COS Professors Featured in “The Verge”
Drs. Arlen and Diane Chase were recently featured in “The Verge” for their work using Lidar, also known as laser, imaging, detection and ranging. It works by illuminating a target zone with lasers affixed to an aircraft. The light is reflected off target objects — whether foliage, buildings or even clouds — and captured by a receiver that measures the duration of each pulse’s trip to the target. The data is then used in conjunction with GPS to create a digital, 3D map. The professors used it to uncover a vast swath of ruins at Caracol, the ancient Mayan city just out side of Belize.
Below is an excerpt from The Verge. To read the full article, click here.
Uncovering the past using the future: how lasers are revolutionizing archaeology
A map of the lost city of Mahendraparvata, created using lidar technology (Credit: Archaeology and Development Foundation — Phnom Kulen Program)
Indiana Jones was onto something. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, everyone’s favorite fictional archeologist infiltrates a Nazi dig on the outskirts of Cairo and lowers himself into the Map Room, an ancient chamber alleged to hold the location of the titular Ark of the Covenant. Jones raises the Staff of Ra — a golden medallion embedded with an amber gem at the end of a long wooden pole — above his head. The Egyptian sun, streaming into the underground chamber, is refracted through the staff’s headpiece, forming a coherent beam of light that reveals the Ark’s location.
Sure, the Staff of Ra is a thing of fiction. But archaeologists are now relying on their own, more refined lasers, to uncover the remnants of ancient civilizations.
Last week, an expedition led by Australian archaeologist Damien Evans came upon the ruins of Mahendraparvata, a 1,200-year-old city in the Cambodian jungle. The breathtaking discovery was only enabled by the use of lidar, an airborne remote sensing technology that uses lasers to create detailed topographical maps. Using a lidar system mounted on the skid of a helicopter, Evans and his team surveyed a 143 square mile area, uncovering sprawling, highly structured settlements that would have remained hidden from satellite imaging or ground surveys by the jungle canopy. In a forthcoming paper submitted to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Evans and his team say that this discovery, guided by their lidar data, will necessitate “comprehensive re-evaluation of the nature of urban space” in the study of Southeast Asian settlement patterns. ”With this instrument — bang — all of a sudden we saw an immediate picture of an entire city that no one knew existed,” Evans told The Age.
Lidar, also known as Laser Imaging, Detection, and Ranging, works by illuminating a target zone with lasers affixed to an aircraft. The light is reflected off target objects — whether foliage, buildings or even clouds — and captured by a receiver that measures the duration of each pulse’s trip to the target. The data is then used in conjunction with GPS to create a digital, 3D map. Lidar technology was initially developed in the 1960s and used for atmospheric research, meteorology and geological surveys by government agencies like the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and US Geological Survey (USGS). And NASA has since 1994 been experimenting with orbital lidar systems to help scientists better understand climate patterns. More recently, New York City used lidar to create a 3D map of Manhattan that served as the framework for updated flood plans.
To read the full article, click here.