Analysis of archaeological sites using remote sensing imagery

摘要

The historical city of Uruk (Warka) is endangered by illegal digging and destruction by looting, as are many other sites in southern Iraq. As long as the security situation in Iraq remains difficult, it is not possible to study archaeological sites in southern Iraq on the ground. Therefore, the German Foreign Office funded a project to check the feasibility of using high resolution satellite IKONOS imagery to detect illegal digging. In addition, methodologies to support archaeologists in detecting so far unknown sites and to better map the extent of known excavations were tested. Older aerial photographs, a geographical information system (GIS) of so far unexcavated Uruk-Warka, elevation models and magnetic measurements have been used to help in estimating the state of preservation of archaeological sites and, in cases of unexcavated, destroyed sites, should deliver information about the kind of archaeological structures once present.Object oriented knowledge based software was used to fuse all available information and to assist the archaeologists in extracting the relevant information. The pre-Iraq-conflict -post-conflict comparison of IKONOS images indeed revealed looting activities at one site in the northern outskirts of Uruk. The known characteristics of the looting were used to train the semi-automated image analysis software for use in locating so far undetected looting activities. Though limited by the amount of data and the time available for its evaluation, the study revealed that high resolution space imagery will be of great help in surveying cultural heritage sites and protecting them against damage.