scholarly journals A Low-Cost, Easy-Way Workflow for Multi-Scale Archaeological Features Detection Combining LiDAR and Aerial Orthophotography

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 4270
Author(s):  
Antonio J. Ortiz-Villarejo ◽  
Luís-M. Gutiérrez Soler
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Internal Structures ◽  
Insurmountable Obstacle ◽  
A Site ◽  
High Degree ◽  
The Town

The difficulty of obtaining funding often places the continuity of research projects at risk, forcing researchers to resort to low-cost methodologies. Such methodologies sometimes require a high degree of technical knowledge which, in many cases, poses an insurmountable obstacle to the development of a project. This article shows a low-cost, easy-way methodology for diachronically analysing terrain in search of archaeological evidence on different scales (micro and semi-micro) in both already known and new archaeological sites through the analysis of orthophotographs taken with UAVs, the DEMs generated from them, and public LiDAR data. It allows researchers with small budgets but with a basic knowledge of GIS and photogrammetry to undertake some aspects of their project without necessarily having to call on the assistance or support of specialists. Thanks to this methodology, the researcher will be able to continue until they are able to obtain the funding that will enable them to take their research further, with specialists. This article presents the first conclusions obtained after applying the proposed methodology at the Giribaile (Vilches, Spain) archaeological site—a site of interest in its territory which possibly functioned as an advance defensive post for the town, a hypothesis based on the towers and numerous internal structures that have been identified.

The archaeological site of chellah, new technologies for investigation, modeling, and mapping.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iman el guertet ◽  
Abdellatif aarab ◽  
Abdelkader larabi ◽  
Mohammed Jemmal ◽  
Sabah benchekroun
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Electrical Tomography ◽  
Geophysical Investigation ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Modern Technologies

<p>archaeological sites have been always a subject of curiosity and search, the archaeologists and scientists from different specialties have been wondering about the origins of the man civilization, about the way our forefathers lived, how they nourished, dressed, and housed themselves, what techniques were used for the transport, the fishing, and the business, about the culture and the spiritual practices. in fact, the modern technologies, practices, and innovations are only a continuation of what was once; this is why the human being believes it is imperative to revive and understand the heritage and to discover its secrets. in the present work which pours in the same direction, we decided to revive and explore a wealthy site located in rabat, the Moroccan capital, this site is named chellah, which represents the summing up of historical eras from the antiquity to the Islamic period and which is marked by the presence of antique and Islamic constructions which reflect this continuity. our research aims to build a model for the detection of areas that are not yet excavated but are already mentioned by archaeologists, geographers, and historians to validate their hypothesis and to find out where exactly these areas are located. our methodology is based on the processing of unmanned aerial vehicle<strong> (uav)</strong> images to generate high-resolution photogrammetric products with low cost, those datasets will be analyzed with a technique that has been in use since the '80s and which is using crop, soil, and shadow marks visualized on images taken by aerial photography. this analysis gave us the vision to select the zones on which a geophysical investigation by electrical tomography was carried out to approve the presence of the archeological components that require future excavation. our study focused on the importance of non-invasive methodologies for the study, preservation, and valorization of archaeological sites.</p>

Piecing Together Sha Po

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mick Atha ◽  
Kennis Yip
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Six Dynasties ◽  
Social Landscape ◽  
Salt Industry ◽  
A Site ◽  
Historical Periods

Hong Kong boasts a number of rich archaeological sites behind sandy bays. Among these backbeaches is Sha Po on Lamma Island, a site which has long captured the attention of archaeologists. However, until now no comprehensive study of the area has ever been published. Piecing Together Sha Po presents the first sustained analysis, framed in terms of a multi-period social landscape, of the varieties of human activity in Sha Po spanning more than 6,000 years. Synthesising decades of earlier fieldwork together with Atha and Yip’s own extensive excavations conducted in 2008-2010, the discoveries collectively enabled the authors to reconstruct the society in Sha Po in different historical periods. The artefacts unearthed from the site—some of them unique to the region—reveal a vibrant past which saw the inhabitants of Sha Po interacting with the environment in diverse ways. Evidence showing the mastery of quartz ornament manufacture and metallurgy in the Bronze Age suggests increasing craft specialisation and the rise of a more complex, competitive society. Later on, during the Six Dynasties-Tang period, Sha Po turned into a centre in the region’s imperially controlled kiln-based salt industry. Closer to our time, in the nineteenth century the farming and fishing communities in Sha Po became important suppliers of food and fuel to urban Hong Kong. Ultimately, this ground-breaking work tells a compelling story about human beings’ ceaseless reinvention of their lives through the lens of one special archaeological site.

Soils and Landscape Evolution

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vance T. Holliday
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Site Formation ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Site Formation Processes ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
External Component ◽  
A Site

Soils and archaeological sites are intimately related to the landscape. Investigating soils across past and present landscapes provides a means of reconstructing and understanding the regional environmental and geomorphic context of archaeological site settings and specific site locations, regional site formation processes, and aspects of the resources available to people in a region. Archaeological sites tend to occupy small segments of the landscape, but human activity may affect a much larger area, and in any case, people wander far and wide from sites, interacting with the environment—including the landscape. Thus, no matter whether a site is just a lithic scatter or bone bed or if it is a tell, understanding the regional landscape is an important part of understanding a site and human behavior, and soils are an important means of understanding a landscape. Soils are also important in reconstructing the evolution of landscapes and, consequently, the evolution of archaeological sites. That is, landscape evolution is an important external component of site-formation processes. Landscapes form the physical framework or underpinning for people and their activities and their resulting sites. As landscapes evolve, so do human activities and so do sites. Soils are key to recognizing and interpreting the evolutionary processes that shape the landscape and associated archaeological sites. Furthermore, the concept of landscape evolution also 1) is a logical continuation of the discussion of soil stratigraphy (chapters 5, 6) because it places soil stratigraphy in three or even four dimensions; 2) is a complement to the discussion of soils as environmental indicators (chapter 8), because landscape evolution can be linked to environmental change and because the evolution of the landscape itself, regardless of changes in other factors, represents a change in the environment from a human perspective; and 3) provides yet another means for predicting site locations. The discussion in this section, therefore, represents an integration of some of the principals outlined previously. Some of the studies presented in other chapters, such as the work on the Loess Plateau of China (chapters 6 and 8), and at Harappa and along the Ravi River (chapter 4), are good examples of landscape reconstructions for very large regions and are not repeated here.

Acoustic Ground Discrimination Techniques for Submerged Archaeological Site Investigations

2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.J. Lawrence ◽  
C.R. Bales
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Sediment Type ◽  
Single Beam ◽  
Small Areas ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Site Investigations ◽  
Acoustic Signature ◽  
A Site

Single beam acoustic ground discrimination systems (AGDS) based on standard echo sounders are routinely used for commercial and research applications. Analysis of the return echo signals using these systems produces indexes of seabed "roughness" and "hardness" which have been used to classify seabed type and are here used to map submerged archaeological materials.The aim of this paper is to assess the potential for this technology to characterize submerged archaeological sites. Benefits of characterizing sites in this way include the potential for assessing future impacts on the archaeological material based on the assessment of sediment type and stability from the acoustic data. The technology could offer a means by which sites can regularly be monitored for changes over time, allowing for mitigation strategies to be employed to prevent loss of cultural material.AGDS systems have already been shown to differentiate wide-ranging bottom types over large areas of seabed. Examples are given from two archaeological sites where trials of one particular AGDS indicate that it is possible for small areas of seabed containing exposed archaeological material to be readily distinguished from the surrounding seabed in terms of the character of the acoustic responses.Further research is necessary to determine if, on a site-to-site basis, relationships can be established between acoustic signature, generic archaeological material, sediment type and the degree of preservation of archaeological material.

scholarly journals Use of Time-Series NDWI to Monitor Emerging Archaeological Sites: Case Studies from Iraqi Artificial Reservoirs

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 786
Author(s):  
Andrea Titolo
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Water Level ◽  
Satellite Image ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Reservoir Water ◽  
Reservoir Water Level ◽  
Medium Resolution ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Impact

Over the last 50 years, countries across North Africa and the Middle East have seen a significant increase in dam construction which, notwithstanding their benefits, have endangered archaeological heritage. Archaeological surveys and salvage excavations have been carried out in threatened areas in the past, but the formation of reservoirs often resulted in the permanent loss of archaeological data. However, in 2018, a sharp fall in the water level of the Mosul Dam reservoir led to the emersion of the archaeological site of Kemune and allowed for its brief and targeted investigation. Reservoir water level change is not unique to the Mosul Dam, but it is a phenomenon affecting most of the artificial lakes of present-day Iraq. However, to know in advance which sites will be exposed due to a decrease in water level can be a challenging task, especially without any previous knowledge, field investigation, or high-resolution satellite image. Nonetheless, by using time-series medium-resolution satellite images, combined to obtain spectral indexes for different years, it is possible to monitor “patterns” of emerging archaeological sites from three major Iraqi reservoirs: Mosul, Haditha and Hamrin lake. The Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI), generated from annual composites of Landsat and Sentinel-2 images, allow us to distinguish between water bodies and other land surfaces. When coupled with a pixel analysis of each image, the index can provide a mean for highlighting whether an archaeological site is submerged or not. Moreover, using a zonal histogram algorithm in QGIS over polygon shapefiles that represent a site surface, it is possible to assess the area of a site that has been exposed over time. The same analyses were carried out on monthly composites for the year 2018, to assess the impact of monthly variation of the water level on the archaeological sites. The results from both analyses have been visually evaluated using medium-resolution true colour images for specific years and locations and with 3 m resolution Planetscope images for 2018. Understanding emersion “patterns” of known archaeological sites provides a useful tool for targeted rescue excavation, while also expanding the knowledge of the post-flooding impact on cultural heritage in the regions under study.

scholarly journals SÍTIOS ARQUEOLÓGICOS DE PEQUENO PORTE DO BAIXO RIO AGUAPEÍ

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-101
Author(s):  
Diana Mirela da Silva Toso ◽  
Neide Barrocá Faccio
Keyword(s):  
Surface Treatment ◽  
Smooth Surface ◽  
Cultural Geography ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Left Bank ◽  
Average Thickness ◽  
Archaeological Ceramics ◽  
Regional System ◽  
A Site

The present study focused on the analysis of the context of small archaeological sites, located in the area of the Lower Aguapeí River, left bank, focusing on the case, the Archaeological Site Aldeia I, located in the municipality of Junqueirópolis, SP. The study was carried out by the bias of the landscape concept, stimulated by the theoretical contributions of Cultural Geography. The Archaeological Site Aldeia I consists of 38 fragments of ceramic canisters, characteristic of the archaeological tradition Tupi Guarani, whose archaeological ceramics identified are fragments of canisters, with predominance of smooth surface treatment, average thickness of up to 2 cm, and mineral antiplastic with ground caco, constituting a site associated with the Regional System of Guarani Occupation. The Archaeological Site Aldeia I, as to its implementation and material characteristics, presents similarities in relation to the archaeological sites evidenced in the region.

scholarly journals Photogrammetric Measurement of Erosion at the Sabbath Point Beothuk Site in Central Newfoundland, Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7555
Author(s):  
James Williamson ◽  
Ionut Cristi Nicu
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Digital Elevation Models ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Grass Gis ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Photogrammetric Measurement

Erosion at archaeological sites in Central Newfoundland, Canada is a major concern, which is compounded by the fact that there has been a dearth of archaeological research in this region. While more than 70 house pits are known, very few excavations have examined whole features in the Exploits River Valley (ERV), and the archaeology of many has not been examined yet. The aim of this study is to examine the rate of erosion at the Sabbath Point house pit, a recently recorded archaeological site, located on the bank of Red Indian Lake (RIL), and to describe a low-cost methodology for analysing site level bank changes. This site is particularly important, as it represents an example of a late Beothuk residential feature about lifeways practiced in this region. The surveys employed here were carried out using image-based modelling. GRASS GIS was used to measure the diachronic difference between bank edges. The Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) were then compared, and the differences were measured using a transect based method. The erosion measurement has shown that Sabbath Point is in danger of being completely eroded. This shows that a salvage excavation program covering the entire feature is necessary within the next few years, as the feature itself will begin to erode.

scholarly journals Detecting Associations between Archaeological Site Distributions and Landscape Features: A Monte Carlo Simulation Approach for the R Environment

Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 326
Author(s):  
Richard J. Hewitt ◽  
Francis F. Wenban-Smith ◽  
Martin R. Bates
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo Simulation ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Software Environment ◽  
Point Distribution ◽  
Drainage Networks ◽  
High Degree

Detecting association between archaeological sites and physical landscape elements like geological deposits, vegetation, drainage networks, or areas of modern disturbance like mines or quarries is a key goal of archaeological projects. This goal is complicated by the incomplete nature of the archaeological record, the high degree of uncertainty of typical point distribution patterns, and, in the case of deeply buried archaeological sites, the absence of reliable information about the ancient landscape itself. Standard statistical approaches may not be applicable (e.g., X2 test) or are difficult to apply correctly (regression analysis). Monte Carlo simulation, devised in the late 1940s by mathematical physicists, offers a way to approach this problem. In this paper, we apply a Monte Carlo approach to test for association between Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites in Hampshire and Sussex, UK, and quarries recorded on historical maps. We code our approach in the popular ‘R’ software environment, describing our methods step-by-step and providing complete scripts so others can apply our method to their own cases. Association between sites and quarries is clearly shown. We suggest ways to develop the approach further, e.g., for detecting associations between sites or artefacts and remotely-sensed deposits or features, e.g., from aerial photographs or geophysical survey.

scholarly journals LOW COST TECHNIQUES FOR THE DIGITAL SURVEY OF A MINOAN ARCHITECTURE IN THE ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE OF PHAISTOS (CRETE)

2019 ◽  
Vol XLII-2/W17 ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Aiello ◽  
F. Buscemi ◽  
G. D'Agostino ◽  
M. Galizia ◽  
P. Militello ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
3D Model ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
The South ◽  
Work Time ◽  
The Third ◽  
Digital Survey ◽  
Archeological Site

Abstract. The paper shows the results of an experimentation on the use of low cost tools such as action cameras for the photogrammetric surveying of relevant archaeological sites characterized by the presence of narrow and complex rooms. The archaeological site chosen for this experimentation is the South-Western Quarter, also known as Quartiere Levi, of the Minoan Palace of Phaistos (Crete), one of only two cases of buildings surviving up to the third floor in the Aegean world. The research foresaw the setting up of a pipeline aimed at obtaining a complete scaled, photorealistic and navigable 3D model, with a considerable economy in terms of work time and number of photographs. For this purpose, many efforts have been paid on solving all the issues related to the complexity of the site and on comparing the performances of traditional (Canon EOS 70D) and action (GoPro Black Hero 6) cameras as well as of two of the current most used software in the field.

scholarly journals Morphology Detection in Archaeological Ancient Sites by Using UAVs/Drones Data and GIS techniques

2021 ◽  
pp. 4557-4570
Author(s):  
Abdalrahman R. Qubaa ◽  
Alaa N. Hamdon ◽  
Taha A. Al Jawwadi
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Northern Iraq ◽  
Gis Technologies ◽  
Ancient Society ◽  
Surface Models ◽  
Ancient Site ◽  
The City

    Today, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or Drones are a valuable source of data on inspection, surveillance, mapping and 3D modelling matters. Drones can be considered as the new alternative of classic manned aerial photography due to their low cost and high spatial resolution. In this study, drones were used to study archaeological sites. The archaeological Nineveh site, which is a very famous site located in heart of the city of Mosul, in northern Iraq, was chosen. This site was the largest capital of the Assyrian Empire 3000 years ago. The site contains an external wall that includes many gates, most of which were destroyed when Daesh occupied the city in 2014. The local population of the city of Mosul has also largely overtaken the central part of this archaeological site, while the northern and southern parts are still uninhabited. The awareness of the existence of unchanged surface and ground forms in the northern or southern parts led us to prepare an urgent study to interpret the outer surface of those parts and to analyze any discovery in the surface morphology. So, drone data and GIS technologies were used in this study to find any discovery that could aid in understanding the original surface of this ancient site. Visual and digital interpretations of satellite images, drone images, and Digital Surface Models (DSMs) were used to analyze and study the data. As a final result, certain morphological features were identified in the southern parts of the ancient site which could be a new archaeological and compositional discovery with reference to the earlier activities of the ancient society during the Assyrian empires, represented by the ditches and building lands used by the ancient inhabitants. Small modern tunnels penetrated the ancient wall were also discovered in addition, to a drainage canal and a motorway newly constructed during the occupation of the city that had penetrated the archaeological land.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document