On the LiDAR contribution for landscape archaeology and palaeoenvironmental studies: the case study of Bosco dell'Incoronata (Southern Italy (original) (raw)
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Journal of Archaeological Science, 2011
"Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a quite recent (mid-1990s) remote sensing technique used to measure terrain elevation. Recent studies have examined the possibility of using LiDAR in archaeological investigations to map and characterize earthworks, to capture features that may be indistinguishable on the ground and to aid the planning of archaeological excavation campaigns. Despite the great potential of LiDAR in archaeology, also linked to its unique capability to penetrate vegetation canopies and identify archaeological earthworks and remains even under dense vegetation cover, the use of airborne laser scanning data encounters serious challenges. Data filtering and processing as well as pattern extraction, classification of terrain information from raw LiDAR data is still a challenging ongoing research. In this paper, we present the data processing chain along with the threshold-based algorithm we devised for the classification of ground and non-ground points and for the detection of archaeological features. The classification of laser data was performed using a strategy based on a set of “filtrations of the filtrate”. Appropriate criteria for the classification and filtering were set to gradually refine the intermediate results in order to obtain the vegetation heights and to discriminate between canopy, understory and micro-topographic relief of archaeological interest. We selected sample areas within two abandoned medieval settlements in Southern Italy characterized by the presence of low and heterogeneous herbaceous cover and complex topographical and morphological features, which make the identification of archaeological features really complex. Results from our investigations pointed out that the applied data processing enables the detection of micro-topographic relief in sparsely as well as in densely vegetated areas. The most important facts to cope with different environmental situations are mainly linked with (i) the resolution of the acquired data set and (ii) the data acquisition and processing chain specifically devised for archaeological purposes."
Remote Sensing, 14, 6074., 2022
Archaeological heritage in woodland is undoubtedly protected from the destructive effect of modern anthropogenic activities by the presence of tree cover, which, at the same time, prevents knowledge of them and makes investigations difficult and time consuming. The tree cover makes geophysical prospection and excavations almost impossible and the use of remote sensing based on optical imagery quite ineffective. In these conditions, LiDAR is the only tool that enables us to “filter out” the canopy to reveal archaeological remains and microtopographical changes of cultural interest. A LiDAR scanner, mounted on aerial platforms, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), sends hundreds of thousands of pulses of light toward the area to be investigated. Most of them are reflected off the forest canopy and a few reach the ground and are reflected back through the canopy. Recording how long it takes the light to return to the scanner produces a point cloud. Over the past two decades, LiDAR has found increasing popularity in archaeology and has opened new perspectives in the study of the human past, revolutionizing the domain of surveying to capture and depict archaeological features under canopy. The popularity of this approach in the archaeological field is such that it has led experts to create workflows and tools for archaeology that are different from approaches used in other disciplines. Moreover, numerous studies also adopted a standard approach, consisting of: (i) raw data acquisition and processing, (ii) point cloud processing and post-processing, (iii) archaeological interpretation phase, and (iv) dissemination. The study of abandoned medieval settlements in highland areas is one of the fields of archaeological research that can greatly benefit from the use of LiDAR technology . They are the result of “social desertification” of vast territories in Europe since the first decade of the 14th century, characterized by a demographic decline occurring after four centuries of prosperity (from the 10th to 13th century) and population growth.
AIRBORNE LASER SCANNING AND LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY
Opuscula archaeologica 39/40(1), 2018
Airborne lidar (Light Detection And Ranging), ALS or ALSM (Airborne Laser Scanning, Airborne Laser Swath Mapping) is an active remote sensing technique , which records the surface of the earth using laser scanning. ALS allows very precise three-dimensional mapping of the surface of the earth, producing high-resolution topographic data, even where surface is obscured by forest and vegetation. The level of detail on digital surface and terrain models produced from high resolution ALS topographic data helps us enormously in identification of past events, which reworked and modified the surface of the earth. However , interpretation of ALS data poses much more than technical challenges. ALS does not provide only a layer of data, but offers a different view of landscape. What kind of landscapes do we see with ALS?
Free open source software (FOSS) SAGA GIS Trieste Karst Archaeological mapping Prehistoric fortified sites Republican Roman fort a b s t r a c t The Trieste Karst, at the northernmost shore of the Adriatic Sea, is rich in prehistoric caves and proto-historic hill forts. Most of these archaeological sites were already identified in the second half of the 19th century when large parts of the area were almost without vegetation coverage for the effect of sheep breeding and exploitation of wood resources. Only a few open-air archaeological sites have been discovered in recent years due to the lack of systematic archaeological surveys and reforestation. Airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data, originally acquired for environmental monitoring over the Friuli Venezia Giulia region (northeastern Italy), have been recently analysed by means of free open source softwares for archaeological prospection of the Trieste Karst area. The LiDAR derived images have allowed identifying numerous unknown fortified structures ranging from prehistory to Roman time within a complex archaeological landscape that includes possible funerary barrows, agricultural terraces and other structures. The discovery of a probable Roman republican fort is particularly significant since similar structures, almost unknown in Italy, find comparison only with later examples of military forts from Roman provinces. The discovery of prehistoric, protohistoric and Roman fortified sites reported in this paper shows that airborne LiDAR remote sensing represents a revolution in landscape archaeology and archaeological mapping of karstic areas. This technique can provide unexpected results even in relatively urbanized territories investigated for a long time.
Abstracts of the ICA, 2021
The increase of the cartographic open data availability, as well as the simplified use of the GIS processing application, allowed the archaeologists to analyse the data-acquired with traditional methods-in a single georeferenced ambient; from the historical maps, to the present digital land surveys (DTM). This process increased, by far, the data availability for the ancient time landscape reconstruction. The surprising results of the use of DTMs, made with LiDAR technology in the archaeological field, are known. Thanks to their potentials, they can provide a detailed landscape survey whenever covered by vegetation, revealing underground artefacts in case they have been preserved elevation evidence; positive or negative (Opitz and Crowley, 2013). Their capabilities have emerged in marginal areas, where the human intervention has been zero or minimal in the modern age: exceptional results have been obtained, for example, in the Cambodian jungle and in Mesoamerica, as well as in the European uncultivated areas, too 1. 1 In the region of Carso Montains, near Trieste, in a complex archaeological landscape, the MATTM DTM allowed the identification of fortified unknown structures dated from prehistory to the Roman times (Bernardini et al., 2013). 2 http://www.pcn.minambiente.it/mattm/progetto-piano-straordinario-di-telerilevamento/
Remote Sensing
This paper deals with a UAV LiDAR methodological approach for the identification and extraction of archaeological features under canopy in hilly Mediterranean environments, characterized by complex topography and strong erosion. The presence of trees and undergrowth makes the reconnaissance of archaeological features and remains very difficult, while the erosion, increased by slope, tends to adversely affect the microtopographical features of potential archaeological interest, thus making them hardly identifiable. For the purpose of our investigations, a UAV LiDAR survey has been carried out at Perticara (located in Basilicata southern Italy), an abandoned medieval village located in a geologically fragile area, characterized by complex topography, strong erosion, and a dense forest cover. All of these characteristics pose serious challenge issues and make this site particularly significant and attractive for the setting and testing of an optimal LiDAR-based approach to analyze hill...
LIDAR -based surface height measurements: applications in archaeology
L ight detection and ranging (LIDAR) is an airborne remote-sensing technique that can measure terrain elevation. The first LIDAR surface height measurements for parts of the Netherlands became available in 2001. By 2004, the database covered the entire country. The first digital elevation models (DEM) based on these data showed more landscape detail than ever achieved before. Studies of applications in geomorphological mapping were quickly published after the release of the first databases . The first application to archaeological research was a paleogeographical reconstruction of an area where 49 fish traps and 11 fish weirs were found during an excavation in a residual gully (van Zijverden 2002). It proved impossible to make a paleogeographical reconstruction of this landscape using conventional hand auger equipment (e.g. Palarczyk 1986; Gehasse 1990), but a combination of archived core descriptions and a DEM allowed for a surface reconstruction within an hour. Based on this experience, a research proposal to investigate the possibilities of this new technology for archaeological research was put together. In 2003, the project was funded by SENTER, an agency of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs that coordinates projects to stimulate the application of new technologies by companies and research institutions.
Remote Sensing, 2018
Despite the recognized effectiveness of LiDAR in penetrating forest canopies, its capability for archaeological prospection can be strongly limited in areas covered by dense vegetation for the detection of subtle remains scattered over morphologically complex areas. In these cases, an important contribution to improve the identification of topographic variations of archaeological interest is provided by LiDAR-derived models (LDMs) based on relief visualization techniques. In this paper, diverse LDMs were applied to the medieval site of Torre Cisterna to the north of Melfi (Southern Italy), selected for this study because it is located on a hilly area with complex topography and thick vegetation cover. These conditions are common in several places of the Apennines in Southern Italy and prevented investigations during the 20th century. Diverse LDMs were used to obtain maximum information and to compare the performance of both subjective (through visual inspections) and objective (thro...