Quantifying erosion of ‘at risk’ archaeological sites using repeat terrestrial laser scanning

Abstract

Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractEffective heritage management is reliant on an understanding of the range of current and potential future threats facing archaeological sites. Despite this, the processes leading to the loss of in situ archaeological remains are still poorly understood, including the rates, timing and drivers of surface erosion. This issue is particularly significant for abandoned historical metal mines in upland landscapes, where erosion rates are typically higher due to a combination of the unstable character of the archaeological deposits and the increased effectiveness of surface erosion processes. This study utilises repeat terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to monitor the changing condition of two adjacent lead mines in the North Pennines, UK, over an 18 month period. The high spatial and temporal resolution of the TLS data, in conjunction with land cover characteristics derived from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) survey, allows the detailed quantification of the causes and impacts of surface change.The results demonstrate that stream bank erosion is the process responsible for the most widespread and archaeologically significant damage, although localised gullying of mine waste heaps resulted in the largest volumetric loss of material (>160 m 3 ). Temporal variation in the erosion of upland archaeological sites is highly episodic, being dominated (>70%) by high magnitude but low frequency storm events. These results provide invaluable information regarding the causes and impacts of erosion of upland archaeological remains, as well as establishing a proven methodology which can now be applied to archaeological sites in other landscape contexts.

Contaminated sediment flux from eroding abandoned historical metal mines: Spatial and temporal variability in geomorphological drivers

“…In contrast, comparable recent research into the initial mobilisation of in situ sediments directly from abandoned mine source locations has been noticeably lacking despite its significance for a range of other related disciplines such as archaeology (Kincey et al, 2017) and ecology (Batty, 2005).…”

“…Abandoned metal mines present a unique and complex set of interdisciplinary challenges to the global science and management communities. There is a need to carefully balance their potentially damaging legacy effectsparticularly in the form of high erosion rates, phytotoxic surface sediments, and water quality impactsagainst their role as ecological habitats for rare metallophyte plant communities (Batty, 2005) and as important cultural heritage archives (Howard et al, 2015;Kincey et al, 2017). This current study has provided valuable insights into the distribution and timing of contaminated sediment flux from abandoned mines, enhancing our understanding of such sites as heavy metal source locations and therefore bridging the gap to existing studies focused on the wider catchment implications of historical mining (e.g., Miller, 1997;Macklin et al, 2006;Foulds et al, 2014;Clement et al, 2017;Pavlowsky et al, 2017).…”

Development of Laser Scanner for Full Cross-Sectional Deformation Monitoring of Underground Gateroads

“…Overall, the application in TLS in deformation monitoring is rapidly expanding and its applications in deformation monitoring not only entails the fields mentioned above, but also covers the deformation monitoring of slope [43][44], road [45], cliff [46][47], dam [48][49], building [50][51], bridge [52], etc.…”

Scan Planning Optimization for Outdoor Archaeological Sites

“…On the other hand, conservators might want to know how quickly feature changes. Kincey et al (2017) and Previtali et al (2018) present a strategy for archaeological site erosion monitoring comparing terrestrial laser scans acquired at different epochs. Since the use of 3D laser scanner in archaeological application many have such a large variety of purposes the specific aim of the survey is fundamental to define acquisition requirements.…”