Drones Help Find Medieval Irish Sites

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI—Thomas Finan, an archaeologist and history professor at Saint Louis University, has conducted excavations in the northern part of Ireland’s County Roscommon over the last two decades at sites including an ecclesiastical complex, a moated stronghold, and a number of ringforts. In addition to other technologies, he is now using aerial surveys taken by drone aircraft to help locate new dig sites with the potential to illuminate medieval social dynamics in the area. "We have collected an unprecedented amount of digital data," Finan said in a press release. "The 3D landscape data allows us to see minute changes in the topography that can be defined as structures and human occupation. The digital data collected with the geophysics is then wrapped around that 3D data to give us an amazing understanding of what is there without sinking a spade." To read about new ideas on when the Vikings came to Ireland, go to “The Vikings in Ireland.”