Identification and documentation of ethnological heritage with drone flight

For us, at Ideas MedioAmbiental, it is essential to provide our technicians with the technological means necessary for the best performance of their functions. In this regard, our archaeological team has a drone for the identification and documentation of heritage assets (Related post). Since the first introduction in the RAE of the term”drone” in 2014, this tool has not ceased to bring surprises to researchers and technicians specialized in heritage, beginning at the beginning of the 20th century, and more than a century of military development later, it has significantly streamlined work processes and allowed us to see the “invisible”... Ethnological heritage assets with drone flight.

Drones for civil use have proven to be an essential tool in areas such as the identification of rock paintings that are difficult to access, the macro study of the landscape, the documentation of historic buildings or the detection of underground elements, just to name a few examples.

In professional archaeology, time is essential. New technologies have streamlined the work of documenting assets, but it has also pointed out to us the presence of underground elements. Certainly, in our work its most recurrent use is in the documentation of visible structures and in the aerial photography of large complexes. For this reason, we wanted to share some brushstrokes on the possibilities it offers to technicians, through cases that we have recently studied of ethnological heritage observed through drone flights.

Normally, these complexes or structures are abandoned ethnological elements such as workhouses, ferris wheels, wells or the entire wide range of buildings integrated into “dry stone architecture”. However, they don't always have to be large structures, as they can often be small workhouses in a different state of conservation. It is the state of conservation that leads many administrations to ask us to document these assets at a planimetric and photographic level.

Thus, we have a good documentary repertoire that would provide a fairly complete typological study of construction methods for the same element, such as, for example, a well. A well can be simply an opening in the ground several meters deep or it can have a variety of visible structures such as emerged domes, underground domes, open chests, or enclosed in brick structures, with a door, with a roof, etc. To which can be added associated elements such as decanting ponds, watering holes, ditches, etc. In other words, a simple structure for extracting water can be complicated to the level of excavating a Alcavó and include a ferris wheel to lift water to the surface.

Often, these associated elements are not visible in the field because of the vegetation or because they blend in with the landscape. Other times, the stability of the asset is precarious, and the drone can reach places where we cannot. This was the case of a two-storey house located in the province of Murcia. This was part of the set of ethnological elements catalogued by the administration, for which comprehensive documentation was requested from us to allow the development of the works. Thanks to the aerial photographs, we were able to differentiate the rooms that comprised it and, even, we obtained a 3D model of the building, all in less than a morning's work.

These photographs allow us to draw diagrams and plans with the composition distribution of the assets, as well as to take measurements, assess the level of conservation or identify refunds, consolidations or reconstructions. In short, to take an X-ray of the processes of change that any building undergoes during its use and during its abandonment.

Laura Castillo, Archaeology