Exploring The Gabor Methods

Evidence of almost 100 of the stones has revealed without the need to excavate the site, due to remote sensing, ground-penetrating radar and geographical imaging technologies. These advancements in science and technology allow researchers to discover the historical monuments full extent. Fragments of bones, stones and the foundation pits in which they were situated have all been uncovered during excavations and technological mapping indicating the true size and importance the site was to the Neolithic

There are many ways that an archeological site can be observed, for example, aerial photography such as satellite pictures can be used. Also when carrying out an excavation on a low budget, which is very common in most cases, a low-flying kite can replace the satellite (Roskams, page 43). More recently the more common availability and use of drones could also be used to get live aerial data from above. Many sites are more apparent from above, and New Kinord is a great example as you can see some of the stone circles clearly, see figure 2 below.

The planet that we reside on has a long, enduring history. Today, remnants can still be found that tell the history of the land, and of its inhabitants; many of these remnants, however, have been destroyed over time. The Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan has a rich and complicated history that continues up to the present day. The residents of Bamiyan live neighboring a wall of cliffs, speckled with caves. Bordering the city on each side, two abandoned niches are carved into the cliff face, each towering over 100 meters. These great niches once held two Buddha statues that looked out over the Bamiyan Valley, but now stand empty. Once a witness to the history of the area, these Buddhas were destroyed in 2001 when the Taliban, a terrorist group, destroyed them due to their religious imagery.

Now with our modern technology there have been very recent large scale archaeological explorations in hopes of finding the lost city and its treasure. In 2012 a group of scientists who were looking for La Ciudad Blanca used a new type of technology to photograph the ground called LIDAR. The use of LIDAR offered a faster, cheaper, and safer way of searching through the thick rainforests of eastern Honduras rather then having groups of men wander through the rainforests with machetes in search of La Ciudad Blanca. While using LIDAR the scientists were able to gather more data in a week then they would be able to gather while on the ground in a

Removing the red-colored pebbles on the desert surface is one way of showing how the Nazca may have created the lines. Also, the lighter soil beneath the top layer of pebbles would make the lines more clearly defined from a higher altitude, which is how we can view the lines more clearly today. The topsoil layer consists of a type of volcanic rock. The Nazca people could have used basic tools to remove the top level. The underlying soil below the volcanic rock is a type of rock that differs much from the darker soil on top. It is because of this difference that one can clearly see the lines from a distance above the area. The geoglyphs were actually constructed in a simple manner and any regular amount of rainfall would have easily worn away the drawings; however, because of the area’s dry desert-type environment, the lines have been incredibly preserved in the years since they were first

Both Australian Fossil Mammal Site and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump are considered archeological sites which have unique challenges in comparison to other heritage sites. Conserving archaeological sites in urban environments includes two perspectives: the challenges of preserving archaeological sites in densely populated areas and the study of the evolution of the settlement itself. Both perspectives are essential in preserving the relationship between individual sites and the settlement as a whole.6 Conserving archaeological sites in urban environments, can be of large efforts. Australian Fossil Mammal Sites and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump on the other hand do not need to be concerned about this dilemma due to their large proximity to civilization. Also since the large distance from the sites to civilization these heritage site avoid another large challenge some heritage sites face. Having a heritage site close to highly populated area often need to deal with pollution, new constructions, upgrades for public works and intensive traffic.6 Another potential challenge all heritage sites face is lack of interest and funding. It is important to maintain stakeholders for each site to generate interest and provide funding for proper archeological site maintenance. The World Heritage Convention states the biggest challenge for historical sites is funding and technical assistance.9 One of the most important challenges is for future World Heritage cultural landscapes to be better used as a tool for regional development and poverty eradication.9 Maintenance is an important part of the Preservation process. Regular maintenance will preserve character defining elements and extend the service life of functional components.6 As the conservation challenges increase, as sites face the impact of global processes, UNESCO will have to rethink and reshape

There are several different kinds of satelite imagery a long the lines of infared, and weather satelites. In regards to satelites, they give a larger area of a feild to be seen. They "provide their value immedietly" (Caldwell 6) by means of having the ability to give back information to the researchers almost immedietly after a sense of information. When finding results when looking for such artifacts as ancient ruins, researchers have the ability to use satelites "about 400 miles above the ground" (Santos 1). As a matter of fact, Infared technology in satelites can "locate objects on the ground less than two feet wide...infared light can also penetrate about a foot below the surface and detect differences in soil"(Santos 2). This advancement in technology allows

Instead of diging, they used ariel photography and ground-penetrating radar, a completly noninvasive tectince. The reseachers used virtural 3D models to recreate the site.

Methods used included, taking GPS points at different rock units and marking them onto an aerial map to distinguish bearings and lithologies, traversing the area, and identifying rock and fossils types.

The looting of ancient sites has been an ongoing global issue for many years. Plundered artifacts and antiques results in the devastation of humanity’s past. Archaeologists have pressed government leaders to crack down on this problem and take the steps necessary to prevent it from reoccurring in the future. American space archaeologist Sarah Parcak, winner of the $1 million TED Prize, is investing money to develop a new plan that will protect ancient sites from looting. Parcak plans to create an online program that incorporates the use of satellite imagery and crowd-sourcing to record new archaeologist sites and map looting activity. Her main goal is to eventually “map the entire world,” Parcak said. “You’d have a global alarm system where

The pace of this deforestation is unprecedented in recent times. According

With new technology such as satellites systems, low altitude photography and side looking radar scientists now figure that the world is losing about twenty million hectares of tropical forests annually. It has been suggested that the high deforestation rates are caused partially by the fact that the new surveys are more accurate and thus reveal old deforestation rates that were miscalculated with previous methods (Westoby, 202).

The restriction to the local people for the use of forest products and timber logging can increase the demand for these products and market value. The control of the deforestation and degradation in REDD+ site increases the agricultural land crisis and demand for the land. Studies indicate that cross-border leakage is a major problem in many areas. In Vietnam between 1987 and 2006, about 39% of the forest cover was recovered, which was balanced by the forest loss in the neighboring countries including Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Indonesia (Barlow, et. al., 2012). The conservation or restoration project in the REDD+ areas without considering the immediate or underlying causes of forest loss can be more prone to leakage (Miles and Dickson, 2010) causing deforestation elsewhere to meet the demand for agricultural products and forest needs (Barlow, et. al., 2012).

The rate of deforestation is increasing and the tropical forests are falling at approximately 140,000 acres per day (Miller & Tangley 1991: xvi). The forests are crucial to the environment. They are important in minimizing erosion, providing a stable habitat for many animals, and helping to keep the environment clean. Deforestation has devastating effects, not only on the biological dependents within the depleted forests, but also on the surrounding human-populated communities.

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) has grown to become a vital technology used in remote sensing technology from aerial or land-based platforms. Environmentalists have used LiDAR extensively in resource mapping for conservation efforts in the past. However, one of the promising applications of LiDAR is planning and designing of engineering projects of varying magnitudes and complexities. Some of the outstanding drawbacks of using traditional data acquisition methods include the amount of time spent collecting the data and the reduction of the data during processing. Such issues are significant in engineering projects due to the corresponding cost and safety implications. Using LiDAR from aerial platforms allows engineers to acquire and process data quickly with high levels of accuracy as compared to the traditional methods. LiDAR involves the use of directing single laser pulses on targets and performing an analysis on time taken to receive the reflected pulses (Finkl, 2013). The data collected helps in the determination of elevation details of an area. Additionally, engineers can use the global positioning system (GPS) and digital photography with the LiDAR elevation details to present accurate and comprehensive information about the desired location for a project. The current paper focuses on the LiDAR data generated from aerial sources although several types of data exist.