Ground survey of the sites attributed to the eastern variant of the Itkul culture in the Trans-Urals using the airborne laser scanning method: preliminary results

The paper describes the results of airborne laser scanning of two locations in the areas adjacent to the Trans-Urals taiga region in the Tobol river valley that are reference locations for studying the eastern variant of the Itkul culture dating to the transition from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. The sites are poorly fortified settlements built with circular planning. The area with remains of surface constructions that look like raised sites is encircled with an earthen wall and a ditch weakly defined in the terrain. The study was aimed at testing test LiDAR as a method used to identify features ascribed to the eastern variant of the Itkul culture which are poorly defined in the terrain and are located in pine wood areas of the Tobol valley, determine survey conditions, and identify characteristic traits of the features in interpretation of scanning results. The methods of the study included laser scanning of the area by a DJI matrice 300rtk drone and a ZENMUSE L1 with a lidar module. The scanning results were processed using DJI Terra, Agisoft Metashape and ArcMap 10.3 software. The results are as follows: a large area was surveyed; materials for a digital terrain model with resolution of 6 cm and 10 cm for pixel were obtained; the configuration and location of known Itkul hillforts of the eastern variant in relation to the topographical relief were clarified; a new hillfort and a new open settlement were discovered.