Digitizing Deserted Medieval Rural Settlement: Drone Data, GIS, and the HELM Project

• In Event: Digitizing the Medieval Environment: GIS and Recreations of the Past

Abstract

For many years, archaeologists, geographers, and historians struggled to identify the location of where most medieval Irish people lived. With this quandary at hand, the Human-Environmental Interactions in the Landscapes of Medieval Ireland (HELM) Project has conducted UAV (drone) flights at seven probable deserted medieval village sites in Ireland with the intention to find the medieval farmer in the landscape. The UAV-collected photogrammetry data is then analyzed and modeled in GIS software to seek out small variances in local topography. With these digital methodologies, the HELM project has successfully identified and mapped the house plots, agricultural systems, and the land use of medieval Irish people. Digital technologies and tools have thus revolutionized our understanding of the history and archaeology of the medieval vernacular experience.
This paper will explain the methodology developed through the HELM Project for utilization in other geographic and temporal regions. Examples will be provided from the six of the project’s already-surveyed sites: these show a range of settlement layouts in conjunction with a higher status medieval castle and/or church from different regions of Ireland which experienced medieval colonization in different ways. Discussion will also include the theoretical underpinnings of site selection, historical, geographic, and archaeological analysis, and a primer in GIS methodology. We will conclude with future research avenues.

Authors

• Victoria McAlister, Towson University

• Jennifer Immich, University of Colorado Boulder