# Archaeoscape: Bringing Aerial Laser Scanning Archaeology to the Deep Learning Era

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.05203 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.05203/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 11 of its 55 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Dec 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 11 of 11)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.11929/) (2020)
- [LoRA: Low-Rank Adaptation of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09685/) (2021)
- [DINOv2: Learning Robust Visual Features without Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07193/) (2023)
- [LAION-5B: An open large-scale dataset for training next generation image-text models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.08402/) (2022)
- [Rethinking Atrous Convolution for Semantic Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.05587/) (2017)
- [ImageNet-21K Pretraining for the Masses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.10972/) (2021)
- [Twins: Revisiting the Design of Spatial Attention in Vision Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.13840/) (2021)
- [Neural Plasticity-Inspired Multimodal Foundation Model for Earth Observation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.15356/) (2024)
- [Unveiling Ancient Maya Settlements Using Aerial LiDAR Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.05773/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [VaseVQA-3D: Benchmarking 3D VLMs on Ancient Greek Pottery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.04479/) (2025)
- [Adapting Vision Transformers to Ultra-High Resolution Semantic Segmentation with Relay Tokens](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.05927/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) technology has transformed modern archaeology by unveiling hidden landscapes beneath dense vegetation. However, the lack of expert-annotated, open-access resources has hindered the analysis of ALS data using advanced deep learning techniques. We address this limitation with Archaeoscape (available at https://archaeoscape.ai/data/2024/), a novel large-scale archaeological ALS dataset spanning 888 km2 in Cambodia with 31,141 annotated archaeological features from the Angkorian period. Archaeoscape is over four times larger than comparable datasets, and the first ALS archaeology resource with open-access data, annotations, and models. We benchmark several recent segmentation models to demonstrate the benefits of modern vision techniques for this problem and highlight the unique challenges of discovering subtle human-made structures under dense jungle canopies. By making Archaeoscape available in open access, we hope to bridge the gap between traditional archaeology and modern computer vision methods.