May 23rd (Thursday) 5:00pm PT
AIA-LA Spring Ahmanson Virtual Lecture

Lasers without Lost Cities: LiDAR Mapping and Conservation Challenges in the Cloud Forests of Peru

Dr. Parker VanValkenburgh
Associate Professor
Brown University

Archaeological research employing LiDAR (light detection and ranging) has enabled scholars to produce incredible images of ancient landscapes in forested environments. In the cloud forests of northeastern Peru, however, lidar data collection has proven particularly challenging due to the region’s rugged topography. Here, terrestrial and drone lidar systems provide complementary tools for high-resolution site mapping, while also enabling archaeologists to produce detailed models useful for site conservation. Interpreting these data and putting them to good use entails a number of challenges that archaeologists are still working out. What platforms and strategies for data collection are most effective? How do we combine lidar and ground-based fieldwork to greatest effect? How do we make best use of this technology to meet modern conservation challenges? And how do we avoid turning every site we map into a “lost” city? In this talk, the speaker will discuss these issues in the context of recent research he has conducted in Peru’s Chachapoyas region.

This talk will be virtual via Zoom