The First Use of Lidar Technology on a Large-Scale Archaeological Site of Samshvilde (South Caucasus, Georgia)
Author(s): David Berikashvili
Year: 2025
Summary
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
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The multicultural Archaeological Complex of Samshvilde, in the South Caucasus (Southern Georgia), has been intensively excavated for the last decade, with a particular focus on the Citadel and Sioni Cathedral area. However, due to the large scale of the site important questions, such as the layout of the main fortification system and the urban planning of the medieval city, remained unanswered.To answer these and other important issues of Medieval Samshvilde a Lidar survey was conducted to scan the whole territory of the site in the Summer 2024. A DJI Matrice 350 RTK and attached Zenmuse L1 scanner were used to conduct a high-resolution, high-accuracy Lidar survey of a 0.25 km<sup>2</sup> area. Despite a dense canopy, the use of this nondestructive technology produced impressive results, changing our understanding of the topography of the “Royal Area’’ and expanding the size of the city’s defensive walls.Thus, the presentation will show how modern technologies can contribute to the study of large scale archaeological sites.
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Cite this Record
The First Use of Lidar Technology on a Large-Scale Archaeological Site of Samshvilde (South Caucasus, Georgia). David Berikashvili. Presented at The 90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2025 ( tDAR id: 510631)
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Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 51409