It takes all kinds of trees to make a forest. Using historic maps and forestry data to inform airborne laser scanning based archaeological prospection in woodland

This article describes the use of a combination of non-destructive techniques for the complex documentation of a fabulous historical site called Devil’s Furrow, an unusual linear formation lying in the landscape of central Bohemia. In spite of many efforts towards interpretation of the formation, its original form and purpose have not yet been explained in a satisfactory manner. The study focuses on the northern part of the furrow which appears to be a dissimilar element within the scope of the whole Devil’s Furrow. This article presents detailed description of relics of the formation based on historical map searches and modern investigation methods including airborne laser scanning, aerial photogrammetry (based on airplane and RPAS) and ground-penetrating radar. Airborne laser scanning data and aerial orthoimages acquired by the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre were used. Other measurements were conducted by our laboratory. Data acquired by various methods provide sufficient information to determine the probable original shape of the formation and proves explicitly the anthropological origin of the northern part of the formation (around village Lipany).

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Airborne Laser Scanning and Image Processing Techniques for Archaeological Prospection

ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ◽

10.5194/isprsarchives-xl-5-231-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol XL-5 ◽

pp. 231-235 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M. Faltýnová ◽

P. Nový

Keyword(s):

Image Processing ◽

Laser Scanning ◽

Average Density ◽

Airborne Laser Scanning ◽

Aerial Photographs ◽

Processing Methods ◽

Archaeological Prospection ◽

Airborne Laser ◽

Visualization Techniques ◽

Shaded Relief

Aerial photography was, for decades, an invaluable tool for archaeological prospection, in spite of the limitation of this method to deforested areas. The airborne laser scanning (ALS) method can be nowadays used to map complex areas and suitable complement earlier findings. This article describes visualization and image processing methods that can be applied on digital terrain models (DTMs) to highlight objects hidden in the landscape. Thanks to the analysis of visualized DTM it is possible to understand the landscape evolution including the differentiation between natural processes and human interventions. Different visualization methods were applied on a case study area. A system of parallel tracks hidden in a forest and its surroundings – part of old route called "Devil's Furrow" near the town of Sázava was chosen. The whole area around well known part of Devil's Furrow has not been prospected systematically yet. The data from the airborne laser scanning acquired by the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre was used. The average density of the point cloud was approximately 1 point/m<sup>2</sup> The goal of the project was to visualize the utmost smallest terrain discontinuities, e.g. tracks and erosion furrows, which some were not wholly preserved. Generally we were interested in objects that are clearly not visible in DTMs displayed in the form of shaded relief. Some of the typical visualization methods were tested (shaded relief, aspect and slope image). To get better results we applied image-processing methods that were successfully used on aerial photographs or hyperspectral images in the past. The usage of different visualization techniques on one site allowed us to verify the natural character of the southern part of Devil’s Furrow and find formations up to now hidden in the forests.

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Detecting Archaeological Features with Airborne Laser Scanning in the Alpine Tundra of Sápmi, Northern Finland

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13081599 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 1599

Author(s):

Oula Seitsonen ◽

Janne Ikäheimo

Keyword(s):

Laser Scanning ◽

Airborne Laser Scanning ◽

Alpine Tundra ◽

Archaeological Prospection ◽

Archaeological Material ◽

Airborne Laser ◽

First Case ◽

Wilderness Areas ◽

First Results ◽

Land Survey

Open access airborne laser scanning (ALS) data have been available in Finland for over a decade and have been actively applied by the Finnish archaeologists in that time. The low resolution of this laser scanning 2008–2019 dataset (0.5 points/m2), however, has hindered its usability for archaeological prospection. In the summer of 2020, the situation changed markedly, when the Finnish National Land Survey started a new countrywide ALS survey with a higher resolution of 5 points/m2. In this paper we present the first results of applying this newly available ALS material for archaeological studies. Finnish LIDARK consortium has initiated the development of semi-automated approaches for visualizing, detecting, and analyzing archaeological features with this new dataset. Our first case studies are situated in the Alpine tundra environment of Sápmi in northern Finland, and the assessed archaeological features range from prehistoric sites to indigenous Sámi reindeer herding features and Second Word War-era German military structures. Already the initial analyses of the new ALS-5p data show their huge potential for locating, mapping, and assessing archaeological material. These results also suggest an imminent burst in the number of known archaeological sites, especially in the poorly accessible and little studied northern wilderness areas, when more data become available.

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