In 1990, an archeologist discovered ancient artifacts on Raleigh Island on Florida’s Northern Gulf Coast.  Then in 2010, further exploration of the island revealed an ancient settlement dating from 900 to 1200 CE.  But it wasn’t until recently that archeologists were able to uncover the full scope of this long lost settlement.  Professor Ken Sassaman and doctoral student Terry Barbour of the University of Florida department of Anthropology have finally given the world an up close look at what life was like in ancient Florida with the aid of a drone.

Using a drone equipped with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology Professor Sassaman and Barbour were able to create an in depth map of the area in question.  LiDAR technology uses lasers to send out a pulse of light.  Then it waits for the light pulse to be returned and uses sensors to create a measurement depending on how long it took for the original pulse to return.  Once these measurements are collected the elevation details of the surveyed area are built into a 3D map.  For Professor Sassaman, this meant that he was able to make a map of the ancient ruins buried in the forest of Raleigh Island.The drone was flown over the area where the settlement was believed to be.  The LiDAD camera went to work, and soon enough produced a map revealing clusters of circular dwellings and bead making centers all made from crushed oyster shells.  This settlement is one of the few North American coastal settlements that have been found that were producers of crafts for trade.  Once the drone located the exact locations of the structures, the archeologists were able to dig to find some amazing artifacts.

They found caches of supplies used to make beads out of shells that were then used as currency traveling up and down the Mississippi Delta.  Some of the items found included stone drills and the tools to make the drills, lighting whelk shells, tools for rounding bead edges, blanks for making meads, and of course beads.  However, because this settlement predates the chiefdoms of the Mississippi era, it is believed that the beads found on Raleigh Island were more for cultural purposes, a symbol of ritual wealth.  As Professor Sassaman said, “The discovery of possible bead production may provide information on past societies in eastern North America- and how beads were integral to social capital.”  He went on to point out that as time progressed it was from settlements like the one in Raleigh that the use of beads as currency became a norm in pre-Columbus North American economics.

But, without the aid from the LiDAR equipped drone, this discovery may have still been hidden from us.  Sassaman said of it, “This technology is unbelievable.”  Without the drones, finding the settlement could have gone onto take many more years.  As it was it took nearly two decades to go from finding initial evidence on the island in the 90’s to realizing there was a settlement buried somewhere on Raleigh in 2010.  It still took almost another decade for Sassaman’s team to get their hands on the technology that made the uncovering of this ancient site possible

Terry Barbour said, “What we have here is a settlement at the source of this raw material at the time when marine shell was starting to become a heavily demanded social item.  The fact we have strong evidence of bead manufacture at a site with equally impressive architecture to guide us in understanding how production was organized socially makes this place really special, and as of now the only place like it we are aware of.”  With the success the team found using a drone with LiDAR, there will surely be more discoveries like the settlement of Raleigh Island to come.

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