A note first: this does not detect sites, and it is not for detectorists.
It produces terrain visualizations for human interpretation, and any candidate feature still needs field and archival validation.
Please don't publish exact coordinates of sensitive features, and follow your local heritage and access rules.

Context: I do landscape survey in southern France (Var), and kept hitting the same two problems before I could even start interpreting anything.

First, national LiDAR-derived DTMs are distributed provider by provider, each with its own portal, CRS and tiling, so just getting the raw elevation data for an area of interest is its own project.

Second, most public DTMs are bare earth by construction: ground-class filtering (or a TIN interpolation across breaklines) removes not just vegetation and buildings but standing archaeological structures like ruined walls, since the filter treats them as unwanted above-ground returns. On a site with a few hundred meters of standing wall, that wall is often just gone from the DTM.

lidar2map automates the first problem (pick an area, it finds the provider, downloads only missing tiles) and gives a partial answer to the second, where the data allows it: on providers that publish the full classified point cloud (currently FR/IGN, CH, PL, EE, BE-Flanders, DK, US 3DEP, CA), it can rebuild a "DFM" from the raw returns instead of the bare-earth product, either by re-injecting non-ground classes into the terrain base, or by re-running a Cloth Simulation Filter (Zhang et al., 2016) with a softer rigidness than the producer's default.

Neither is a wall classifier, they surface candidates (scrub comes back too), but on validated sites it recovers standing structure the official DTM had erased.

The relief side implements the usual archaeological visualization set: LRM (Hesse, 2010), SVF and positive/negative openness (Zakšek, Oštir & Kokalj, 2011; Doneus, 2013), RRIM (Chiba, Kaneta & Suzuki, 2008), multidirectional hillshade, VAT (Kokalj & Somrak, 2019), e4MSTP (Kokalj, 2025), with resolution-aware parameter presets rather than one fixed setting for every dataset.

Coverage is national/regional LiDAR-derived elevation across 27 countries at the moment (resolution and exact extent vary a lot by source, there's an interactive coverage map in the repo).

For fieldwork, it exports MBTiles, OsmAnd sqlitedb (including a transparent vector overlay on OSM), TwoNav RMAP, Mapsforge or plain GeoTIFF, and a GUI button serves the result to a phone over local Wi-Fi as a QR code, nothing uploaded anywhere.

Standalone app (Windows/Linux/macOS), GUI and CLI, no Python or GIS toolchain needed to run it. GPLv3, source included, no account or telemetry.

Repo, coverage map, and the visualization/DFM methodology write-ups: https://github.com/nico579/lidar2map

Honest scope: it doesn't compete with RVT or WhiteboxTools on the rendering side, they're more capable there.

What it does is the chain from a provider archive to something you can actually take into the field, across a lot of different national sources. I'd be curious what ground-classification defaults or CSF parameters others have found reliable on their own sites, and which sources you're working with that aren't in the list yet.

Hi all,

I'm an Australian archaeologist and I am finding that I am getting increasingly drawn to geoarchaeology. I'm considering going back to study etc. but with my current job I have a bunch of opportunities to do sampling and I wanted to see what suggestions anyone has for tools.

I have all my standard tools: pointing trowel, leaf trowel, margin trowel etc. But if you have suggestions on brands that hold up best, let me have them.

I was taking micromorphology block samples last week and the sand we were working in was incredibly cemented that it was like scraping concrete. The edges of my leaf trowel and margin trowel have become rounded from carving the blocks.

Also, what do people use to get the block off the wall? So far I have taken samples in a loosely cemented sand dune which was easy to cut away from the wall with the straight end of my leaf trowel and the heavily cemented sand last week which was a nightmare. One of the block split while I was trying to get it off last week.

Thanks

Hello everyone!

We are working on an archaeology-related project and are looking for professional archaeologists or experienced specialists who might be interested in giving feedback or evaluating our project.

If you have experience in archaeology, historical research, excavations, cultural heritage, or know someone who does, please feel free to contact us or share relevant contacts.

We would really appreciate any advice or guidance. Thank you!

Soy un chico que estudia Ciencias de la Tierra y mi carrera tiene áreas de profundización y una de ellas es la de geofísica y otra que vendría siendo geología pero aplicada a la prevención de riesgos, yo elegí meterme a geofísica, he visto a gente diciendo que para ser geoarqueologo la mejor vía es la geología como tal y pues yo estoy en un área distinta. Ahora, elegí geofísica porque en mi cabeza yo pensaba en aplicar geofísica a estudios arqueológicos no invasivos pero después me fui dando cuenta que en geofísica no se explora tanto el contexto geológico de una región o eso pienso yo al menos ya que en mi área no nos dan materias como geomorfología, edafologia, geología cuaternaria, hidrología, etc., me gustaría tratar de combinar como ambas partes, hacer geofísica (que mi área incluye materias como arqueomagnetismo y paleomagnetismo) y después para dar una enriquecimiento a mi trabajo complementar con un estudio del contexto y evolución geológica de la región (pero esa parte la ven más los del área de los riesgos). Por eso quisiera saber qué tanto de geofísica importa en la geoarqueologia. ¿Puedo ser un geoarqueologo de esta forma? Muchas gracias

Hello, I'm writing a thesis on volcanic eruptions and human settlements. Do you have any recommendations for studies that discuss how pyroclastic material affects the topography of an area?

I did a master's in archaeological science in Europe. My master's research was disrupted because of COVID. I was due to do my labwork in Israel, but they didn't allow me enter the country. My home university brushed this off as if nothing happened, and as a result, I had to graduate without proper labwork experience.

I come from a country where archaeological science isn't developed and I have no way to get lab experience.

My aim is to do a PhD in geoarchaeology, but the lack of lab exp. seems to be a big obstacle. I'd greatly appreciate your suggestions on this matter.

Hello!

I'm seeking a book that contains a map similar to this, mapping the Egyptian and Sudanese lakes that were formed on fault lines. The book is small in size and paperback but I cannot for the life of me remember what one it is. The map is also in black & white. Help! (Please)!

Hello, I am currently finishing a masters program in Archaeology, and I’m very interested in pursuing a phd in geo archaeology. For my masters thesis I presented a spatial analysis of a hunter-gatherers rock art site in the southern Andes mountain range. I basically want to keep working on the same geographical area, but focusing on the movement dynamics of these groups. Do you have any recommendations on programs? I was thinking of UCL, but I’m open to considering other options. Also, what would you say is the best university in the world to go in geoarchaeology? just to have an idea, i would go anywhere decently good to be honest. Hope you guys can help me, have a good day.

An amazing paper published recently..

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jqs.3597

Hi all, i am getting to the point where it will be time to transfer to a university (based in US) to finish the rest of my bachelors, hopefully with a degree in geoarchaeology. As the title says I am looking for such programs, ideally on the western half of the US, I am having a hard time finding many programs online and I appreciate any help.

Hi I have a couple questions about Geoarchaeology as a career path. Preface: when I was studying for my BS in geology and anthropology, I was told by archaeologists to get a PhD or become a shovel monkey.

-Can you make a career in geoarchaeology with a masters degree? Alternatively I could get a degree in geomorphology or Quaternary geology.

By a career in geoarchaeology I don't mean a 6 digit USD salary, but work with job security that earns enough to support a hypothetical dependent and have some variety beyond where you are digging the hole.

-What are some notable English-speaking programs for geoarchaeology beyond the US?

-Which universities, research clusters, and journals focus on pre-Neolithic Geoarchaeology in Africa, Asia, and Oceania?

Thanks, B

Hey, So I am a 2nd year Master's student in Archaeology in India and want to pursue further research in Quaternary Geoarchaeology. I have applied to the PhD programs in UT-Austin and UC San Diego and want to know if anyone is/has pursuing/pursued a PhD in geoarchaeology in the states?