Other Ongoing Projects

Iron and Bronze Age Mound Detection, Sweden

I am currently collaborating with archaeologists in Sweden to develop a mound detection algorithm to identify Iron and Bronze Age burial mounds and charcoal production sites throughout the country. To date, we have developed a deep learning convolutional neural network model to identify relict charcoal hearths in Sweden, and this methods paper has been published in Remote Sensing.

Analysis of Freely available Bathymetric Data for the United States and its Territories

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has an open access database containing a massive amount of topographic and bathymetric datasets at high resolution (1-10 meters). My goal in this project is to evaluate the potential for these data to be used for archaeological investigations of submerged environments along the coast of North America and several U.S. territories where these data exist. The publication from this preliminary project is published in Heritage, an open access journal.

Automated Detection of Samoan Terracing Agriculture

In collaboration with Dr. Seth Quintus, I am helping to develop a deep learning model to assist archaeologists working on Samoa in detecting and digitizing agricultural terracing features across all of the different Samoan islands. The results of this automated detection and digitization procedure will result in a comprehensive and systematically acquired dataset of terracing agriculture and will allow for in depth studies of niche construction, food production, and population distributions on Samoa over time.

Paleomorphological reconstruction and underwater archaeology of Apalachee Bay, Florida

This project seeks to reconstruct a now submerged landscape of coastal Florida using bathymetric LiDAR data. We will use these data to identify paleochannels, hydrological features, and other landforms suitable for late Pleistocene/Early Holocene human occupants. Remote sensing analysis will be complemented by underwater archaeological surveys and coring to acquire radiocarbon dates for submerged archaeological middens located in this area and will expand our understanding of Early Holocene land-use and demographics in the American Southeast.
We have published a preliminary evaluation of bathymetric LiDAR for shallow-water archaeological prospection in Heritage. Read Here

Pastoralist Niche Construction in Madagascar

This project focuses on clarifying the interplay between humans, environment, and climate. And looks to improve anthropological understanding of land-use practices and their long-term effects on broader ecological systems. As such, this project seeks to utilize a suite of satellite remote sensing tools (including multispectral, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and thermal data) to track anthropogenic landscape change in southwest Madagascar over the past several-hundred years. The project aims to address the following specific questions: 1) Where have pastoralist activities been predominant on the landscape of southwest Madagascar over the past 400 years? 2) How has pastoralism transformed local ecological systems since its introduction to southwest Madagascar in the 17th century? And 3) How does the impact of pastoralism compare with other subsistence strategies (i.e., coastal foraging) in this region in terms of ecological impact and modern legacy on the landscape?