Lidar Archaeology and Citizen Science Find Thousands of Heritage Sites

Heritage Quest, the groundbreaking archaeological citizen science project in The Netherlands, has brought together the power of LiDAR technology and the dedication of volunteers to uncover nearly 3,000 previously unknown cultural heritage sites. Funded by the Province of Gelderland, this initiative stands as the first large-scale project of its kind in the country, and one of the few globally, that uses citizen science to explore archaeology.

“The project had three main goals: to map the undiscovered archaeological heritage hidden within poorly accessible areas in order to protect it; to raise awareness of and engage the public in heritage protection and scientific research through active participation; and to gain a better insight into past societies through a more evenly distributed research focus.”

Heritage Quest’s success can be largely attributed to its use of high-resolution LiDAR maps, which visualized subtle elevation changes hidden beneath thick vegetation, revealing structures such as prehistoric burial mounds, Celtic fields, and charcoal kilns. Volunteers played a key role by reviewing these maps, identifying potential archaeological sites, and verifying them through fieldwork.

Discovering the Hidden Dutch Landscape

The Dutch landscape is dotted with ancient burial mounds, Celtic fields, and cart tracks, some dating back to the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. These burial mounds often contained the cremated remains of individuals, with more important people likely honored with a solitary mound. During the Middle Ages, these mounds took on additional purposes, serving as navigational landmarks or even locations for gallows. The combination of LiDAR technology and fieldwork allowed Heritage Quest volunteers to rediscover these significant historical features, many of which had been hidden under dense vegetation for centuries.

The combination of LiDAR and citizen science proved to be an extremely efficient method of uncovering hidden archaeological sites. According to Dr. Bourgeois, “We found far more sites than we had expected. The efficiency of using LiDAR combined with volunteer work allowed us to map these areas much faster than traditional methods would have allowed.” The project uncovered nearly 3,000 sites, a figure that greatly surpassed the original expectations.

One of the most intriguing findings from the project was the correlation between the number of volunteers who identified a feature on a LiDAR map and the likelihood of it being an actual archaeological site. Dr. Bourgeois remarked, “Comparing the data gathered by volunteers with professional archaeological surveys showed a remarkably high level of accuracy.”

From Manual Work to Machine Learning

This manual work of volunteers had an unexpected additional benefit: the identification of objects from LiDAR maps has been used as a teaching dataset for a neural network. In the near future, this technology could be used to automatically detect similar features at other archaeological sites, allowing for even faster and more widespread discovery efforts. This innovative combination of citizen science, technology, and artificial intelligence represents the future of archaeological research.

Heritage Quest’s discoveries represent a treasure trove of information about ancient societies, offering new insights into The Netherlands’ prehistoric landscape. The public’s active participation not only helped protect these sites but also broadened the research focus to previously unexplored areas.