Archaeologists are now using drones equipped with lidar in an effort to survey Western New Mexico for the remains of old pueblos to better understand migration and social behaviors.
“So what we're doing is mounting one of these lidar pods to a drone, flying it in a systematic way over the landscape, sending down a cone of laser images and measuring the bounce back of that light,” said Jeff Ferguson, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri.
Lidar stands for “light detection and ranging.” Once the data is collected, it’s compiled into a significantly detailed rainbow-colored image that shows impressions of the ground where that light hit –– allowing researchers to see things they previously couldn’t.
Ferguson said this area has been historically under-researched because of its tough geographic terrain.
“It’s simply preserving the past,” Ferguson said. “If we're not careful, we may not even know what kinds of questions we could ask about the past that might be important.”
Recently, the team surveyed a massive pueblo likely built by immigrants from the Four Corners region in the late 13th century.
In addition to lidar, they’re also experimenting with another hands-off technology that breaks down the chemical composition of obsidian artifacts to figure out where they came from.
