Geographic Disparity in Machine Intelligence Approaches for Archaeological Remote Sensing Research

A vast majority of the archaeological record, globally, is understudied and increasingly threatened by climate change, economic and political instability, and violent conflict. Archaeological data are crucial for understanding the past, and as such, documentation of this information is imperative. The development of machine intelligence approaches (including machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other automated processes) has resulted in massive gains in archaeological knowledge, as such computational methods have expedited the rate of archaeological survey and discovery via remote sensing instruments. Nevertheless, the progression of automated computational approaches is limited by distinct geographic imbalances in where these techniques are developed and applied. Here, I investigate the degree of this disparity and some potential reasons for this imbalance. Analyses from Web of Science and Microsoft Academic searches reveal that there is a substantial difference between the Global North and South in the output of machine intelligence remote sensing archaeology literature. There are also regional imbalances. I argue that one solution is to increase collaborations between research institutions in addition to data sharing efforts.

Aerial and Remote Sensing Archaeology

New techniques and methodological procedures, which would allow at a short time and at low cost for the identification of a new archaeological sites, were always in the interest of archaeologists. In addition, fast and accurate 3D modelling and documentation techniques were also always a hot research topic because they can help archeologists to document active excavation sites fast, thus helping them to advance the excavation in a timely manner. In this chapter, aerial and remote sensing archaeology issues will be analyzed, both as measuring tools for the documentation of existing archaeological structures as well as tools of archaeology prospection, which are based on the appearance of the reflection of covered structures in images (i.e., the so-called marks).

Aerial and Remote Sensing Archaeology

New techniques and methodological procedures, which would allow at a short time and at low cost for the identification of a new archaeological site, were always in the interest of archaeologists. In this paper, aerial and remote sensing archaeology issues will be analyzed, both as measuring tools for the documentation of existing archaeological structures as well as tools of archaeology prospection, which are based on the appearance of the reflection of covered structures in images, i.e. the so-called marks.

Quality assessment of underwater photogrammetric images for archeology purposes

Archaeological data are usually inherently incomplete, heterogeneous, discontinuous and require frequent updates and possible adjustments. It is important to constantly create detailed documentation, which will precisely represent the actual situation. However, even the most precise figure is only an estimated representation of the documented object. Therefore, it is necessary to collect fully metric documentation and its professional archaeological interpretation. Acquiring correct and valuable underwaterdigital images for the archaeology purposes is not easy due to specific shooting conditions. It should be noted a number of limitations are unique to this type of imaging environment — the apparent extension of the focal length, the “disappearance” of colours, as well as a significant reduction in the transparency of the water environment. Therefore, the authors have made attempts to describe changes, in a much broader sense, in the quality of photogrammetric images that had been taken in various shooting conditions. Underwater and aerial images of two test fields were tested. First, the ground sampling distance of the INTOVA IC500 digital camera and the geometric accuracy of the acquired images were examined. Then, the impact of changes to the imaging conditions on the radio-metric resolution and colour projection were designated. In the last stage, the acquired images were used in practice — to assess the progress of the erosion process of an archaeological object, and also to comply its documentation in the form of vector drawing with the accuracy of mxy = ±0.5 mm. Keywords: photogrammetry and remote sensing, archaeology, underwater photogrammetry, resolution, ground resolved distance

Aerial and Remote Sensing Archaeology

New techniques and methodological procedures, which would allow at a short time and at low cost for the identification of a new archaeological site, were always in the interest of archaeologists. In this paper, aerial and remote sensing archaeology issues will be analyzed, both as measuring tools for the documentation of existing archaeological structures as well as tools of archaeology prospection, which are based on the appearance of the reflection of covered structures in images, i.e. the so-called marks.