Flinders University in Adelaide
Lidar: Detecting Archaeological Landscapes with Airborne LiDAR and Remote Sensing (ICHDR #10 Year 2)
Australia’s vast landscapes contain an extraordinary record of deep human history, yet the scale of the continent presents major challenges for locating and protecting archaeological sites. Traditional ground-based survey methods are often slow and difficult to deploy across such large and remote regions, limiting our ability to comprehensively identify and manage cultural heritage.
Working closely with our industry partners, this PhD project will investigate how emerging remote sensing technologies can transform archaeological survey across Australia. Recent advances in satellite imaging and airborne sensing now allow researchers to capture high-resolution environmental data across extensive areas. While satellite imagery alone can be limited by spatial resolution for detecting subtle archaeological features, airborne LiDAR offers a powerful alternative by producing detailed digital models of the landscape capable of revealing subtle terrain modifications associated with past human activity.
Focusing on the unique environmental and archaeological conditions of Australia, this project will develop and test new analytical approaches that combine remote sensing data and airborne LiDAR to improve archaeological site detection and landscape analysis. By evaluating how these technologies perform in challenging arid and semi-arid environments, the research will help establish new and innovative best practice frameworks for large-scale archaeological survey.
The outcomes of this project have the potential to significantly improve how archaeological landscapes are identified and monitored, supporting better cultural heritage management, assisting Indigenous communities in protecting cultural sites, and enabling more effective cultural heritage assessment for land disturbance and industry activities across Australia.
