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Archaeological Prospecting With Drones/UAV’s

 Manned Aircraft

In the past archaeological investigation has benefited greatly from aerial photography and data obtained by manned aircraft. The main drawback to this approach is that it is restricted by weather conditions and other general flight restrictions which makes the use of manned aircraft a costly and impractical means of obtaining data on a prospective site of archaeological interest. It is also impractical to use manned aircraft on what are usually relatively small scale archaeological sites. Apart from anything else the hefty size of the cameras and remote sensing equipment that manned aircraft has traditionally used, makes them an expensive option to run and maintain. Of course this assumes you can get the permission to fly over the site of interest in the first place!

Satellite Photography

Failing that there is of course aerial imagery and data obtained by satellite, which does not fall foul to poor weather conditions or flight restrictions in general. This also has the benefit of being able to obtain many types of imagery for analysis on a much larger geographical scale. The key drawback here could be the lack of detailed resolution for your intended site of interest in some instances. Of course this assumes you can find the imagery you need covering the site you are investigating and here too there could also be significant cost implications involved.

Basic Kites and Balloons

Using balloons and kites are another answer which has been favoured among archaeologists and can now benefit from newer camera and remote sensing technology, which is not only smaller but a lot lighter to boot. On top of that, the imagery is more likely to be of a better quality because it is taken much closer to ground level. The down side to this technique is the fact that here too, the weather plays a big part in how and when balloons and kites can be utilised. Essentially they rely upon the wind for propulsion, which by its very nature also limits the amount of control you have over the imagery you obtain. As a consequence it may take several attempts to gain the imagery required over several days. In addition, the imagery obtained can provide a good visual record, but cannot be used for further analysis or data interpretation.

Drones/UAV’s

The emergence of drone/UAV technology in recent years, however, has been a complete game changer. Put simply you can say goodbye to your kites and balloons taking several days to produce imagery of limited use. Instead you can use a drone to gain the same imagery and more besides in less than 30 minutes flight time and several hours processing time. By the end of the day you can end up with a lot more useful data such as orthomosaic mapping, elevation data as well as a high-resolution 3D model. All this from less than 30 minutes flight time. You have complete control of the drone and not a single foot needs to trample over your site, which makes it an ideal non-invasive means of obtaining the data required. With the use of both GPS and autonomous flight, drones can also be controlled in windy conditions whilst image stabiliastion technology such as camera gimbals, maintain a steady image. The only real weather problem would be rain, which would not be ideal operating conditions anyhow under most circumstances.

Using Infra-red Sensors

One particular method which uses near-infrared photography can potentially identify building remains, beneath the surface which helps us create an image using Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). This method utilises colour filters and imagery enhancement to help identify building features that have been buried and out of plain sight from the surface. This remote-sensing method quantifies vegetation health, detecting changes in the soil and the data can then be used to identify hidden archaeological features in the soil. As the diagram below shows, healthy plants reflect large amounts of near-infrared and unhealthy plants absorb more near-infrared. From this the amount of near-infrared plants give off can be detected and their health determined.

Combining Technology to Find Ancient Remains

Modern developments, can obscure archaeological features within ancient landscapes making them impossible to locate. Using drones and NDVI technology however, this helps us to identify changes in surface vegetation and the composition of the soil, which can then reveal the ancient building material underneath, because the building material has a direct influence over the soil moisture levels and vegetation as it degrades. Below is an example of images of a site before and after near-infrared and NDVI processing, which highlights what is present beneath the soil.

Images of a site before and after NIR and NDVI processing, which highlights what is present beneath the soil.

By combining both drone technology, near-infrared and NDVI imaging techniques, this can provide a quick and effective means of prospecting for archaeological remains than using traditional remote-sensing techniques such as magnetometery. Furthermore drone technology can produce much more useful imagery with a much wider dataset for further analysis and it can be obtained in a fraction of the time at a fraction of the cost.

Not Just a Pretty Picture

Using drone-based technology essentially allows you to go beyond taking a pretty aerial picture of a site, it can help you find sites of interest, provide valuable data and with the use of GPS and 3D mapping it can provide a detailed map of a site without the traditional labour instensive means of prospecting and surveying. Before I forget, did I mention it does take pretty good aerial pictures too!

Overcoming the Funding Squeeze

In most cases archaeologists often feel the squeeze with regards to funding and are working to a tight budget. It has to be said that running and maintaining your own drones can be quite costly in itself. There is the initial cost of equipment, as well as the cost of training and becoming a CAA/FAA licensed drone pilot. Training in itself can take more than a year to become fully proficient. Then there is the time spent problem solving, maintaining and fixing your equipment all the time. By far the best way to eliminate these extra costs to your pocket and costs to your time is to hire an aerial photographer that is already doing it. This way you remove the headache, you pay a lot less because you are only paying for the service, you get a range of valuable data and imagery and hopefully you discover a completely unknown archaeological gem of a site in the process.

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Crop Growth & Health Surveying

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Terrain Mapping

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360 Panoramic

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3d Scanning


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Aerial Photography

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Aerial Videography

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