By exploring the 3D Lidar mapping, you can identify human-made structures, see the full breadth of vegetation cover, and understand the shape of the landscape as a whole. You can digitally remove surface features to reveal long-forgotten archaeology sites. This helps us to better understand and conserve the historic landscape.
In March 2023, high resolution Lidar was acquired for 345 km2 of the northern section of the National Park area. This landscape has a rich history of human activity spanning back thousands of years. Lidar can help reveal and trace this story.
A lidar sensor uses a laser to measure the distance between the aircraft and the ground. By recording millions of these measurements we can create a record of the relative heights of the ground surface. The laser also reflects off trees and buildings, cars, cows and cairns – anything present in the landscape at the time of the survey is recorded. This means that the models must be interpreted by humans to make sense of the information they contain.
Find out more!
To find out more about how lidar can be used to understand the landscape and identify archaeological features join the Arfordir Penfro portal volunteers to take our online training course.
Why is it
important?
Rapidly increasing vegetation cover is obscuring recorded and unrecorded sites. This project helps us to identify, monitor the condition and better manage new and existing archaeological remains. The archaeology of ancient fields and settlements can be hard to appreciate on the ground. Lidar can really help in our understanding and appreciation of this archaeology through incredible levels of detail and robust, innovative 3D modelling.
Get involved
Become a ‘citizen scientist’ and help to discover, understand, and preserve the cultural heritage of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, by exploring the Lidar mapping and identifying new and exciting archaeological sites.