of Cultural Property

How do archaeologists, governments, law enforcement, and a local non-governmental organization re... more How do archaeologists, governments, law enforcement, and a local non-governmental organization react to a hole in the ground-a hole that is the direct result of archaeological site looting? Whatever the response, the aim is the same: the protection of Jordanian cultural heritage through a curtailing of archaeological looting. New to the standard suite of responses are unpiloted aerial vehicles (UAVs). A comprehensive approach to the landscape, which includes UAV flyovers, ground truthing, oral interviews, collaborative efforts with the Jordanian Department of Antiquities and local cultural heritage organizations, is essential to safeguarding and documenting what remains of a series of Early Bronze Age sites (3600-2000 bc) along the Dead Sea Plain in Jordan. This is an examination of the (w)hole picture-individual and institutional responses to looters' holes-diverse reactions with the common goal of preserving and protecting Jordanian cultural heritage.

Advances in Archaeological Practice

While a long history of experimental data shows that aerial thermal images can reveal a wide rang... more While a long history of experimental data shows that aerial thermal images can reveal a wide range of both surface and subsurface archaeological features, technological hurdles have largely prevented more widespread use of this promising prospecting method. However, recent advances in the sophistication of thermal cameras, the reliability of commercial drones, and the growing power of photogrammetric software packages are revolutionizing…

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 2016

Endangered today, gazelles were both economically and symbolically important to the peoples of th... more Endangered today, gazelles were both economically and symbolically important to the peoples of the ancient Near East. In various contexts, the gazelle has represented liminality, death, and rebirth. Gazelles held special significance in the southern Levant, where archaeologists have documented cases, spanning 20,000 years, of ritual behavior involving gazelle body parts. What roles did gazelles play during the Chalcolithic (ca. 4500-3600 b.c.), a period of both decreased hunting and ritual intensification? In this article, we discuss a unique find of burned gazelle feet at the site of Marj Rabba (northern Israel). The feet were found within a well-constructed building that was used for rituals and included two articulated human feet. The gazelle foot bones, the majority of which derive from adult male mountain gazelles (Gazella gazella), appear to reflect the remains of intentionally destroyed skins or severed limbs. This unique find highlights the evolving symbolic importance of gazelles, perhaps as forces of liminality, in Chalcolithic rituals.