On the benefits of utilizing UAVs within archaeology Prof Kantner also commented that
‘UAVs will be a critical addition to the toolkit, and one that has the great advantage of
being more accessible and less expensive than some of the more complex geophysical
techniques. I don’t get to task satellites to record imagery for me, and renting a plane
or helicopter gets really expensive. And neither are responsive to the kinds of urgent
needs that emerge during archaeological fieldwork. UAVs will clearly be important for
archaeology’. Prof Kantner also spoke on the future of UAVs for archaeology, noting that
‘UAVs are becoming more and more accessible to use for basic archaeological investigations. What’s exciting to me, and where the learning curve will continue to be, is the
potential for UAVs to be remotely controlled and tasked for doing the kind of work we
need. For example, being able to program a drone to systematically cover a defined
landscape at different times of the day and with different cameras/sensors requires
multiple forms of expertise that isn’t “out of the box,” but which can have a tremendous
positive impact on archaeological practice’.
UAVs are also aiding data collection, enabling archaeologists to conduct types of surveys which have previously been impossible. Stephen Gray has commented upon the
value UAVs are adding to the field, noting ‘in archaeology kites have been used for
low-altitude photography for decades. You can imagine the benefits of not having to
wait for the perfect wind and having no string to get in the photographs. Once you
have a trusted UAV and camera, there is practically no cost to running the system and,
as long as the CAA’s rules are observed, a UAV survey can be done with little or no planning. This means we can map areas which may (or may not) prove to be of interest’.
By Megan Roden & Jemima Khalli
@Skytechevent
#Skytech #UAV #Drones