High tech devices聽fly high when it comes to archaeological mapping.聽聽Professor Gerardo Gutierrez of the CU Boulder Anthropology Department has found that the right technology聽can free up hours of work for the archaeologist.聽聽Gutierrez has received聽two聽ASSETT Development Awards to purchase state of the art mapping technology for his students to learn to use.聽聽With matched funding from the Department of Anthropology, Gutierrez purchased two total stations, one Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and聽related mapping software.聽 Taking aerial pictures with UAVs聽is a聽great improvement over more traditional聽mapping methods.聽聽Until recently,聽an archaeologist relied upon聽total stations, which require hours in the field聽to take measurements of聽hundreds of points.
Gutierrez聽used the equipment聽that he purchased to conduct mapping research with his students this past spring.聽 They found that聽mapping with UAVs聽is聽more affordable and faster聽than聽is mapping with聽the more聽traditional archaeological tools. Even the initial purchase of聽a UAV has become more affordable in recent years: "New digital photogrammetry is emerging very fast," says Gutierrez.聽聽Also,聽the UAV is聽smaller, more compact, and lighter in weight than is a total station.
With the ASSETT Development Award funding,聽Gutierrez was able to purchase software that interprets the photos from the UAV聽camera.聽 He noted that the software, "... generates high resolution georeferenced orthophotos (up to 5 cm accuracy)聽聽and exceptionally detailed Digital Elevation Models.聽 This software enables students to聽process thousands of 聽aerial images on a desktop computer to produce professional photogrammetric data."聽 Gutierrez and his students聽(CU Boulder students Grace Emy, Alyssa Friedman, Melanie Godsey, and Machal Gradoz)聽found that it takes 27 times聽longer to gather聽data mapping with a total station than with a UAV.聽 They created a聽training聽model聽for聽others to use when聽learning to map with total stations and UAVs.聽聽Gutierrez and his聽team聽found that聽even training others to map with聽UAVs takes much less time--3.5 times less time--than training someone to use and interpret data from a total station or a LIDAR system (mapping data聽taken from a piloted aircraft).聽 They聽submitted these findings聽to the journal, Advances in Archaeological Practices for the Society of American Anthropology.
Gutierrez led one of the four GIS ArcMap workshop sessions this spring, which were also funded by ASSETT Development Awards!聽 He partnered with Classics Department聽Professor Elspeth Dusinberre.聽 Further, Gutierrez has taken his equipment training across borders through a partnership with the Insitituto Nacional de Anthropologia e Historia (INAH), the Mexican government's Cultural Resource Management agency.聽聽Gutierrez trained Mexican archaeologists in using such equipment to create archaeological maps.
Gutierrez says, "We are really grateful for the assistance of ASSETT. 聽Without this funding, we wouldn鈥檛 have been able to do any of this."
