Archaeology As The CRO Flies, 2002-2014: A Retrospective Of Twelve Years Of Powered Parachute Aerial Archaeology

Summary

After considering a number of alternatives for acquiring aerial images, in 2002 the Cultural Resource Office at Northwestern State University of Louisiana received a National Center for Technology and Training Research Grant to assess the suitability of the powered parachute as an archaeological aerial reconnaissance vehicle for site discovery, for detailed site investigation, and for cultural landscape studies. Since that time, this unique aerial platform has been successfully employed to acquire imagery of a wide variety of prehistoric and historical sites across the United States using a range of techniques, including digital still photography, digital videography, and thermal imaging. These images have been integrated successfully with aerial images from other sources, with historical maps, and with GPS, total station, geophysical, LIDAR, and 3-D laser scanning data by CRO staff members and by other researchers to provide a means of conducting detailed spatial analysis of archaeological sites and the landscapes in which they are located. This paper will present an overview of the equipment, the methodology, and the results, as well as other considerations involved in employing this extremely mobile, efficient, and cost-effective method of acquiring low-altitude, large-scale, high-resolution aerial images in a wide range of archaeological applications.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• 20 Year Retrospective of National Center for Preservation Technology and Training sponsored Archaeology.

Keywords

Spatial Coverage