LiDAR-based storytelling about a historical industrial Landscape in Southern Middle Tennessee

Accepted for publication in American Anthropologist. Submitted October 15, 2024; Decisioned March 25, 2025. ****NOTE - This manuscript is available only for the purposes of tenure review, until 2025 publication in American Anthropologist. ***** Abstract Industrial landscapes play deep into the imagination of American consciousness, with coal mining rooted in Appalachian culture as both a lifestyle and political flashpoint. In Tennessee, coal mining coincided with the convict leasing system that operated across the American South during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the Lone Rock Stockade, located in Grundy Lakes State Park, thousands of primarily African American male prisoners were forced to work for a private coal mining company; approximately 10% of them perished during their incarceration. LiDAR collected in conjunction with archaeological research at the site has helped uncover structures related to the violent, racialized trauma at Lone Rock but also has made visible other historical remnants that have scarred and shaped the valley. This article considers how LiDAR can be further used as a storytelling platform, focusing on novel, integrative ways on communicating contentious histories. Keywords: LiDAR; remote sensing; historical archaeology; landscape archaeology; story-telling