MU Researcher Uses Lidar to Paint a Picture of Ancient Native American Cultures

(MissouriNet) Using today’s technology to study ancient cultures of the past. Jeff Ferguson is an anthropology professor at the University of Missouri. He is using lidar (lye-dar) to study ancient Native American villages called pueblos in New Mexico to understand their migration and social interaction patterns.

“It’s shooting laser pulses that then are able to map the ground’s surface. The real advantage to lidar is that we can sometimes see through the vegetation. So, in places where you can get a clean ground surface through even vegetative covers. So, in places like the jungle, it’s really advantageous that you really had no idea there’s a pyramid there. All of a sudden you can strip away the vegetation and see the archaeological features.”

Lidar stands for Light Detection and Ranging, a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsated laser to measure ranges. His research focuses on documenting the regional settlement pattern and understand how migrants came from the north and interacted with existing local populations. He hopes to use this technology to identify sites not previously documented.