Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Remote Sensing At The Adamson Mounds Site (38ke11), Kershaw County, South Carolina, Christopher Judge, Chester Walker

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Seeing The Invisible: An Integrated Remote Sensing Approach To Mapping Buried Architecture At Las Colmenas, Virú Valley, Peru, Kayla C. Golay Lausanne

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis reports on the results of a survey project conducted in 2018 and 2019, intending to address two main research questions: (1) What remote sensing technique(s) worked best to identify buried features at Las Colmenas? (2) What combinations of techniques proved to be optimal for identifying buried features, and what are the benefits and limitations of the use of an integrated approach? This project incorporated two scales of analysis: macroscale optical and thermal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) surveys and microscale Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), magnetic susceptibility, and magnetometry surveys. A side-by-side comparison proved the thermal UAV, GPR, and magnetic susceptibility …

Finding Those Once Lost: The Analysis Of The Potter's Field At Woodland Cemetery, London, On

Archaeology eBook Collection

Mortuary archaeology is the archaeological study of death and burial. In North America, the anthropological, cross-cultural, and deep temporal perspectives are employed (cf. Martin et al. 2013a). The myriad ways that societies deal with death are the product of complex and intertwined social, economic, and environmental factors such as class, gender, ethnicity, subsistence practice, and social complexity, to name a few. Therefore, the study of mortuary rituals sheds important light on social complexity and organization. This makes it an excellent topic for an advanced course in a Department of Anthropology. The research described in this report is the result of …

The Integration Of Lidar And Legacy Datasets Provides Improved Explanations For The Spatial Patterning Of Shell Rings In The American Southeast, Dylan S. Davis, Robert Dinapoli, Matthew Sanger, Carl Lipo

Anthropology Datasets

Archaeologists have struggled to combine remotely sensed datasets with preexisting information for landscape-level analyses. In the American Southeast, for example, analyses of lidar data using automated feature extraction algorithms have led to the identification of over 40 potential new pre-European-contact Native American shell ring deposits in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Such datasets are vital for understanding settlement distributions, yet a comprehensive assessment requires remotely sensed and previously surveyed archaeological data. Here, we use legacy data and airborne lidar-derived information to conduct a series of point pattern analyses using spatial models that we designed to assess the factors that best explain …

Automated Mound Detection Using Lidar And Object-Based Image Analysis In Beaufort County, Sc, Carl P. Lipo, Matt Sanger, Dylan Davis

Carl Lipo

The study of prehistoric anthropogenic mounded features– earthen mounds, shell heaps, and shell rings – in the American Southeast is stymied by the spotty distribution of systematic surveys across the region. Many extant, yet unidentified, archaeological mound features continue to evade detection due to the heavily forested canopies that occupy large areas of the region, making pedestrian surveys difficult and preventing aerial observation. The use of object-based image analysis (OBIA) as a tool for analysing light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data, however, offers an inexpensive opportunity to address this challenge. Using publicly available LiDAR data from Beaufort County, South Carolina …

Lidar Predictive Modeling Of Kalapuya Mound Sites In The Calapooia Watershed, Oregon, Tia Rachelle Cody

Dissertations and Theses

Archaeologists grapple with the problematic nature of archaeological discovery. Certain types of sites are difficult to see even in the best environmental conditions (e.g., low-density lithic scatters) and performing traditional archaeological survey is challenging in some environments, such as the dense temperate rain forests of the Pacific Northwest. Archaeologists need another method of survey to assess large areas and overcome environmental and archaeological barriers to site discovery in regions like the Pacific Northwest. LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, a method for digitally clearing away swaths of vegetation and surveying the landscape, is one possible solution to some of these …

Reconstructing The Social Landscape Of Cerro Arena, Peru, Felipe Gonzalez-Macqueen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis deals with the 2017 archaeological survey of the site of Cerro Arena, in the Moche Valley, Peru. The site belongs to the Salinar phase (c.a 400–0 BCE), known to be a time of increased warfare and cultural fragmentation. During this time, Cerro Arena became the largest settlement in the valley, housing a large number of people in structures densely packed into the elevated terrain of the site. Yet, information on the spatial arrangement of civic and residential architecture was lacking. Using remote sensing techniques—primarily Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) —and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we sought to create high-resolution …

Survey And Insights Into Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-Based Detection And Documentation Of Clandestine Graves And Human Remains, Bryce Murray, Derek T. Anderson, Daniel J. Wescott, Robert Moorhead, Melissa F. Anderson

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

Numerous biological and archaeological studies have demonstrated the legitimacy of remote sensing in anthropology. Herein, focus is placed on detecting and documenting terrestrial clandestine graves and surface remains (CGSR) of humans using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), sensors and automatic processing algorithms. CGSR is a complex decision making under uncertainty problem that requires the identification and intelligent reasoning about direct evidence of human remains and their environmental fingerprints. As such, it is as much an engineering and geospatial problem as it is an anthropology problem. This article is a cross- disciplinary effort to survey existing work across disciplines and to provide …

Automated Mound Detection Using Lidar And Object-Based Image Analysis In Beaufort County, Sc, Carl P. Lipo, Matt Sanger, Dylan Davis

Anthropology Datasets

The study of prehistoric anthropogenic mounded features– earthen mounds, shell heaps, and shell rings – in the American Southeast is stymied by the spotty distribution of systematic surveys across the region. Many extant, yet unidentified, archaeological mound features continue to evade detection due to the heavily forested canopies that occupy large areas of the region, making pedestrian surveys difficult and preventing aerial observation. The use of object-based image analysis (OBIA) as a tool for analysing light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data, however, offers an inexpensive opportunity to address this challenge. Using publicly available LiDAR data from Beaufort County, South Carolina …

Using Digital Mapping Techniques To Rapidly Document Vulnerable Historical Landscapes In Coastal Louisiana: Holt Cemetery Case Study, Alahna Moore

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis outlines a technique for rapid documentation of historic sites in volatile cultural landscapes. Using Holt Cemetery as an exemplary case study, a workflow was developed incorporating RTK terrain survey, UAS aerial imagery, photogrammetry, GIS, and smartphone data collection in order to create a multifaceted database of the material and spatial conditions, as well as the patterns of use, that exist at the cemetery.

The purpose of this research is to create a framework for improving the speed of data creation and increasing the accessibility of information regarding threatened cultural resources. It is intended that these processes can be …

Prehistoric Human Ecodynamics In The Rub Al-Khali Desert: Results Of Remote Sensing And Excavations In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Jason T. Herrmann

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Archaeological investigations in the Emirate of Dubai, UAE conducted by the Dubai Department of Archaeology and the University of Arkansas demonstrate that the desert inland of the Oman Peninsula was occupied not only during the Arabian Neolithic (8000-4400 BC), when the region experienced a moist period referred to as the Holocene Climatic Optimum (HCO), but also during the more arid millennia following the decline of the HCO into the Christian Era. During this period, desert settlement clustered near a band of oases, in contrast to the more widespread spatial distribution of remains of nomadic pastoralists from the Neolithic. Excavations at …

Reappraising The Land Behind Baghdad: Using Corona Satellite Imagery To Reassess The Archaeological Landscape Of The Diyala Plain, Iraq, James Henry Wesolowski

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

High-resolution low-cost declassified CORONA spy satellite imagery is used to detect archaeological sites and relict canals in the Diyala Plain to the east of Baghdad, Iraq. This project seeks to improve upon the ground survey conducted there in the 1950s by providing better geographic control and discovering sites and canals that were not included in the original survey. CORONA imagery provides a sub-2-meter spatial resolution and was acquired shortly after the original ground survey was conducted, providing an excellent medium for comparison. CORONA imagery is subject to significant spatial distortions because of its camera technology and the LPS package for …

Geologic Constraints On Rain-Fed Qocha Reservoir Agricultural Infrastructure,Northern Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru, Nathan Craig, Mark Aldenderfer, Catherine Rigsby, Paul Baker, Luis A. Flores

Luis FLORES

This paper reports new data on qocha ponds from the Rio PucaraeAzángaro interfluvial zone, northern Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru. Qocha are a little known form of Andean agriculture that developed around 800e500 B.C. and remain in use today. Prior estimates suggested that in the study area, there were more than 25,000 qocha. While most Andean sunken beds are excavated to reach groundwater, qocha are rainfed ponds. How these rain-fed ponds functioned has been an open question, but one that is answered in part by research presented in this paper. We suggest that a thick impermeable stratum of clay that was …

Camp Delta, Google Earth And The Ethics Of Remote Sensing In Archaeology, Adrian Myers

Adrian Myers

With easy access to satellite imagery through free applications such as Google Earth, it is now financially feasible for archaeologists to undertake remote survey in areas that are difficult or impossible to access in person. But there are ethical concerns inherent in the use of remotely sensed images, as Google Earth might be seen as a panoptic viewing technology that leaves no voice to those being viewed. Through a virtual investigation of the Camp Delta prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, I discuss methodological and theoretical aspects of the use of Google Earth in archaeology.

Geophysical Determination Of Unmarked Graves At 41na140 (Old Bapist Cemetery/Zion Hill Baptist Church), Leslie G. Cecil, Jeff Roth

Faculty Publications

The Old Baptist Cemetery is the first organized Black Baptist cemetery (and church) in Nacogdoches County (Tindall 1976:94). It is located along the current rechanneled La Nana Creek on Park Street (Figure 1). The church/cemetery site was originally a two acre plot of land, donated by Frank and Ellen Walton, that housed a brush arbor church and the cemetery to the east side of the church (Texas Historical Commission 2008). The brush arbor church was reconstructed into a frame building and then to the current Zion Hill Baptist Church (that was later moved). The cemetery was used from 1897-1945, but …