Speaker: Dr. Scott Hamilton, Lakehead University
Over the past 25 years consumer digital technologies have rapidly expanded in capacity and declined in cost. Archaeologists are among the researchers who have selectively integrated technology into their professional practise, but early implementation is often driven by unit cost, unexpected complexity, and rapid obsolescence. Unmanned aerial vehicles (variously called RPAS, UAVs, UASs or drones) follow this pattern, but have had a comparatively slow uptake as a standard archaeological tool.
Since about 2015 I and my students have been experimenting with UAVs, predominately exploring the use case for ‘prosumer’ drones. These instruments are predominately marketed to hobbyists but have surprisingly high technical capacity. We have moved from learning how to fly (and not crash), to evaluating photographic utility, experimented with semi-autonomous mapping and photogrammetry, explored archaeological ‘value added’, and finally moved to refining georeferencing accuracy and experimentation with diverse sensors.
Through a series of case study examples, I explore the utility and limitations of UAVs in archaeology, and some of the unexpected downstream implications related to computing and data storage demands. It demonstrates considerable analytic value, particularly when integrated with geomatics and other data management tools. It also suggests important potential for non-invasive archaeological site characterization under the right conditions.