Papers: Survey, Spatial Analysis and ARM by Solo Eso
![Research paper thumbnail of "Potential and limitations of LiDAR altimetry in archaeological survey. Copper Age and Bronze Age settlements in southern Iberia." [FULL PAPER]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fattachments.academia-assets.com%2F90092522%2Fthumbnails%2F1.jpg&q=12&output=webp&max-age=110)
Archaeological Prospection, 2022
Over the last fifteen years, the use of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology has greatl... more Over the last fifteen years, the use of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology has greatly expanded the boundaries of archaeological prospection, especially in regions where specific ground conditions (particularly vegetation) make direct survey and field walking difficult or impossible. But what are the limits of this ‘new’ approach to archaeological survey? In this paper, our aim is not to assess the ability of high-resolution LIDAR altimetry to identify or locate new archaeological sites, as this ability has been sufficiently demonstrated, but to test the extent to which data resolution and algorithm accuracy allow for identifications and characterizations of specific features and architectural elements of matching or superior quality to that already achieved by other means, such as fieldwalking or air photography. To this end, we examine a case study set in the later prehistory of Iberia. Based on data made public by the Spanish government, we have produced LiDAR plans for a cluster of 36 Copper Age (c. 3200-2200 BCE) and Bronze Age (c. 2200-850 BCE) settlements located in western Sierra Morena (SW Spain) for which previous documentation existed in the form plans, photographs and written descriptions. Although limitations in raw data accuracy and changes in land-use made it impossible to obtain high-quality plans for about half of those sites, satisfactory results, improving previously existing records, were obtained for the other half. These are promising results, opening up an entirely new avenue for the detection, surveying, inventorying and analysis of settlements dating to similar periods located in European regions for which no previous records exist.
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Papers: Survey, Spatial Analysis and ARM by Solo Eso