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Aerial Archaeology at Double Ditch

 

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Two seasons of aerial survey at Double Ditch by Jo Ann and Ken Kvamme and Tommy Hailley have yielded complete coverage of the site by digital color video, high resolution color stills, and thermal imaging (10 micron band). These data were acquired from a low and slow flying powered parachute platform, from 250-500 m above the ground, yielding high resolution scenes with little blurring. The multiple data sets offer a number of contrasts: tall versus short vegetation after mowing, dry versus wet conditions after rain, evening versus early morning. After the difficult task of mosaicing dozens of scenes based on ground control points in each flight, it is possible to examine shadowing from different angles or vegetation differences in normal light scenes. Moreover, the thermal data (sensitive to a tenth of a degree C) may be differenced and compared across the various contrasts to yield subsurface insights from thermal variations.

Results from these surveys are discussed in a paper presented to the Plains ConfPowered parachute at double ditcherence in 2004.