Remote Sensing in ArchaeologyJames R. Wiseman, Farouk El-Baz Over the last few decades, a revolution took place in our ability to observe and “explore” our home planet using spaceborne and airborne remote sensing instruments. This revolution resulted from the new capability of observing on a large, regional and global, scale surface patterns and features, and from using multispectral instruments to observe surface signatures not visible to the human eye, and to penetrate below the surface cover using microwave radiation. Over the last decade, this new technology is being brought to bear in the field of archaeology. As nicely and comprehensively described in this book, remote sensing techniques are bringing new powerful tools to help archaeologists in their quest of discovery and exploration. Even though this field is still in its infancy, the different articles in this book give us a glimpse of the things to come and the great potential of remote sensing in archaeology. The editors have brought an excellent sampling of authors that illustrate how remote sensing techniques are being used in the real world of arc- ological exploration. A number of chapters illustrate how spaceborne and airborne remote sensing instruments are being used to decipher surface morphological features in arid (Egypt, Arabia), semi-arid (Greece, Ethiopia, Italy), as well as tropical regions (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Cambodia) to help in archeological and paleontological exploration. They illustrate the use of surface-cover penetration with radars, high-resolution multispectral imaging on a regional basis, as well as topographic signatures acquired with spaceborne and airborne sensors. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Radar Images and Geoarchaeology of the Eastern Sahara | 47 |
Southern Arabian Desert Trade Routes Frankincense Myrrh | 71 |
The Use of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar InSAR | 89 |
Detection and Identification of Archaeological Sites | 103 |
Remote Sensing Investigation | 137 |
Creating And Perpetuating Social Memory Across the Ancient | 161 |
Introducing | 185 |
Remote Sensing and GIS Use in the Archaeological Analysis | 283 |
GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING AND ANALYTICAL | 326 |
Integrating Multiple Geophysical Datasets | 345 |
Ground Penetrating Radar Advances in Subsurface Imaging | 375 |
Landscape Archaeology and Remote Sensing | 395 |
Geophysical Investigations | 423 |
Archaeological Oceanography | 479 |
Precision Navigation and Remote Sensing for Underwater | 499 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
aerial AIRSAR amplitude analysis Angkor anomalies antenna application archaeological sites Arenal artifacts band Blom burial buried C-band canals cemetery Ciudad Vieja color conducted cultural heritage datasets desert detect dunes East Baray eastern Sahara edited El-Baz enhancement environment excavation field Figure forest fractal geophysical survey grid ground Ground-penetrating radar Guatemala Holcomb Holmul human identified IKONOS Imaging Radar indicated InSAR integration interferometry interpretation investigations land Landsat landscape layers Lillesand linear magnetic magnetic susceptibility magnetometer Maya meters methods mound multispectral NASA P-band panchromatic path patterns Petén pixels polarization prehistoric radar data radar images reflection region remote sensing resolution rivers San Clemente Island sand satellite imagery sensor settlement signatures SIR-C soil spatial spectral structures subsurface surface Synthetic Aperture Radar techniques terrain time-slice Tiwanaku topographic tropical University urban vegetation wavelength