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

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 te...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Drones (Basel) 2021-09, Vol.5 (3), p.72
Main Authors: Monterroso-Checa, Antonio, Moreno-Escribano, Juan Carlos, Gasparini, Massimo, Conejo-Moreno, José Alejandro, Domínguez-Jiménez, José Luis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Airborne sensing
Archaeology
Canopies
Castles
Construction
Excavation
heritage
Historic buildings & sites
Historic sites
landscape
LiDAR
Mapping
Middle Ages
Remote sensing
Software
Spatial resolution
Terrain models
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:2504-446X
2504-446X
DOI:10.3390/drones5030072