How Can Remote Sensing Help in Detecting the Threats to Archaeological Sites in Upper Egypt?

Abstract

Abstract:The analysis of contemporary and archival satellite images and archaeological documentations presents the possibility of monitoring the state of archaeological sites in the Near East (for example, Palmyra in Syria). As it will be demonstrated in the case of Upper Egyptian sites, the rapid growth of agricultural lands and settlements can pose a great threat to sites localized on the border of fields and the desert. As a case study, the Qena district was chosen, a region of significance for the history of ancient Egypt. To trace the expansion of agriculture and the development of modern settlements, a synthesis of archival maps (from the last 200 years), and archival and contemporary satellite images was created. By applying map algebra to these documents, it was possible to determine areas which may be marked as "Archaeological Hazard Zones". The analysis helped to trace the expansion of agricultural areas during the last 200 years and the influence of both-ancient Egyptians and the Nile-on the local landscape.

Earth Observation, Remote Sensing and Geoscientific Ground Investigations for Archaeological and Heritage Research

“…Agapiou et al [8] 3278 1904 5 Agapiou et al [3] 1708 970 8 Chyla [9] 1429 827 1 Comer et al [5] 1570 1102 3 Corso et al [12] 1753 1215 2 Danti et al [10] 1943 1740 7 Drap et al [13] 1571 1565 2 Gade et al [6] 1751 1210 4 Garcia-Garcia et al [14] 1282 995 1 Guidi et al [15] 1719 976 3 Kalayci et al [16] 1218 968 2 Křivánek [17] 1420 1174 2 Malinverni et al [18] 1445 1345 1 Parcak et al [11] 1486 1374 3 Poux et al [19] 2306 2249 7 Rayne et al [7] 1750 1500 5 Rutishauser et al [4] 1784 1345 2 Sonnemann et al [20] 1582 1046 2 Tapete [1] 1256 2313 3 Traviglia & Torsello [2] 1680 1311 9 Verhoeven [21] 1573 1399 6 Building upon the positive outcome achieved in 2017 and in order to continue this Special Series, in March 2018 I launched the call for papers for a second edition of the Special Issue with the title "Earth Observation, Remote Sensing and Geoscientific Ground Investigations for Archaeological and Heritage Research".…”

Earth Observation, Remote Sensing, and Geoscientific Ground Investigations for Archaeological and Heritage Research

“…(1) broadened the spectrum of the topics to include Earth Observation (EO), to acknowledge that satellite imagery is nowadays regarded by the archaeological and heritage communities as a resource of spatial and temporal information (see the majority of the papers published in the first edition of the Special Issue: [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]);…”

Remote Sensing and Geosciences for Archaeology

“…Anthropogenic impacts on the preservation of archaeological heritage are also the subject of the other three papers, two of which present results achieved with very high-resolution (open-source) optical satellite and aerial imagery [18,20], and the third paper freely accessible Landsat time series [19].…”

“…Interestingly, the geographic focuses of the studies by Chyla [19] and Parcak et al [20] are located in Egypt. Despite the different data and methodologies used, both papers show examples of impacts on Egyptian archaeological heritage due to the expansion of agriculture and urbanization, which represent sources of threat for conservation in addition to natural processes characterizing the local fluvial environment.…”

“…The papers published in the Special Issue cover a wide spectrum of techniques: satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging [11,16,17]; optical remote sensing from high to very-high resolution space-borne sensors [12,13,[18][19][20][21]; geophysics including magnetometer surveys, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), geoelectric resistivity measurements, multi frequency Electromagnetic Induction (EMI), piezoelectric/seismoelectric methods [9,22,23]; photogrammetry [24]; terrestrial laser scanning and three-dimensional (3D) point clouds [25,26]. Some of the papers also explore the benefits of combining different approaches, e.g., optical remote sensing, aerial imagery and geophysical prospection [27,28], 3D surveys, and reconstruction in GIS environment [29].…”