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Remote Sensing
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Remote Sensing for Archaeological Heritage Preservation
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Remote Sensing for Archaeological Heritage Preservation

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 12378

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Douglas C. Comer

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Cultural Site Research and Management Foundation, 2113 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Interests: archaeology; remote sensing; GIS; cultural heritage; site conservation; archaeological heritage management
Dr. Bruce D. Chapman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, M/S 300-149, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
Interests: radar; SAR; land-cover/ land-use change; site conservation; archaeology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Mr. Jacob A. Comer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Cultural Site Research and Management Foundation, 2113 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Interests: statistics; GIS; remote sensing; cultural heritage; site conservation; archaeological heritage management
Dr. Ioana A. Dumitru

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Cultural Site Research and Management Foundation, 2113 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Interests: archaeology; GIS; remote sensing; Social Network Analysis (SNA); cultural heritage; site conservation; archaeological heritage management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Archaeology, and notably, academic archaeology, has not altered priorities in the face of massive destruction of archaeological sites due to urban, agricultural, and industrial encroachment; natural processes; climate change; and increased looting fueled by an international online marketplace. Research funding disproportionately rewards projects that commit to bringing new findings to light and getting tenure at universities still rests almost entirely on discovery, with insufficient attention being given to the protection and conservation of archaeological sites and landscapes. To preserve archaeological remains for the sake of continued research and the protection of cultural heritage, archaeologists must urgently develop methods and protocols to mitigate destructive factors and mobilize cutting-edge geospatial recording techniques for digital preservation. Geospatial data can be enormously valuable in assessing the authenticity or integrity of a site, because it can provide measurements pertaining to material remains and the degree to which these remains have retained coherent forms. Synoptic models generated from data collected by satellite and aerial platforms can be used to evaluate the relative importance of sites within cultural areas and thus be used to prioritize conservation efforts. Analyses of remotely sensed data can be used to identify or monitor harmful or threatening processes, both natural and anthropogenic, at sites themselves and in the surrounding regions. Such synoptic models and analyses can be used, for example, to assess or protect Outstanding Universal Value as defined in the UNESCO Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention; recognition of World Heritage status is often the gateway to securing resources for protecting a site or landscape.

We invite contributions to this special issue on research related to the application of geospatial technologies for monitoring, preserving, and protecting archaeological and heritage sites. Contributions may relate, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Collecting, recording, and analyzing data for heritage preservation using a suite of geomatics sensors: satellite, airborne, terrestrial, etc.;
  • Analyzing remotely sensed data from multispectral, hyperspectral, SAR, or LiDAR sensors for archaeological and heritage preservation;
  • Employing 3D-modelling and photogrammetry to digitally preserve endangered archaeological and heritage sites;
  • Mapping material culture, archaeological features, and archaeological landscapes for the preservation of cultural heritage.

Dr. Douglas C. Comer
Dr. Bruce D. Chapman
Mr. Jacob A. Comer
Dr. Ioana A. Dumitru
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Archaeological and heritage preservation
  • Multi-sensor remote sensing analyses
  • 3D-modelling
  • Photogrammetry
  • GIS Mapping
  • Digital preservation

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 9829 KiB  
Article
Remote Sensing for Biocultural Heritage Preservation in an African Semi-Arid Region: A Case Study of Indigenous Wells in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia
by Pamela Ochungo, Nadia Khalaf, Stefania Merlo, Alemseged Beldados, Freda Nkirote M’Mbogori, Waktole Tiki and Paul J. Lane
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(2), 314; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14020314 - 11 Jan 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5631
Abstract
The region of Southern Ethiopia (Borana) and Northern Kenya (Marsabit) is characterised by erratic rainfall, limited surface water, aridity, and frequent droughts. An important adaptive response to these conditions, of uncertain antiquity, has been the hand-excavation of a sequence of deep wells at [...] Read more.
The region of Southern Ethiopia (Borana) and Northern Kenya (Marsabit) is characterised by erratic rainfall, limited surface water, aridity, and frequent droughts. An important adaptive response to these conditions, of uncertain antiquity, has been the hand-excavation of a sequence of deep wells at key locations often along seasonal riverbeds and valley bottoms where subterranean aquifers can be tapped. Sophisticated indigenous water management systems have developed to ensure equitable access to these critical water resources, and these are part of well-defined customary institutional leadership structures that govern the community giving rise to a distinctive form of biocultural heritage. These systems, and the wells themselves, are increasingly under threat, however, from climate change, demographic growth, and socio-economic development. To contribute to an assessment of the scale, distribution and intensity of these threats, this study aimed to evaluate the land-use land-cover (LULC) and precipitation changes in this semi-arid to arid landscape and their association with, and impact on, the preservation of traditional wells. Multitemporal Landsat 5, 7 and 8 satellite imagery covering the period 1990 to 2020, analysed at a temporal resolution of 10 years, was classified using supervised classification via the Random Forest machine learning method to extract the following classes: bare land, grassland, shrub land, open forest, closed forest, croplands, settlement and waterbodies. Change detection was then applied to identify and quantify changes through time and landscape degradation indices were generated using the Shannon Diversity Index fragmentation index within a 15 km buffer of each well cluster. The results indicated that land cover change was mostly driven by increasing anthropogenic changes with resultant reduction in natural land cover classes. Furthermore, increased fragmentation has occurred within most of the selected buffer distances of the well clusters. The main drivers of change that have directly or indirectly impacted land degradation and the preservation of indigenous water management systems were identified through an analysis of land cover changes in the last 30 years, supporting insights from previous focused group discussions with communities in Kenya and Ethiopia. Our approach showed that remote sensing methods can be used for the spatially explicit mapping of landscape structure around the wells, and ultimately towards assessment of the preservation status of the indigenous wells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Archaeological Heritage Preservation)
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24 pages, 11691 KiB  
Article
Building Cultural Heritage Resilience through Remote Sensing: An Integrated Approach Using Multi-Temporal Site Monitoring, Datafication, and Web-GL Visualization
by Nicola Lercari, Denise Jaffke, Arianna Campiani, Anaïs Guillem, Scott McAvoy, Gerardo Jiménez Delgado and Alexandra Bevk Neeb
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(20), 4130; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13204130 - 15 Oct 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4772
Abstract
In the American West, wildfires and earthquakes are increasingly threatening the archaeological, historical, and tribal resources that define the collective identity and connection with the past for millions of Americans. The loss of said resources diminishes societal understanding of the role cultural heritage [...] Read more.
In the American West, wildfires and earthquakes are increasingly threatening the archaeological, historical, and tribal resources that define the collective identity and connection with the past for millions of Americans. The loss of said resources diminishes societal understanding of the role cultural heritage plays in shaping our present and future. This paper examines the viability of employing stationary and SLAM-based terrestrial laser scanning, close-range photogrammetry, automated surface change detection, GIS, and WebGL visualization techniques to enhance the preservation of cultural resources in California. Our datafication approach combines multi-temporal remote sensing monitoring of historic features with legacy data and collaborative visualization to document and evaluate how environmental threats affect built heritage. We tested our methodology in response to recent environmental threats from wildfire and earthquakes at Bodie, an iconic Gold Rush-era boom town located on the California and Nevada border. Our multi-scale results show that the proposed approach effectively integrates highly accurate 3D snapshots of Bodie’s historic buildings before/after disturbance, or post-restoration, with surface change detection and online collaborative visualization of 3D geospatial data to monitor and preserve important cultural resources at the site. This study concludes that the proposed workflow enhances the monitoring of at-risk California’s cultural heritage and makes a call to action to employ remote sensing as a pathway to advanced planning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Archaeological Heritage Preservation)
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