COLLINS, DOERING, AND CARR

INTEGRATED SPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES 165

 

 

Royal Palm Hotel

Figure 4. The Royal Palm Circle feature (DA11 Circle), showing historic trench and foundational walls of the Royal Palm

Hotel in close proximity. Photo courtesy of Richard Haiduven.

(Figure 4). This circular feature is comprised ofa series of three
concentric rings carved into the limestone on the north bank of
the river, directly opposite the Miami Circle. The construction
techniques, types and sizes of the holes, their pattern, and
feature dimensions at both sites share a high degree of correla-
tion (Figure 5). The duricrust formation, documented in the
prehistoric cavities at the Miami Circle, is present at the Royal
Palm Circle which, along with the inter-site uniformity, dense
midden accumulations, and imbedded faunal remains suggests
a mutual and corresponding antiquity (Robert S. Carr, personal
communication, 2006) (Figure 6).

At both circle features there is evidence of repeated intru-
sions created by historic construction events. In this respect, the
ground surface on both sides of the entrance to the Miami River
provides researchers with palimpsests of landscape develop-
ment. Implementation of the HDDS, specifically the capabilities
of three-dimensional laser scanning, allows the historic and
prehistoric features to be detected, isolated, and studied
independently. For example, within the area of the Royal Palm
Circle feature are intrusive foundations and infrastructure of
Henry Flagler's Royal Palm Hotel, built in 1897, which were
documented along with numerous historic artifacts from the
Fort Dallas occupation (1837-1858) within the same area of the
prehistoric Miami Midden #1 (8DA11), and the Royal Palm
Circle feature (AHCI 2006; Schwartz 2004). At the Miami
Circle, it has been suggested that the historic intrusions are the
result of twentieth century construction activities related to the

Palm Tree Inn and Brickell Point Apartments (Carr and Ricisak
2000; Collins and Wheeler 2006; Florida Division of Historical
Resources 2004a; Wheeler 2000a, b; Wheeler and Carr 2004).
These historic elements are also able to be isolated and studied
independently from the prehistoric feature construction (Figure
7).

Survey Methods and Analysis

At the Miami Circle coordinates had been previously
established on known control points and were provided to USF
by a local surveyor. These coordinates were used for total
station set-ups and became the basis for logistical control
during the HDDS project. The data points were acquired in the
same coordinate system, which allowed for all new and
previously collected data to be integrated and displayed
together with real-world locational placement.

The laser scanning process began with the placement of a
series of targets around the area to be scanned. These target
locations were recorded using a robotic total station and survey-
grade GPS that established a control network of known
reference points. The precise location of these points was
critical to allow data from multiple scans to be properly and
accurately meshed (Figure 8) (Weisman and Collins 2003).
Multiple scans were conducted from a variety of locations to
ensure that the feature area was captured from a broad perspec-
tive in order to provide the most robust datasets possible. Laser