Discovering and Recording Archaeological Features during a Survey Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and QField: Application and Integration for Studying the Countryside Surrounding Perugia, Umbria (Italy)

Abstract

One of the uses of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)—also known as drones—in archaeology is aerial reconnaissance, and they are usually used to detect and record the features of archaeological sites. This article focuses on the application and integration of drones with surveys supported using a mobile GIS (QField). The research results presented herein concern an area of the northeastern countryside of the city of Perugia, in the Upper Tiber Valley. Field walking was carried out in 2020/2021. The information contained in this article has been organized and elaborated in a GIS environment (Qgis) to produce archaeological cartography.

Keywords

• UAV
• aerial reconnaissance
• survey
• landscape archaeology
• Qgis
• QField