A Leap
Until recently, the best method of uncovering archaeological artifacts was to literally unearth them. But LiDAR, which will use lasers to penetrate through thick layers of jungle foliage and earth, will soon change all that. Short for Light Imaging Detection and Ranging, LiDAR will change the field of archaeology as we know it.
Radar Says
How does LiDAR work? The clue’s in the name. Attached to an aircraft, LiDAR is flown over the area to be studied, where it will shoot, “laser pulses hundreds of thousands of times per second,” explained archaeologist Thomas Garrison of Ithaca College. “And every time one of those lasers hits a point of resistance, it stops and sends back a measurement to the plane.”