[Aztlan] Shovel-free Archaeology Dig

[Sandy Mielke]

 More information on these FAMSI grantees and their work can be viewed at: 
http://research.famsi.org/3D_imaging/index.php

Shovel-free Archaeology Dig
  USF scientists use laser scanners to create 3-D images.
By BARBARA BEHRENDT

St. Pete Times
Published June 3, 2007


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TAMPA - Two archaeologists from the University of South Florida are using 
technology of the future to help preserve priceless pieces of the past.

Travis Doering, and Lori Collins, have traded in picks and shovels for 
lasers and computers, helping pioneer a new way to learn about ancient sites 
without having to dig them up.

With global positioning satellites and laser scanners like those used by 
surveyors, they are creating three-dimensional images of fading artifacts 
and vanishing historic sites.

So far the two have studied the design of the Miami Circle, the minute 
details of vast stone carvings scattered around Mesoamerica and nearby 
historical gems like the Yulee Sugar Mill and the Crystal River 
Archaeological State Park in Citrus County.

Now captured forever in the virtual world, the sites are assured of an 
immortality of sorts. "It's a way to totally visualize the past," Collins 
said.

Nothing destroyed

Laser scanning can capture the details in everything, from a tiny artifact 
to an entire site, which researchers say can help quickly determine the 
significance of an archaeological find.

It provides such detail that even fingerprints can be captured. In a recent 
site in Mexico, scanning showed details of a potter's fingerprint swirls.

"Everyone says dig," said Collins, who will earn her doctorate this summer. 
"But we don't have to dig to understand things. Not that I'm saying this 
will replace that, but it is something that we can do to understand cultures 
in the past in a way that's totally nondestructive."

The 3-D laser scanning techniques are the wave of the future, says Robert 
Austin, whose firm evaluates archaeological sites and historic structures as 
part of land development surveys.

"What they are doing is real cutting-edge with the three-dimensional laser 
technology," said Austin, a private consultant with Southeastern 
Archaeological Research Inc. "I don't know of anybody doing that, at least 
at the level they are, and certainly no one is in Florida."

At first, not everyone was convinced laser scanning made sense. Classically 
trained USF professor Brent Weisman was among them.

"First I wanted to know if it was feasible," he said. "Was it practical? 
Could this really do something? But I was very impressed with how quickly 
and accurately it worked."

Now Weisman is excited about the possibilities for USF and its students. The 
techno approach has galvanized interest.

"When I show this in my class, the students are just following me back to my 
office," Collins said. "It's something they can really, really understand."

USF senior J. Bart McLeod was hooked the moment he took Collins' archaeology 
class. Since then, he has been on every field trip she has offered.

"I think as the technology develops becoming more user-friendly and 
affordable, archaeologists and people involved with historic preservation 
and documentation will realize the benefits these technologies have to 
offer," McLeod said, "and it will dramatically change the way archaeology 
and historic preservation are done."

Speedy mapping    Such new technology costs.

Collins estimates that with university backing and in-kind support, the 
scanning so far has cost several hundred thousand dollars.

The equipment alone is worth more than a half-million dollars. The 
university has purchased much of it, but the team also has benefited from 
industry partnerships that have provided access to hardware.

State grants, including $46,000 for the Crystal River project and $3,000 for 
the Yulee Sugar Mill, also have helped. The private Foundation for the 
Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies Inc. also gave the team $25, 000 to do 
work in Mesoamerica.

Collins said another $2-million is being sought from the Legislature to 
develop USF's Center for Integrated Spatial Technologies.

Although the laser scans and other new technology have been used in Europe 
and Egypt for some time, its application as an archaeological tool in the 
United States has blossomed within the last few years.

It is fast and precise.    "We're able to map in a day what would normally 
take months to do," Collins said.

That speed can be the difference between saving an archaeological feature 
virtually or losing it forever to a bulldozer.

In 1998, next to the Miami River, a condo developer unearthed an 
archaeologist's dream, an ancient Tequesta Indian site known as the Miami 
Circle.

The state spent $27-million to preserve the 2.2 acres, and in 2003, Collins 
brought in laser scan equipment. A two-week conventional survey mapped 3,000 
points and produced a hand-drawn map. In contrast, it took 2 1/2 days to 
collect 3-million points with laser scans that also corrected flaws in the 
original drawings.  The laser scan images allowed researchers to draw new 
conclusions and even analyze the structure's original construction.

A short while later, a similar smaller site was found on the other side of 
the Miami River. Because it would not be preserved, Collins and the team 
scanned it in one day.  Now that site, known as the Royal Palm Circle, is 
just a memory - but it is preserved forever in the virtual world.

Virtual visits

Florida is not the only place where ancient relics and sites are in danger. 
Doering does much of his work in Mesoamerica.

When larger sites are scanned, they can be "visited" through a computer 
simulation.  "It's something that no one ever thought was possible," said 
Doering, who recently completed his doctorate. "You can walk through the 
site and see it pretty much as it was."

Thanks to the level of detail, any object or site captured by laser scans 
can be reproduced for educational purposes.

"As we scan more artifacts, more archaeologists will have access to these 
detailed computer models and will be able to study the artifacts without 
actually having to possess the items," said Daniel L. Stephens, a USF 
senior.

Collins and Doering recently presented their work at a meeting of the 
Society for American Archaeologists.

"You can see how cool it is and how accurate," Austin said.

Whether they learn about ancient peoples by viewing a re-creation of an 
inscribed stone tablet or examine it on a computer screen, those who come 
next need to learn the lessons artifacts can teach, Collins said.

"All our shared, collective culture -- we need to preserve it into the 
future," she said.

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt at sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.



 More information on these FAMSI grantees and their work can be viewed at: 
http://research.famsi.org/3D_imaging/index.php