Archaeological cognition of the Eastern Mausoleum of Qin State using integrated space-ground observation tools

Abstract

As a significant component of the Qin Dynasty's royal tombs, the ruins from the Eastern Mausoleum of the Qin State would be mirrored to present the social development level during the Warring States period (475 BC ~ 221 BC) in China. In this study, we applied multi-mode space-ground observations and derivative Digital Elevation Models to assess the plausibility of Remote Sensing (RS) in archaeology and to uncover the hitherto poorly understood conditions/situations for heritage conservation. We first applied the ‘Normalized Difference Vegetation Index’ and the ‘Normalized Difference Moisture Index’ to highlight archaeological traces. Additionally, for the first time, we proposed utilizing thermal infrared band data from the SDGSAT-1 satellite for the exploration of thermal archaeological traces, revealing an enhancement in archaeological signs. Subsequently, we use electromagnetic prospecting to confirm the presence of an ancient tomb passage. The landscape analysis reveals the hold of the Chinese Geomancy Theory on the site selection for royal tombs, this philosophy in turn is significant for heritage conservation from the natural force of surface erosion. The RS-based change detection using CORONA and Google Earth images reveals negligible surface erosion traces along with the mitigated anthropogenic disturbance. This study implies the potential of multi-mode space-ground observations for the cultural heritage archaeological value exploitation as well as the sustainable conservation of these irreplaceable properties.