Satellite-Based Methodology for Purposes of Rescue Archaeology of Cultural Heritage Threatened by Dam Construction

Abstract

The destruction of cultural heritage caused by dams represents a major issue especially in an age of climate change and narrowly focused development policies. To counteract this phenomenon, archaeologists and cultural heritage experts have relied upon rescue archaeology practices generally limited to fieldwork methodologies, while remote sensing of satellite imagery remains under-considered. To bridge this gap, we build on a multidisciplinary collaboration exploring the potential of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and open access multispectral satellite imagery, for quantifying the archaeological evidence located within a prospective reservoir area before dam construction. Based on previous research by Marchetti (2020) claiming the necessity for ad hoc protocols to document and monitor the impact of dams on cultural heritage, we selected two complementary situations: the planned dam of Halabiyeh in Syria and the under construction Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Ethiopia. These case studies were analyzed with state-of-the-art methodologies to develop a feasible workflow that may contribute to fostering the use of satellite imagery in operational contexts such as those represented by these particular cases, and be replicated by archaeologists in other areas. The workflow is designed to be integrated to ground-truthing methodologies into two dedicated protocols named Pre-Construction Archaeological Risk Assessment (PCARA) and Pre-Flooding Rescue Archaeological Program (PFRAP) which could eventually become a standard procedure for rescue archaeology in dams areas.

Integrated Remote Sensing to Assess Disease Control: Evidence from Flat Island Quarantine Station, Mauritius

“…Furthermore, on Flat Island, the ventilation also seemed to be a discriminating factor; while being regularly implemented in the administrative district for European officials, it was completely disregarded in the quarantine camps, which housed almost exclusively indentured workers. Yet, this element was never absent in the hospital: windows were placed on opposite walls to ensure cross-ventilation, smaller openings at the bottom of a wall provided constant air circulation, and the frequent whitewashing of the walls resulted in regular disinfection of rooms [44] (46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52).…”

“…In the future, methods such as Lidar mapping could reveal buried structures, such as water cisterns, hut platforms in Camp 2, or even the exact route of the main road between the two jetties, as well as orchards, gardens, and plantations utilized during the station's operation. This, combined with a multidisciplinary collaboration between image analysts, archaeologists, and conservation scientists to effectively implement the use of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, would be useful for prospecting cultural landscapes and investigating processes related to heritage transformation at this archaeological site [45,46].…”

Detection, Morphometric Analysis and Digital Surveying of Archaeological Mounds in Southern Iraq with CartoSat-1 and COSMO-SkyMed DEMs

“…Visible and near-infrared (NIR) bands at 10 m spatial resolution were later processed using the approach described in [40,41], to generate false-colored infrared composites (R: Band 4-NIR1; G: Band 3-red; B: Band 2-green) and enhance the spectral signature patterns of tells compared to the surrounding agricultural fields. The latter are a peculiar property of tells that have been observed in other locations in the Middle East (e.g., in Syria; [42]);…”

“…These were used for visual inspection of mapped tells to corroborate the detection and interpretation made based on the DEM datasets and assess condition changes between 2002 and 2020. It is worth noting that, depending on the location, the number of images, their temporal coverage and frequency (i.e., temporal granularity) and visibility may unevenly and significantly vary across the test area, as per the known limitation of this visualisation platform [41][42][43].…”

UAV-Based Remote Sensing for Detection and Visualization of Partially-Exposed Underground Structures in Complex Archaeological Sites

“…2023, 15, 1876 2 of 30 attractive option for their documentation. Remote sensing data have traditionally been acquired by spaceborne and airborne platforms [7][8][9][10][11][12]. In spite of their ability to improve performance, these remote sensing systems do not provide reasonable resolution at an affordable cost [10].…”