What is a Drone?

• A form of unmanned aircraft• Essentially a form of flying robot• Normally much smaller than anything that

could be reasonably manned

Uses for Drones

• Military • Search and Rescue• Surveillance• Traffic Monitoring• Weather Monitoring• Firefighting• Crop Monitoring• Archaeology• Building• Sporting Events

Uses for Local Studies

• Photographing stages of new buildings or land developments

• Then and now photographic comparisons• Identifying land uses from the past and for the

future• Parades and marches • Accessing private or secured property• Allow views from the top of historical

constructions

Barrow Bridge Chimney

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgrJ5b8TNUQ

New Campbelltown Hospital Additions

Park Central

University Redevelopment

Benefits for Archaeologists

• Identify sites that are located in remote areas that cannot be seen from the ground

• Non-invasive• Collect video, photography and 3-D

reconstructions of surrounding landscape• Crop, frost and soil marks can best be seen

from an aerial viewpoint

Disadvantages for Archaeologists

• The cost• Batteries that don’t last long• Dust can foul the equipment• Cameras can be inflexible• Crashes!

Drones and Archaeology in Peru

• Used to map, monitor and safeguard Peru’s ancient treasures

• Protect archaeological heritage from squatters, builders, miners and land traffickers

• Provide birds eye view of ruins that can be converted into 3D images and highly detailed maps.

• Mapping would take months and thousands of dollars to complete but now the same area can be done in 10 minutes