Research Drones Lead to Discoveries at Medieval Irish Sites

Drones have attracted significant attention over the past few years and their application in numerous industries is being discovered. However, drones have found noticeable favor among archeologists due to their ability to capture aerial photography from otherwise challenging angles in a very cost-effective manner.

According to the Saint Louis University history professor Thomas Finan, the application of drones in archeology has become very important because specialized sensors attached to drones can acquire multi-spectral images, which can be processed over mapping software using high speed computers. The significance of drones in archeology came to the foreground when they were used at the Lough Key archaeological site.

Due to the increasing importance of drone technology in archeological discoveries, Finan has entered into a venture with the director of Western Aerial Survey, Paul Naessens, who is also a field archeologist to enhance their exploration endeavors by using drone technology.

According to Finan, a medieval Gaelic settlement was identified in 2013-14, which is close to the Rock of Lough Key. Currently, the archeologist’s team is working on smaller sites surrounding the area, which also include a ringfort which appears to be a medieval settlement. It can be said that with the introduction of drone technology in archeology, the pace and effectiveness of discovering medieval settlements has been significantly enhanced.

Finan is specifically interested in bringing together numerous medieval settlements in an attempt to study the events that took place around the thirteenth century and to understand the social dynamics that prevailed at the time. By studying all these settlements as a whole, the diversity and similarity of the social dynamics will be understood in a better manner. Data collection of archeological sites has become considerably more efficient with the introduction of drones. Thus, we can infer that drone technology has the potential to revolutionize research work in multiple industries including archeology.