Modelling geoarchaeological resources in temperate alluvial environments: The capability of higher resolution satellite remote sensing techniques

Nicholas Crabb; Chris Carey; Andy Howard; Robin Jackson; Niall Burnside; Matthew Brolly

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2022.105576

Modelling geoarchaeological resources in temperate alluvial environments: The capability of higher resolution satellite remote sensing techniques

Nicholas Crabb, Chris Carey, Andy Howard, Robin Jackson, Niall Burnside, Matthew Brolly

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Temperate river systems cover large regions of the earth's surface and provide challenging environments for the detection of archaeological remains. The deposition of alluvium above, and interbedded with, archaeological deposits means conventional forms of archaeological prospection such as geophysical survey or aerial photography are often ineffective. Consequently, archaeologists have turned to the construction of deposit models to evaluate the archaeological potential of various landforms. However, despite the high capacity of satellite multispectral data to identify alluvial landforms and archaeological deposits, the contribution that it can make towards deposit models has only received limited attention. This research assesses the capability of higher resolution satellite multispectral imagery to identify alluvial landform assemblages and subsequently facilitate the modelling of geoarchaeological resources. As image enhancements are often required to improve interpretation or classification, it includes a quantitative evaluation of 45 different processes, comprising two spectral separability measures on paired regions of interest (ROIs) from the Lower Lugg Valley, Herefordshire, UK. The results define optimal image processing techniques for the detailed geoarchaeological interpretation of alluvial environments and demonstrate that relatively simple visualisation methods (e.g. composite images) and summative techniques (Principal Components Analysis) offer some of the most effective approaches.

Original language	English
Article number	105576
Number of pages	23
Journal	Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume	141
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2022.105576
Publication status	Published - 18 Mar 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the UKs Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant for the Centre for Doctoral Training: Science and Engineering in Art, Heritage and Archaeology (SEAHa; EP/L016036/1). The satellite multispectral data was provided by LANDinfo Worldwide mapping LLC and the assistance of David Steveley is gratefully acknowledged in this regard. Liam Delaney assisted with the provision of the Herefordshire HER data and Richard Higham (University of Brighton) contributed to multiple elements of fieldwork. The authors would also like to thank the various landowners for allowing access to their land for the collection of the gouge core data and the three anonymous reviewers for their comments, which helped to improve the quality of this paper.

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the UK‘s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant for the Centre for Doctoral Training: Science and Engineering in Art, Heritage and Archaeology (SEAHa; EP/L016036/1 ). The satellite multispectral data was provided by LANDinfo Worldwide mapping LLC and the assistance of David Steveley is gratefully acknowledged in this regard. Liam Delaney assisted with the provision of the Herefordshire HER data and Richard Higham (University of Brighton) contributed to multiple elements of fieldwork. The authors would also like to thank the various landowners for allowing access to their land for the collection of the gouge core data and the three anonymous reviewers for their comments, which helped to improve the quality of this paper.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

Alluvial geoarchaeology
Deposit modelling
Image processing
Remote sensing
Satellite multispectral
Spectral separability

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Cite this

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title = "Modelling geoarchaeological resources in temperate alluvial environments: The capability of higher resolution satellite remote sensing techniques",

abstract = "Temperate river systems cover large regions of the earth's surface and provide challenging environments for the detection of archaeological remains. The deposition of alluvium above, and interbedded with, archaeological deposits means conventional forms of archaeological prospection such as geophysical survey or aerial photography are often ineffective. Consequently, archaeologists have turned to the construction of deposit models to evaluate the archaeological potential of various landforms. However, despite the high capacity of satellite multispectral data to identify alluvial landforms and archaeological deposits, the contribution that it can make towards deposit models has only received limited attention. This research assesses the capability of higher resolution satellite multispectral imagery to identify alluvial landform assemblages and subsequently facilitate the modelling of geoarchaeological resources. As image enhancements are often required to improve interpretation or classification, it includes a quantitative evaluation of 45 different processes, comprising two spectral separability measures on paired regions of interest (ROIs) from the Lower Lugg Valley, Herefordshire, UK. The results define optimal image processing techniques for the detailed geoarchaeological interpretation of alluvial environments and demonstrate that relatively simple visualisation methods (e.g. composite images) and summative techniques (Principal Components Analysis) offer some of the most effective approaches.",

keywords = "Alluvial geoarchaeology, Deposit modelling, Image processing, Remote sensing, Satellite multispectral, Spectral separability",

author = "Nicholas Crabb and Chris Carey and Andy Howard and Robin Jackson and Niall Burnside and Matthew Brolly",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the UKs Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant for the Centre for Doctoral Training: Science and Engineering in Art, Heritage and Archaeology (SEAHa; EP/L016036/1). The satellite multispectral data was provided by LANDinfo Worldwide mapping LLC and the assistance of David Steveley is gratefully acknowledged in this regard. Liam Delaney assisted with the provision of the Herefordshire HER data and Richard Higham (University of Brighton) contributed to multiple elements of fieldwork. The authors would also like to thank the various landowners for allowing access to their land for the collection of the gouge core data and the three anonymous reviewers for their comments, which helped to improve the quality of this paper. Funding Information: This work was supported by the UK{\textquoteleft}s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant for the Centre for Doctoral Training: Science and Engineering in Art, Heritage and Archaeology (SEAHa; EP/L016036/1 ). The satellite multispectral data was provided by LANDinfo Worldwide mapping LLC and the assistance of David Steveley is gratefully acknowledged in this regard. Liam Delaney assisted with the provision of the Herefordshire HER data and Richard Higham (University of Brighton) contributed to multiple elements of fieldwork. The authors would also like to thank the various landowners for allowing access to their land for the collection of the gouge core data and the three anonymous reviewers for their comments, which helped to improve the quality of this paper. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Elsevier Ltd",

year = "2022",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jas.2022.105576",

language = "English",

volume = "141",

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T2 - The capability of higher resolution satellite remote sensing techniques

AU - Crabb, Nicholas

AU - Carey, Chris

AU - Howard, Andy

AU - Jackson, Robin

AU - Burnside, Niall

AU - Brolly, Matthew

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the UKs Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant for the Centre for Doctoral Training: Science and Engineering in Art, Heritage and Archaeology (SEAHa; EP/L016036/1). The satellite multispectral data was provided by LANDinfo Worldwide mapping LLC and the assistance of David Steveley is gratefully acknowledged in this regard. Liam Delaney assisted with the provision of the Herefordshire HER data and Richard Higham (University of Brighton) contributed to multiple elements of fieldwork. The authors would also like to thank the various landowners for allowing access to their land for the collection of the gouge core data and the three anonymous reviewers for their comments, which helped to improve the quality of this paper. Funding Information: This work was supported by the UK‘s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant for the Centre for Doctoral Training: Science and Engineering in Art, Heritage and Archaeology (SEAHa; EP/L016036/1 ). The satellite multispectral data was provided by LANDinfo Worldwide mapping LLC and the assistance of David Steveley is gratefully acknowledged in this regard. Liam Delaney assisted with the provision of the Herefordshire HER data and Richard Higham (University of Brighton) contributed to multiple elements of fieldwork. The authors would also like to thank the various landowners for allowing access to their land for the collection of the gouge core data and the three anonymous reviewers for their comments, which helped to improve the quality of this paper. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

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N2 - Temperate river systems cover large regions of the earth's surface and provide challenging environments for the detection of archaeological remains. The deposition of alluvium above, and interbedded with, archaeological deposits means conventional forms of archaeological prospection such as geophysical survey or aerial photography are often ineffective. Consequently, archaeologists have turned to the construction of deposit models to evaluate the archaeological potential of various landforms. However, despite the high capacity of satellite multispectral data to identify alluvial landforms and archaeological deposits, the contribution that it can make towards deposit models has only received limited attention. This research assesses the capability of higher resolution satellite multispectral imagery to identify alluvial landform assemblages and subsequently facilitate the modelling of geoarchaeological resources. As image enhancements are often required to improve interpretation or classification, it includes a quantitative evaluation of 45 different processes, comprising two spectral separability measures on paired regions of interest (ROIs) from the Lower Lugg Valley, Herefordshire, UK. The results define optimal image processing techniques for the detailed geoarchaeological interpretation of alluvial environments and demonstrate that relatively simple visualisation methods (e.g. composite images) and summative techniques (Principal Components Analysis) offer some of the most effective approaches.

AB - Temperate river systems cover large regions of the earth's surface and provide challenging environments for the detection of archaeological remains. The deposition of alluvium above, and interbedded with, archaeological deposits means conventional forms of archaeological prospection such as geophysical survey or aerial photography are often ineffective. Consequently, archaeologists have turned to the construction of deposit models to evaluate the archaeological potential of various landforms. However, despite the high capacity of satellite multispectral data to identify alluvial landforms and archaeological deposits, the contribution that it can make towards deposit models has only received limited attention. This research assesses the capability of higher resolution satellite multispectral imagery to identify alluvial landform assemblages and subsequently facilitate the modelling of geoarchaeological resources. As image enhancements are often required to improve interpretation or classification, it includes a quantitative evaluation of 45 different processes, comprising two spectral separability measures on paired regions of interest (ROIs) from the Lower Lugg Valley, Herefordshire, UK. The results define optimal image processing techniques for the detailed geoarchaeological interpretation of alluvial environments and demonstrate that relatively simple visualisation methods (e.g. composite images) and summative techniques (Principal Components Analysis) offer some of the most effective approaches.

KW - Alluvial geoarchaeology

KW - Deposit modelling

KW - Image processing

KW - Remote sensing

KW - Satellite multispectral

KW - Spectral separability

U2 - 10.1016/j.jas.2022.105576

DO - 10.1016/j.jas.2022.105576

M3 - Article

SN - 0305-4403

VL - 141

JO - Journal of Archaeological Science

JF - Journal of Archaeological Science

M1 - 105576

ER -

Modelling geoarchaeological resources in temperate alluvial environments: The capability of higher resolution satellite remote sensing techniques

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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