Savannah Milton

Thesis title: Combatting heritage destruction in the 21st century: Novel approaches to the detection of looting and the ethics and politics of digital preservation

Research Interests

My DPhil research investigates the application of airborne LiDAR to the detection and monitoring of archaeological looting in environments that cannot be studied using traditional aerial and satellite imagery. Through case studies in Guatemala, Belize, and Italy, I test best methods for visualizing heritage destruction and develop a workflow to capture looting features such as pits, trenches, and tunnels in remote sensing datasets. I also develop a typology of looting based on the varying spectral and morphological characteristics. Using this typology and spatial analysis, I investigate what environmental and cultural factors correlate to increased risk of looting, its patterning, and how the evidence can help distinguish between opportunistic and systematic looting behaviors. My goal is to develop a scalable, flexible workflow for monitoring cultural heritage destruction which can be applied across diverse environmental and archaeological contexts, and to provide insights that can support more effective, evidence-based heritage protection strategies.

I am further interested in digital archaeology and heritage diplomacy. As a result, I also examine the unique role of heritage projects which utilize remote sensing to document heritage at-risk, and their broader political and ethical implications. Working primarily with the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project, I explore how digital tools shape the way cultural heritage is used, how these projects reflect broader international agendas, and how they navigate the physical, legal, and conceptual borders which govern heritage management and the movement of cultural objects. Additionally, I ask how DHPs act as unique settings for collaboration and engagement, while considering the ethical dimensions of such projects.

Key words: Remote sensing; LiDAR; heritage protection; ethics; digital archaeology; heritage diplomacy; landscape archaeology; endangered heritage; culture and conflict; heritage and identity; materiality; power; GIS; spatial analysis

Presentations and publications:

Vinland: Modeling Viking Voyages to North America, Graduate Archaeology Conference (2025, publication pending)

Space Archaeology: Saving the Past from the Skies, Keble Research Ambassador Scheme (2025)

Preventing Heritage Destruction in the 21st Century: Detecting Looting with LiDAR, Graduate Research Showcase (2025)

The Mind Maketh Man: Evolution, Altered States, and the Origins of Art, Keble College Cheese & Why (2025)

Remember to Forget: When to Save or Destroy Cultural Heritage? Keble College Cheese & Why (2024)

Digitising Knossos: 3D GIS, Public Engagement, and the Sir Arthur Evans Archive (2022)

Museums in the Time of Covid: Transformations in the Digital Era (2021)