Mapping the Adena-Hopewell Landscape in the Middle Ohio Valley, USA: Multi-Scalar Approaches to LiDAR-Derived Imagery from Central Kentucky

Archaeologists around the world have shown that LiDAR has the potential to map a wide range of architectural features built by humans. The ability to map archaeological sites at a landscape scale provides researchers the possibility to reconstruct and assess the ways humans organized, constructed, and interacted with their surroundings. However, LiDAR can be impacted by a variety of modern development and land use practices. In this article, we confront these issues by presenting the first examination of high-resolution LiDAR-derived imagery from Central Kentucky, part of the larger heartland for late-Early and Middle Woodland-era (ca. 300 bc-ad 500) Adena-Hopewell societies. Our investigations demonstrate that multiple issues can arise when analyzing LiDAR imagery for monumental earthen architecture in this region. We outline an integrated strategy to rediscover and confirm the presence of earthen architecture made by Adena-Hopewell societies that incorporates aerial photographs, multi-instrument geophysical surveys, and geoarchaeological methods into the examination of LiDAR imagery. This methodology will be applicable in other global contexts where archaeologists are seeking to rediscover ancient forms of earthen architecture within heavily disturbed or developed landscapes.