Airborne Laser Altimetry in Ljubljansko

barje: potential assesement

Dimitrij Mlekuž
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts
University of Ljubljana
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
 The real voyage of discovery consists of not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust

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 Ljubljansko barje

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 Keller 1854 Bregant 1996

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 Aims

mapping of geomorphological features

(palaeochannels)

taphonomy of the landscape (potential for

preservation or erosion)

contextualsation of archaeological sites

(reconstruction of past landscapes)

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 LiDAR (Light
detection and
ranging)

Airborne laser
altimetry

http://gulfsci.usgs.gov/
tampabay/data/1mapping/lidar
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First pulse

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Laser intensity

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Last pulse

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 “Bare earth”

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 Hillshaded “bare earth”

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 Ridge and swale,
thalwegs

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 Terrace with
palaeochannels

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 Maharski prekop in context

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 Maharski prekop “pile-dwelling”

4345 ± 113 BP

4701 ± 104 BP

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 Phase 4
~3500 BC
Phase 3

Phase 2

Phase 1

~300 BC
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 Conclusions: using LiDAR on Ljubljansko barje

LiDAR enable us to
map and understand the complex prehistoric drainage
network and its dynamics ...
... identify isolate areas of high potential for preservation of
archaeological and paleoenvironmental record ...
... contextualize settlement pattern.

But
Ljubljansko barje is not an uniform landscape ...
...parts of the landscape are drastically modified and
much of the detail may be lost
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 Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Slovenian

Research Agency, project J6-6023-0581
(Ljubljansko barje: Archaeological landscape in flux)
http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/barje

LiDAR survey was undertaken by 2B

geoinformatika, zastopanje in storitve d.o.o.
http://www.2bgzs.com

Wednesday, March 2, 2011