Uncovering the Ancient Mound Builders Using Open Data and FOSS Software

The following talk was given at the 2016 FOSS4G-NA Conference in Raleigh, NC.

Abstract:

The Ancient Mound Builders of North America may be gone but they left behind a world heritage of huge earthworks, monuments, and mounds dating from 3500 BC to around 1600 AD. What can be discovered about their legacy through the use of publicly available Lidar data and open source software? The answer may surprise you.

This talk shows how discoveries can be made by an Archaeological/GIS hobbyist using open source tools such as 1) QGIS and GDAL to process LIdar derived DEM/DTM data, 2) GeoServer to serve the data, and 3) Leaflet to create a detailed map of ancient known and potential archaeological sites. This work was done because of a personal interest in the Mound Building cultures, without funding and with limited resources yet the results are amazing. Come on a journey and explore the lidar data and personal photos of many of these fascinating archaeological sites.

Talk Resources

• Slides: Uncovering_the_Ancient_Mound_Builders.pdf
• Map of Native American Mound Builders
• Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley
• Ephraim George Squier
• A Few Archaeological Sites From the Talk
  • Serpent Mound
  • Fort Hill
  • Seip Mound
  • Cahokia Mounds
  • Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
  • Newark Earthworks
  • Flint Ridge
  • Effigy Mounds National Monument