Search Results (10)

Archaeological research fundamentally relies on detecting features to uncover hidden historical information. Airborne (aerial) LiDAR technology has significantly advanced this field by providing high-resolution 3D terrain maps that enable the identification of ancient structures and landscapes with improved accuracy and efficiency. This technical note comprehensively reviews 45 recent studies to critically examine the integration of Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) techniques, particularly Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), with airborne LiDAR derivatives for automated archaeological feature detection. The review highlights the transformative potential of these approaches, revealing their capability to automate feature detection and classification, thus enhancing efficiency and accuracy in archaeological research. CNN-based methods, employed in 32 of the reviewed studies, consistently demonstrate high accuracy across diverse archaeological features. For example, ancient city walls were delineated with 94.12% precision using U-Net, Maya settlements with 95% accuracy using VGG-19, and with an IoU of around 80% using YOLOv8, and shipwrecks with a 92% F1-score using YOLOv3 aided by transfer learning. Furthermore, traditional ML techniques like random forest proved effective in tasks such as identifying burial mounds with 96% accuracy and ancient canals. Despite these significant advancements, the application of ML/DL in archaeology faces critical challenges, including the scarcity of large, labeled archaeological datasets, the prevalence of false positives due to morphological similarities with natural or modern features, and the lack of standardized evaluation metrics across studies. This note underscores the transformative potential of LiDAR and ML/DL integration and emphasizes the crucial need for continued interdisciplinary collaboration to address these limitations and advance the preservation of cultural heritage. Full article

The archaeological complex of Sambor Prei Kuk is identified with Īśānapura, the capital of the Chenla Kingdom in the early 7th century, a political predecessor to the Angkor Empire. Previous studies have largely focused on the eastern temple zone, where numerous Hindu religious structures are concentrated, while the western moated city area—presumably the core of urban and political activity—has remained underexplored. This paper presents the results of recent archaeological excavations at a large central mound within the city zone, which is hypothesized to have functioned as a key administrative facility. The excavation revealed a large-scale and uniquely configured terraced structure, unprecedented within the site, and radiocarbon dating suggests its construction dates from the mid 6th to mid 7th century. Notably, a Chinese historical source from the same period, the Book of Sui, describes a “Great Hall” in Īśānapura where the king administered state affairs. The characteristics and spatial context of the excavated structure suggest a possible correspondence with this account. In addition, LiDAR-derived topographic data identified multiple linear and structural features extending eastward from the mound, indicating that it may have stood at the rear of a more extensive administrative compound. These findings offer new insights into the urban structure of Īśānapura and the political architecture of early Khmer civilization. Full article

Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) can involve injecting available surface water into an unconfined aquifer and then extracting it to provide secondary water for irrigation. This study demonstrates a method for evaluating the appropriateness of steady injection versus unsteady injection for an assumed situation. In design, it can be important to affect the transient: the proportion of the injected water that would be subsequently extracted (versus that remaining in the aquifer) and the proportion within the extracted water that would be an injectate (versus ambient groundwater). These proportions can be predicted from the predicted value of an ASR well’s Recovery Effectiveness (REN)—the time-varying proportion of injectate that is extracted subsequently from the same fully penetrating well. Applying the demonstrated procedure with appropriately detailed data and simulation models can predict the REN values resulting from steady versus unsteady injection, followed by steady extraction. For convenience in displaying and computing REN, the injectate was assumed to have a 100 ppm conservative solute concentration. For this demonstration, a homogenous isotropic unconfined one-layer aquifer was assumed. The scenarios involved steady or unsteady injection for 61 days via a fully penetrating ASR well. Then, 91 days of steady pumping led to the extraction of a total volume equal to that injected. For the assumed hydrogeologic data—31 years of Salt Lake City, Utah, rainfall data and estimated captured runoff—the results show that steady injection is more likely to cause a predictable REN but might not cause a higher REN than daily varying injection of the same total volume. Assuming different runoff or hydrogeologic flows would lead to different REN values. Steady injection causes a predictable groundwater mound and can assure a sufficient vadose zone thickness for overlying plants. Augmentation and storage of captured rainwater can help to provide a steady injection rate. For a situation that requires REN management, appropriate simulations can help water managers design ASR systems that will achieve REN goals and increase sustainable groundwater availability. Full article

Red imported fire ants mounds have been suggested as a potential reservoir for beneficial entomopathogenic fungal species that are vital for more complex roles in the ecosystem aside from infecting the insects. In the current study, the assemblage of fungal symbionts of the red imported fire ants (RIFA) were obtained across five cities in Guangdong Province, China. The sampling areas were selected because of high occurrence of fire ants mounds in the regions. Mound soils, plant debris within mounds, and ants were collected from three sampling locations in each city for potential isolation of entomopathogenic fungal associates of RIFA. All samples were collected during the spring of 2021. Following successful isolation from substrates, the patterns of fungal species composition, and richness were evaluated. In total, 843 isolates were recovered, and based on their phenotypic distinctiveness and molecular characterization based on DNA sequences of multiple loci including the ITS, SSU, and LSU regions, 46 fungal taxa were obtained, including 12 that were unidentified. Species richness and abundance was highest in the mound soils, while the lowest value was recorded from the ant body. As per the different locations, the highest abundance level was recorded in Zhuhai, where 15 fungal taxa were cultivated. The most common taxa across all substrates and locations was Talaromyces diversus. A baseline analysis of the fungal community composition of RIFA would better our understanding on the interactions between these social ants and their associated microbial organisms, and this knowledge in turn would be important for the successful management of the RIFA. Full article

This paper discusses colorants found in Tumulus MM, the tomb of King Midas or his father, at Gordion, the capital of the Phrygian kingdom. Chromophores, colorants, and auxiliaries are preserved largely independent of the textiles they once colored. The Tumulus MM textiles are now fragmentary due to the degradation processes that occurred inside the tomb chamber. For DHA 26 (Vienna, Austria, 2007), we discussed a group of golden-yellow fragments from Tumulus MM that appeared to be tabby cloth but were skeletal lattices of goethite, αFeOOH (yellow ochre), as identified by FTIR, with SEM/EDS, XRD with molybdenum Kα radiation, NIR, and Raman spectroscopy. The “dyeing” has been replicated using a patented method; originally it may have involved a controlled redox reaction, based on our preliminary experiments. Amidst the goethite lattices, some skeletal fragments were green, with near-black lines within the yarn spiral, identified as indigo by FTIR at the time. Other masses with colorations of red, orange/brown, and purple with deep red veins did not yield identifiable inorganic coloration profiles with SEM/EDS. A purple fragment (2003-Tx-6 Front) was assayed by ICP-MS for mordants and for bromine, but neither could be found. Recently, direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) enabled us to successfully detect organic colorants. For one fragment, indoxyl, isatin, indigo, and leuco-indigo were identified. One striated red-to-brown mass (2003-Tx-3) contained alizarin, purpurin, xanthopurpurin, lucidin, and other madder substituents; it also contained indigo/isatin but neither indoxyl nor leuco-indigo. Other beige-brown masses like 2003-Tx-5 sometimes contained alizarin, xanthopurpurin, rubiadin, and lucidin but rarely purpurin or indigo-related compounds. The purple (2003-Tx-6) shared the madder analogues with browner hues. The versatility appears related to that found in Anatolian pile carpets and flat weaves. Our new analyses confirm that the Phrygian textile colorists were indeed superb, versatile dyers. Full article

The distribution of mounds, plazas, and defensive palisades associated with Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (CMSHS) defines the core urban environment of Eastern North America’s first American Indian city. The large mounds surrounding Cahokia’s centrally located Grand Plaza, including the palisades that enclose them, are referred to as Downtown Cahokia. In this portion of the site, archaeologists have identified material culture (e.g., ceramics), earthen fills to level the plaza, and several earthen mound constructions. These findings suggest an occupational history for the area that occurred over the 9th–14th centuries CE, with the emergence of plaza delineation and earthwork construction beginning in the early 11th century CE. In sum, Downtown Cahokia and its Grand Plaza are considered by archaeologists to be a vibrant space characterized by ongoing American Indian transformations to an early metropolitan landscape. We conducted magnetometer and electromagnetic induction surveys at the western edge of the Grand Plaza. When compared with the LiDAR-derived visualizations we generated from this portion of the site, our aerial and terrestrial remote sensing data offered new information on the nature and sequence of monument construction in Downtown Cahokia, as well as architectural changes in domestic and special-use structures. These multi-scalar and complementary remote sensing datasets allowed us, without excavating, to trace important sequences of change in Downtown Cahokia’s history. Full article

Established students and studies of sustainable urban planning and broader regional varieties of spatial evolution have been seized with ambitions to ‘make the world a better place’. To criticise that ambition would be more than churlish, except that it tends to betray a certain ‘cognitive dissonance’. For what they wish to ‘make better’ was already in a bad, even ‘parlous state’ by the aspirations of their predecessor students, studies, and tellingly, actions. Of course, there are exceptions. Some urban actions seem to have ‘worked’ historically. Barcelona’s Eixample by Ildefons, Haussmann’s questionably motivated but now widely admired re-design of Paris, and Vienna’s Ringstrasse vilified by early modernist Adolf Loos, mentor of Richard Neutra, originator of the domestic International Style. These were a mixed bag of architects, by turns municipal, militaristic, and radical, albeit thwarted in Neutra’s case by McCarthyite blacklisting of his Elysian Fields 3300 dwelling public housing project at Chavez Ravine, Los Angeles. Clearly, the top-down tendency persists in the image of the ‘heroic architect’ that can still be found. As well as much-vaunted ‘starchitecture’, it also persists in the failed imagery of ‘garden bridges’, ‘urban Vessels’, ‘smart cities’ and London’s ‘urban mound fiasco’. This article acts as a corrective advocating more collective than individualistic crafting of ‘solutions’ constructed upon wishful thinking if not callous optimism in efforts at mitigation of global heating. The article consists of a brief account of ‘seeing like a city’ rather than a ‘sovereign state’ in sustainability policy-pledging and its origins. It then combs through some five exemplars—from green city planning to ambient heating, food waste, plastic waste and water eutrophication—of ‘callously optimistic’ wishful thinking in SDG proposals for urban and regional climate change moderation. Modest new communicative governance methodology is proposed in the cause of SDG policy learning. Full article

The 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are both an engineering challenge and an opportunity. Clean energy (SDG 7), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), and climate action (SDG 13) represent an effort to manage, plan, and develop our buildings and infrastructure. The purpose of this study is to contribute to this challenge by analysing nanomaterials in marine environment structures, both urban and maritime. To do this, we have analyzed different regulations of concrete properties in various countries, defining the characteristics of the cement, coating, water/cement rating, and chloride effect; the difference in durability based on conventional reinforcements and nanomaterials; and use on highly sensitive elements, buildings in marine environments, rubble mound structures, crown walls, and gravity-based foundations for wind power facilities. Division into overhead, underwater, or splash zones entails the use of epoxy resins or silica fume matrices in percentages far below ten percent. Using the most exposed and unfavorable structures, conclusions of application to buildings are established based on the recommendations in maritime engineering most exposed to the actions of the waves. The study concludes with recommendations regarding the durability, increased lifespan, and use of new materials in infrastructure elements in highly adverse marine environments. Full article

Landfill landslide is a man-made event that occurs when poorly managed garbage mounds at landfills collapse. It has become common in recent decades due to the rising waste volumes in cities. Normally, it is a complex process involving many disaster-causing factors and composed by many sequential sub-events. However, most current studies treat the landslide as a single and independent event and cannot give a full picture of the disaster. We propose a disaster chain analysis framework for landfill landslide in terms of scenario simulation and chain-cutting modeling. Each stage of the landfill landslide is modeled by taking advantage of various advanced techniques, e.g., remote sensing, 3DGIS, non-Newtonian fluid model, central finite difference scheme, and agent-base steering model. The 2015 Shenzhen “1220” landslide was firstly reviewed to summarize the general disaster chain model for landfill landslide. Guided by this model, we then proposed the specific steps for landfill landslide disaster chain analysis and applied them to another undergoing landfill, i.e., Xinwuwei landfill in Shenzhen, China. The scenario simulation in this landfill provides suggestions on potential hazardous risks and some applicable treatments. Through chain-cutting modeling, we further validated the effectiveness and feasibility of these treatments. The most optimized solution is subsequently deduced, which can provide support for disaster prevention and mitigation for this landfill. Full article

In this study, the physical–mechanical and mineralogical properties of bricks used in historical structures of the site of Harran, Turkey have been investigated. Harran was destroyed by the Mongol army, during the Turkish reconquest campaign around the 1260s. The remains of the buildings made of bricks and basalt/limestone were recently uncovered almost in their entirety. Several brick samples have been taken from the burial mound, the university, the city walls, the castle, and the great mosque. From the visual analyses, it was noted that the bricks have unique colors such as pottery, desert beige, and canyon. Physical analyses show that the absorption rates of the bricks are between 17.30–38.12%, their densities between 1.33–1.70 g/cm³, and porosities between 8.88–25.31%. For the mechanical analyses, the bending strengths have been found to be between 0.82–1.86 MPa and compressive strengths between 6.69–7.95 MPa. The thin-section images show that the bricks contain calcite, muscovite, and plagioclase quartz and pyroxene minerals. Full article