Manual Point Cloud Classification and Extraction for Hunter-Gatherer Feature Investigation: A Test Case From Two Low Arctic Paleo-Inuit Sites

For archaeologists, the task of processing large terrestrial laser scanning (TLS)-derived point cloud data can be difficult, particularly when focusing on acquiring analytical and interpretive outcomes from the data. Using our TLS lidar data collected in 2013 from two compositionally different, low...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Open Archaeology
Main Authors: Landry David B., Milne S. Brooke, Park Robert W., Ferguson Ian J., Fayek Mostafa
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2016
Subjects:
terrestrial laser scanning
digital archaeology
hunter-gatherer archaeology
Paleo-Inuit
Southern Baffin Island
Nunavut
point cloud classification
Archaeology
CC1-960
Arctic
Baffin Island
Baffin
inuit
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2016-0017
https://doaj.org/article/38559bcf7ffd4d56b5a787ba4ef4209c
Description
Summary:For archaeologists, the task of processing large terrestrial laser scanning (TLS)-derived point cloud data can be difficult, particularly when focusing on acquiring analytical and interpretive outcomes from the data. Using our TLS lidar data collected in 2013 from two compositionally different, low Arctic multi-component hunter-gatherer sites (LdFa-1 and LeDx-42), we demonstrate how a manual point cloud classification approach with open source software can be used to extract natural and archaeological features from a site’s surface. Through a combination of spectral datasets typical to TLS (i.e., intensity and RGB values), archaeologists can enhance the visual and analytical representation of archaeological huntergatherer site surfaces. Our approach classifies low visibility Arctic site point clouds into independent segments, each representing a different surface material found on the site. With the segmented dataset, we extract only the surface boulders to create an alternate characterization of the site’s prominent features and their surroundings. Using surface point clouds from Paleo-Inuit sites allows us to demonstrate the value of this approach within hunter-gatherer research as our results illustrate an effective use of large TLS datasets for extracting and improving our analytical capabilities for low relief site features.

Similar Items