Airborne lidar intensity and geoarchaeological prospection in river valley floors

Abstract

Archaeological applications of airborne lidar topographic data are now well known and documented in the academic literature. Rather less well explored by archaeologists are the potential of lidar intensity data. In this paper we explore theapplicationoflidarintensity forgeoarchaeologicalprospectioninriver valley floors.Afterbrieflyconsideringthe context of archaeological remote sensing in river valleys, we examine some factors influencing the lidar intensity record andexplore processing stepsthat may berequired to effectivelyutilizeintensitydata, beforereviewing the utilityofintensity data for the geoarchaeological assessment of test sites in the Trent Valley of the English Midlands (UK). Results suggest that intensity imagery may assist greatly in the interpretation of airborne lidar topographic data and that its analysis contributes to a qualitative understanding of land cover and the burial environment of archaeological remains, either cultural orenvironmental; furthermore in some circumstances it is possible to identifyanthropogenic archaeological cropmarks in intensity imagery. It is concluded that the standard methodology employed in using airborne lidar for archaeological survey should as a matter of course include the collection and analysis of intensity data.

The Highest Gradient Model: A New Method for Analytical Assessment of the Efficiency of LiDAR-Derived Visualization Techniques for Landform Detection and Mapping

“…For SLOPEVIS and LRM, results are consistent with previous investigations: this validates the HGM methodology and conforms to the analytical data ideas suggested in the literature [6,31,35].…”

Assessing the preservation potential of temperate, lowland alluvial sediments using airborne lidar intensity

“…A growing number of applications of airborne lidar topographic data in geoarchaeological mapping and prospection are reported in the academic literature (e.g. Brunning and Farr-Cox, 2005;Challis, 2005Challis, , 2006Carey et al, 2006;Challis et al, 2006;Jones et al, 2007).…”

“…While it is recognised that other airborne remote sensing techniques, such as multispectral or hyperspectral imaging, may be equally or more effective than lidar at detecting geoarchaeological and anthropogenic features (Challis et al, 2009) this paper focuses on lidar as an emerging technology to establish effective uses of intensity data, which would represent a significant value added element to airborne lidar surveys. It must be acknowledged that although some progress has been made in understanding the parameters of lidar terrain mapping required for archaeological purposes (Challis, 2005;Crutchley and Crow, 2009) little or no work has been undertaken to investigate intensity, which has been largely ignored by both the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental communities.…”

Lidar data and the Izapa polity: new results and methodological issues from tropical Mesoamerica

“…4b). Intensity image maps of the entire area can also usually be delivered as part of the lidar product at no extra cost (see Challis et al 2011). Intensity data are better than Google Earth imagery as they reflect the exact ground conditions at the time of lidar collection (compare Fig.…”