How drones are helping archaeologists make a revolution in the area

Forget the brush and clichés when you hear about archeology: Practitioners are now relying on help from the heavens. A study conducted by Dartmouth College revealed that the use of drone-driven thermal imaging is resulting in a real revolution in the area.

Flying robots are offering a much broader approach for archaeologists to be able to recognize areas being researched and also for data collection.

The use of infrared images with thermal cameras to identify underground archaeological zones has been around for some time, but drones allow this to be done in a much more dynamic way - and allow much larger space to be covered in less time. time.

The study was conducted at six archaeological sites around the world. “Much of what we have discovered from our research so far shows how local conditions and the timing of our research can impact how well thermal imaging will reveal about archaeological remains, ” explained Jesse Casana, professor at Dartmouth and one of the authors of study.

“Still, the more we understand these aspects, the better we can use the technology. I believe our results demonstrate the potential of aerial thermography to transform how we explore these archaeological scenarios in many parts of the world. ”