EVALUATION OF LIDAR VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION AT MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK

A variety of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) visualization techniques to aid in archaeological prospection at Mammoth Cave National Park are evaluated. Over the past decade the number of visualization techniques for archaeological prospection has increased dramatically thereby allowing more anthropogenic features to be detected. As such, this poster presents a variety of techniques both historically used (e.g. hillshading) as well as more recent (e.g. Principal Component Analysis and Sky-View Factors). Techniques are evaluated on their ability to visualize potential anthropogenic features ranging from pre-historic sites to settler homesteads to park infrastructure. The prefered visualization is determined by the highest number of detections. A resultant dataset containing anthropogenic features from all visualizations is then evaluated against auxiliary datasets including aerial photography, park infrastructure, soil types and geologic lithologies to determine possible causes.