3-D Scanning, LiDAR, and UASs in Cultural Property Protection

Summary

Archaeologists managing cultural resources on military installations have increasing opportunities to leverage unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), LiDAR, ground-based 3-D scanning, near-surface geophysics, and other remote sensing methods into their Cultural Resource Management (CRM) practices. These techniques are being integrated into CRM work under controlled conditions where adequate time and technical expertise is available. Military archaeologists are also developing Cultural Property Protection (CPP) approaches to assist U.S. forces and partner nations in protecting cultural properties outside the continental U.S. that are threatened by looting, natural disasters, and armed conflict. Such approaches must be cost-effective and scalable to austere circumstances that may include serious shortages in time and trained personnel and harsh, potentially dangerous conditions. Methods such as 3-D scanning, UASs, and LiDAR will play important roles in CPP because they can collect useful, reliable data very quickly. We present a decision matrix intended to help those engaged in CPP make sound decisions about the use of both aforementioned "high tech" methods, as well as traditional archaeological methods including surface collection, soil coring, and photography to collect meaningful data for particular threats, site types, and conditions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22202