Cultural Heritage Preservation

Advances in Archaeology: Integrating UAV-Based Sensors and AI for High-Resolution Analysis of Native American Sites

Native American archaeological sites, including effigies, remain poorly understood in terms of their history, construction, and significance. Traditional methods of studying these sites, such as direct measurements and excavations, are invasive and can potentially be destructive. This project explores synergies between non-destructive remote sensing techniques to document and analyze effigies and archaeological monuments, focusing on surface and subsurface data collections.

Works have used Rock Hawk and Rock Eagle effigies (Georgia, USA) as case studies and employed a UAV equipped with a high-resolution RGB camera to image the field sites. The work contributes to the characterization of sites by using AI techniques and Structure from Motion to generate detailed point clouds, meshes and surface models. The project uses theses products to detect and classify individual site components, including the extraction of metrics derived from high-resolution models that are used to digitally deconstruct and describe the sites