Search

– Noise can be characterised through geostatistical or spectral analysis. – Under-sampled soil noise appears similar to random noise.

Remote sensing techniques, both on the ground (geophysical prospection) and remote (aerial and satellite imagery), have repeatedly shown their usefulness in the detection and mapping of unknown archaeological features and sites, but their results remain relatively sterile and not fully unwrapped if no archaeological verification is implemented to evaluate the reliability of the signals encountered. Employing a more coupled approach of geophysical and archaeological investigations at the Bronze Age site of Sissi on Crete, we illustrate how optimal use can be made of the results, allowing the implementation of a proper research strategy and the concentration of costly archaeological resources in the most profitable and productive ways. more...

To date, archived aerial photographs or recently declassified satellite CORONA images have been used to support archaeological research. However the use of such images is limited to the interpretation of greyscale images, which can be improved by image analysis processes including filters, edge detection techniques, etc. This article presents a methodology to improve the interpretation of these images by adding colour from recently acquired satellites or airborne sensors. The methodology followed in this article, is based on the use of pan-sharpening algorithms which are applied to a set of an archived greyscale image and a recently colour image taken over the same area. These two images are geometrically corrected while their histograms are matched. Then, the two images are merged based on different pan-sharpening techniques such as Brovey transformation, high pass filters, multiplicative transformation, principal component analysis and wavelet decomposition. The final result is a colour image which can be further studied for interpretation purposes. A coherence image is also calculated since differences due to time might be also observed in the images (e.g. land use changes). The results presented here from different cases studies of Cyprus indicate that the proposed methodology may be applied in any other greyscale archive dataset. From the results is was shown that Brovey and high pass filter transform seem to be able to support better the interpretation of such archive information. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. more...

Olive oil mill wastes OOMW constitute a major pollution factor in olive-growing regions and an important problem to be solved for the agricultural industry. Olive oil mill wastes are normally deposited in tanks, or directly into the soil or even on adjacent torrents, rivers, and lakes, posing a high risk of environmental pollution in regard to public health. This study aims to develop integrated satellite remote sensing, geographical information systems GIS, and ground spectroscopy methodologies to detect and monitor OOMW disposal areas on the island of Crete, Greece in the Southeastern Mediterranean. More than 1000 disposal tanks were mapped through an extended global positioning system GPS survey that took place throughout the island. Satellite images of both high IKONOS and medium Landsat 8 OLI Operational Land Imager resolution were preprocessed and analysed by applying geometric, radiometric, and atmospheric corrections. A library with a spectral signature of OOMW including both different time periods and satellite sensors was developed. At the same time, ground spectroscopy campaigns were carried out and a complementary spectral signature library was developed. The narrow band reflectance of ground measurements was recalculated using the relative response filters of the corresponding satellite sensors. Both libraries were compared for their accuracy through statistical approaches and the optimum spectral range for detecting OOMW areas was estimated. Subsequently, further auxiliary image-processing techniques such as image fusion, linear spectral unmixing LSU, false-colour composites FCCs, image classification, and principal component analysis PCA were applied to satellite images to enhance OOMW patterns, and an innovative OOMW detection index for Landsat 8 was developed. In addition, several vegetation indices were applied and compared in regard to their efficiency in detecting waste ponds. Finally an integrated, semi-automatic methodology was developed in the GIS environment employing classification algorithms for the detection of waste ponds. This study highlights the potential of satellite remote sensing, GIS, and ground spectroscopy in the semi–automatic detection of OOMW disposal areas in the context of the Mediterranean landscape. more...

Cultural heritage (CH) sites are threatened from a variety of natural and anthropogenic factors. Innovative and cost effective tools for systematic monitoring of landscapes and CH sites are needed to protect them. Towards this direction, the article presents a multidisciplinary approach, based on remote sensing techniques and Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis, in order to assess the overall risk in the Paphos district (Cyprus). Paphos region has a great deal of archaeological sites and isolated monuments, which reflect the long history of the area, while some of them are also listed in the UNESCO catalogue of World Cultural Heritage sites. Several natural and anthropogenic hazards have been mapped using different remote sensing data and methodologies. All data were gathered from satellite images and satellite products. The results from each hazard were imported into a GIS environment in order to examine the overall risk assessment based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology. The results found that the methodology applied was effective enough in the understanding of the current conservation circumstances of the monuments in relation to their environment as well as predicting the future development of the present hazards. more...

The paper investigates the superficial layers of an archaeological landscape based on the integration of various remote sensing techniques. It is well known in the literature that shallow depths may be rich in archeological remains, which generate different signal responses depending on the applied technique. In this study three main technologies are examined, namely ground-penetrating radar (GPR), ground spectroscopy, and multispectral satellite imagery. The study aims to propose a methodology to enhance optical remote sensing satellite images, intended for archaeological research, based on the integration of ground based and satellite datasets. For this task, a regression model between the ground spectroradiometer and GPR is established which is then projected to a high resolution sub-meter optical image. The overall methodology consists of nine steps. Beyond the acquirement of the in-situ measurements and their calibration (Steps 1–3), various regression models are examined for more than 70 different vegetation indices (Steps 4–5). The specific data analysis indicated that the red-edge position (REP) hyperspectral index was the most appropriate for developing a local fusion model between ground spectroscopy data and GPR datasets (Step 6), providing comparable results with the in situ GPR measurements (Step 7). Other vegetation indices, such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), have also been examined, providing significant correlation between the two datasets (R = 0.50). The model is then projected to a high-resolution image over the area of interest (Step 8). The proposed methodology was evaluated with a series of field data collected from the Vesztő-Magor Tell in the eastern part of Hungary. The results were compared with in situ magnetic gradiometry measurements, indicating common interpretation results. The results were also compatible with the preliminary archaeological investigations of the area (Step 9). The overall outcomes document that fusion models between various types of remote sensing datasets frequently used to support archaeological research can further expand the current capabilities and applications for the detection of buried archaeological remains. more...

A linear 3-D transformation that can be used for the enhancement of crop marks related to buried archaeological features is developed and presented in this article. The methodology is based on three steps: (1) recalculation of the ground narrowband spectroradiometric measurements to the multispectral Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor, based on the relative response filter of the sensor, (2) application of principal component analysis (PCA) transformation in order to determine the initial axes used for the orthogonal transformation, followed by (3) a 3-D rotation of the PCA axes. The linear coefficients of the transformation were retrieved and adjusted to different phenological stages of the crops. The transformation was successfully evaluated using both in situ measurements and Landsat 5 TM images in two different archaeological case studies. The proposed transformation tends to enhance archaeological signatures better than other established vegetation indices or algorithms, while the methodology can be expanded to any other multispectral satellite images using only the visible and very near-infrared part of the spectrum. more...

The potentials of the forthcoming new European Space Agency’s (ESA) satellite sensor, Sentinel-2, for archaeological studies was examined in this paper. For this reason, an extensive spectral library of crop marks, acquired through numerous spectroradiometric campaigns, which are related with buried archaeological remains, has been resampled to the spectral characteristics of Sentinel-2. In addition, other existing satellite sensors have been also evaluated (Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM); Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER); IKONOS; Landsat 4 TM; Landsat 7 Enhance Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+); QuickBird; Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT); and WorldView-2). The simulated data have been compared with the optimum spectral regions for the detection of crop marks (700 nm and 800 nm). In addition, several existing vegetation indices have been also assessed for all sensors. As it was found, the spectral characteristics of Sentinel-2 are able to better distinguish crop marks compared to other existing satellite sensors. Indeed, as it was found, using a simulated Sentinel-2 image, not only known buried archaeological sites were able to be detected, but also other still unknown sites were able to be revealed. more...

The assessment of the optimum landfill sitting requires multiple environmental data organized in a proper and efficient way to be effectively processed. Geographical information systems define an ideal tool for handling vast amounts of such kind of information combining multiple heterogeneous spatiotemporal data. Additionally, archive satellite remote sensing images set an ancillary approach to effective environmental monitoring of land surface within the areas of already established landfills and their surroundings (e.g. for calculation of crucial parameters such as vegetation indices). In this study, 17 environmental and anthropogenic factors were used to identify the most suitable sites for optimum landfill sitting in the western part of the island of Crete-Greece. The method used for the evaluation of all different factors is the analytical hierarchy process enhanced with fuzzy logic techniques. The results were compared with the already established landfills (legal/controlled and illegal/non-controlled) in the area of Chania prefecture and the results demonstrated that 75 % of the already (legal or illegal) established landfills of the prefecture are situated in extremely inappropriate areas from environmental point of view. more...

On site observation is the most common way of monitoring cultural heritage sites and monuments in Cyprus. However, this procedure that includes data collection, periodical observations, and multivariate risk assessment analysis is difficult to accomplish with the traditional practices and methods since it is time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, many archaeological sites and monuments are located at inaccessible areas, far away from the main road network and urban areas. Satellite remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) can successfully confront this problem by providing the scientists with integrated monitoring of the study areas and the unique advantage to store and manipulate a large amount of spatial and attribute data simultaneously. Actually the monitoring and identification of several natural and anthropogenic hazards in the vicinity of the cultural heritage sites in Cyprus, seems to be one of the main priorities of its governmental and municipal authorities. This study aims to integrate both satellite remote sensing techniques and GIS in a multidisciplinary approach, for monitoring anthropogenic and natural hazards with the use of archived and up-to-date multitemporal remotely sensed images in the study area, namely in areas nearby cultural heritage sites and monuments in Cyprus. In this study anthropogenic hazards include urbanisation and extended land use changes in the surroundings of archaeological sites and natural hazards concern seismicity and sea erosion more...

This paper evaluates the efficiency of different image analysis techniques applied to high resolution multispectral satellite data so as to identify olive oil waste disposal areas in the island of Crete where huge quantities of wastes are produced. For this purpose very high spatial resolution images including Pleiades, SPOT 6, QuickBird, WorldView-2 and GeoEye 1 have been exploited. The research included the application of the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, Olive Oil Mill Waste Index as well as Principal Component Analysis. Moreover Intensity–Hue–Saturation transformation was carried out. Furthermore, unsupervised classification was performed for a variety of classes (5; 10 and 15) over the same area for two different periods. In addition, supervised linear constrained spectral un-mixing technique has been applied for the WorldView-2 image, to evaluate the potential use of sub-pixel analysis. Indeed, as it is demonstrated NDVI and OOMW indices may be used to enhance the exposure of disposal areas in high resolution satellite datasets, while the application of the PCA and HIS transformations seems to be able to further improve the results. Unsupervised classification techniques, with no ground truth data, can sufficiently work; however temporal changes of the disposal areas can affect the performance of the classifier. The use of spectral library was able to detect OOMW areas with a relatively high rate of success improving the results from the unsupervised classification. Finally, a COSMO-SkyMed radar image has been examined and fused with a hyperspectral EO-ALI image, indicating that such kind of datasets might be also explored for this purpose. more...

The optimum processing technique (2D vs. 3D inversion) to interpret and visualize parallel and/or orthogonal two‐dimensional surface Electrical Resistivity Tomography data collected from archaeological sites is examined in this work. A simple modification of a standard resistance‐meter geophysical instrument was implemented in order to collect parallel two‐dimensional sections along the X‐, Y‐ or XY‐direction in a relatively short time, employing a pole–pole array. The sensitivity analysis showed that the distance between the parallel 2D lines must be smaller or, at the most, equal to the basic inter‐electrode spacing in order to produce reliable 3D resistivity images of the subsurface. This was confirmed by modelling and inversion of both synthetic and real data. Direct comparisons of the quasi‐3D images, resulting from a posteriori combination of the inverted 2D sections, with the full 3D inverted resistivity models indicated the superiority of the 3D inversion algorithm in the reconstruction of buried archaeological structures, even in complex archaeological sites. Due to the inherent three‐dimensionality of many archaeological targets, quasi‐3D images suffer from artefacts. The combination of a single survey‐direction with a full 3D processing and interpretation scheme is adequate to image the 3D subsurface resistivity variation in detail. Furthermore, the implementation of a quasi‐Newton Jacobian matrix update technique reduced the processing time by one‐half without any significant loss of accuracy and resolution. more...

Multi-sensor airborne remote sensing has been applied to the Itanos area of eastern Crete to assess its potential for locating exposed and known buried archaeological remains, and to delineate subsurface remains beyond the current limits of ground geophysical data in order to permit future targeted geophysical surveys and archaeological excavations. A range of processing techniques (e.g., Reed–Xiaoli anomaly detection) have been applied to the CASI, ATM and lidar data in order to detect anomalies based on the premise that buried remains are likely to alter the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil compared with those of the surroundings due to variations in soil depth and drainage. Through a combination of CASI, ATM and lidar data, surface remains have been classified and mapped effectively using an object-oriented approach. The detection of subsurface remains is more problematic; however, the thermal data is most promising in this respect. The value of capturing multi- or hyperspectral data at a high spatial resolution has been demonstrated as well as the additional benefits of combining these with airborne lidar. more...

This paper investigates the potential use of the high resolution FormoSAT-2 sensor for supporting archaeological research. Although satellite remote sensing data have been widely used in the context of archaeological research, the high-resolution FormoSAT-2 dataset has attracted little attention. For a better understanding of the Neolithic habitation of the Thessalian plain in central Greece, the authors have used a variety of remote sensing techniques, including satellite and in situ data. In situ spectroradiometric measurements have been recalculated based on the Relative Response Filters of the FormoSAT-2 sensor and compared with other medium- and high-resolution sensors. The FormoSAT-2 spectral characteristics tend to give similar results with the Landsat 5 TM and 7 ETM+ sensors during the whole phenological cycle of the crops, which make this ideal for pan-sharpening fusion techniques. As we found, FormoSAT-2 data can be sufficiently used for the documentation of tells (locally called magoules) in the area as well as to reconstruct the current landscape of the area. Results presented here are part of the ISPRS WG VI/5 “Archaeo-FORMOSAT” project, sponsored by the National Space Organization, National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs-NSPO) and jointly supported by the Chinese Taipei Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and the Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research (CSRSR) at the National Central University (NCU) of Taiwan. more...

An extensive geophysical survey at the ancient Greek settlement of Mantineia in Peloponnese identified near surface features of archaeological interest that provide valuable information about the internal organization of the city. A multi-method approach was adopted for the application of various geophysical methods, spanning from magnetics to electromagnetics, soil resistance and GPR techniques, coupled with aerial and satellite remote sensing. The resolution of the GPR approach was crucial in identifying the details of the urban space and its development over time. The supremacy of the GPR in revealing the lateral expansion of the architectural residues and their vertical extent was obvious with respect to the rest of the methods applied. more...

This paper aims to introduce an index which is able to assist the recognition of Olive Oil Mill Wastes (OOMW) disposal areas using multispectral satellite images. For this purpose several ground spectroradiometric measurements in the range of 450 - 900 nm have been collected at a variety of targets. The samples were initially resampled to the GeoEye-1 sensor using the appropriate Relative Spectral Response Filter (RSR) and then scatter plots and spectral signatures were projected. Then an evaluation of nine widely used vegetation indices was performed. This analysis indicated that, Perpendicular Vegetation Index (PVI), Transformed Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (TSAVI) and Soil and Atmospherically Resistant Vegetation Index (SARVI) are the most efficient indices to enhance the detection of Olive Mill Waste disposal areas. Moreover, correlation as well as separability analysis have shown than blue and near infrared (NIR) spectral bands are the most suitable for interpretation purposes. The Olive Mill Waste index was applied also to GeoEye-1 in different cases studies in the island of Crete. more...

Vegetation indices have been widely used for the detection of archaeological traces, based on crop marks, during different phenological stages. Such indices can be used in order to enhance interpretation performance of multispectral and hyperspectral satellite data, for identification of buried archeological remains. Although a variety of indices exists in the literature, research is still limited and only a small group of these indices have been explored. This paper aims to highlight the prospects as well the limitations of several broadband vegetation indices for the detection of Neolithic tells in the Thessalian plain (Greece). Several multispectral Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite images have been used for evaluating the effectiveness of such indices. In addition, new developed algorithms and hyperspectral narrowband indices, specially designed for archaeological research, have been also used and compared using hyperspectral satellite data (EO-Hyperion). Indeed, the Normalized Archaeological Vegetation Index (NAVI) as well as a linear transformation of the Landsat 5 TM were applied to satellite data. The above were also compared to other processing algorithms such as Tasseled - Cap algorithm and Principal Component Analysis. The results have shown that several indices and new algorithms may be used for the enhancement of crop marks, while some no-widely used indices can be successfully used for archaeological purposes. © 2013 SPIE. more...

Satellite data can be used as a valuable tool for the detection of water pipeline leakages in semiarid areas. However the use of multi-temporal satellite images for this purpose can be problematic since reflectance values may change due to phenological changes of plants, radiometric errors during the pre-processing of satellite data, etc. It is therefore important to establish a spectral signature library with “ground truth data” for different scenarios of water leakages in a control site minimizing other potential errors. For this purpose, the GER 1500 spectroradiometer was used for measuring the reflectance values of three different targets: soil, vegetation and asphalt. The targets were saturated with a specific amount of water and then several spectroradiometric measurements were taken. The narrowband reflectance values were then re-scaled to spectral bands of Landsat 5 TM and spectral signature variations were highlighted for all targets before and after moisture level were increased. Using these data, threshold values were defined in order to be used for multispectral satellite data analysis. Specifically, this data was used for detection of water leakages in pipelines in Cyprus using Landsat 5 TM images,. more...

Mapping and detecting landscape pattern changes and features has become an urgent task due to the increasing pressures of rapid urbanization and associated environmental problems. This is exactly the case of Chongming Island which has been proposed to become an “ecological” island in the near future. A dynamic study on the island's expansion, vegetation and land use/cover shift patterns over the past 30 years was carried out based on Landsat and ALOS satellite remote sensing imagery by employing an object-oriented classification approach incorporated with vegetation indices (NDVI and NDVSI). NDVSI index which was developed in this study was fused with red and infrared bands to improve the resolution and extract the vegetation and land use type by NN arithmetic for the Landsat MSS image. It is found that vegetation area almost remain unchangeableness with the expanding the Chongming island from 1979 to 2009, while the area of built-up and water body were increased obviously. Most expansion area of the island is added to urbanization and rural settlements development, wetland and water body. In the past 30 years, the proportion of vegetation area to the total area of Chongming Island decreased from 71% to 52%, by contraries, the proportion increased from 5% to 14% for built-up area. The population in 2009 had been more than 2 times of that in 1979. The change of vegetation area in Chongming Island does not correspond proportionally with the growth of island , but the temporal changes of the built-up areas are highly correlated with the population changes, the revenue of local government, which reflect the fast development of economy and urbanization. more...

Archaeology is defined as the systematic approach for uncovering the human past and its environment. Archaeology involves not only systematic excavations and surveys, but also analysis of the data collected in the field. In a broader term, archaeology is an interdiscipli‐ nary research. Modern studies in archaeology engage a series of other sciences such as geol‐ ogy, information systems, chemistry, statistics, etc. In recent years, remote sensing has received considerable attention since it can assist archaeological research, along with other sciences, in order to extract valuable information to the researchers based only on non-de‐ structive and non-contact techniques. more...

Remote sensing may be used for quick and cost effective detection and monitoring of water leakages, since traditional field survey methods for detection of water pipeline leakages are costly and time consuming. Vegetation indices are widely used by researchers for many applications. Among them, NDVI, RVI and SAVI are indices that can be used for pipeline leakage detection. In this study, the above vegetation indices were evaluated based on Landsat ETM+ multispectral images in a multi-temporal mode. The evaluation was performed in the semiarid environment in Cyprus, in order to detect the position of points/areas where water leakage occurs and to examine the accuracy of the vegetation indices in detecting such events. In addition, a low altitude system was used to record spectral differences before and after a leakage event. The results showed that there are leakage points that could be detected using satellite images due to the increasing and decreasing of the surrounding vegetation affected by the water leaked of the pipeline. Other characteristics such as the soil type and precipitation were also examined. Finally, the low altitude system highlighted the advantages of using such non contact techniques for monitoring water leakages. more...

An integration of geophysical surveys, ground hyperspectral data, aerial photographs and high resolution satellite imagery for supporting archaeological investigations at the multi-component Vészto{doubleacute}-Mágor Tell, located in the southeastern Great Hungarian Plain, is presented in this study. This is one of the first times that all these techniques have been combined and evaluated for retrieving archaeological information. Geophysical explorations, specifically magnetic gradiometry and ground penetrating radar methods, have revealed shallow linear anomalies and curvilinear rings at the Tell. The use of remote sensing images has confirmed the diverse anomalies with respect to geophysics through photointerpretation, radiometric and spatial enhancements. Moreover, several indices from ground hyperspectral data also have revealed stress vegetation anomalies. These integrated results were used to map the main areas of archaeological interest at the Vészto{doubleacute}-Mágor Tell and plan future excavations. It was found that these multiscalar data can be used efficiently for detecting buried archaeological features. more...

This paper aims to explore the formation of crops marks over archaeological features using remote sensing data. Crop marks are very important to archaeological research since they can reveal in an indirect way buried archaeological remains. Several researches have been able to locate subsurface relics via interpretation of multispectral and hyperspectral satellite images. However the best phenophase (time-window) where these crop marks are enhanced and which spectral bands are the most capable for this enhancement are still an open question for the scientific community. This study aims to address these fundamental aspects of Remote Sensing Archaeology. For this reason an extensive dataset was used: two control archaeological sites were constructed in two different areas of Cyprus (Alampra and Acheleia). In these areas both barley and wheat, were cultivated. In situ spectroradiometric measurements were taken over a whole phenological cycle (2001–2012) for both areas. More than 30 in situ campaigns were performed and more than 2600 ground measurements were collected. The phenological analysis of these measurements have shown that a period of only 15 days is best suitable for monitoring crop marks which is connected with one phenological stage; during the beginning of the boot stage of the crops. This period can be used in areas having similar climatic condition as Cyprus (Mediterranean region). Also as it was found, this phenological stage of crops might be also influenced by the climatic conditions of the area. The evaluation of a proposed Archaeological Index was performed at the Thessalian plain (central Greece), where several Neolithic settlements are established. The evaluation was made using both Hyperion and Landsat images. The results have shown that the proposed Archaeological Index is suitable for the enhancement of crop marks in satellite imagery. more...

Η συγκεκριμένη εργασία εστιάζει στη χρήση σύγχρονων τεχνολογιών όπως είναι η Δορυφορική Τηλεπισκόπηση και τα Γεωγραφικά Συστήματα Πληροφοριών για τη δημιουργία ενός ολοκληρωμένου συστήματος εκτίμησης επικινδυνότητας αρχαιολογικών θέσεων και κατάλοιπων στη Κύπρο και συγκεκριμένα στην επαρχία Πάφου. Τέτοιου είδους αναλύσεις οι οποίες περιλαμβάνουν συλλογή δεδομένων, συνεχείς παρατηρήσεις και πολυπαραμετρικές αναλύσεις εκτίμησης κινδύνου είναι δύσκολο να πραγματοποιηθούν με τις παραδοσιακές τεχνικές και μεθόδους, οι οποίες κοστίζουν και είναι χρονοβόρες. Οι σύγχρονες τεχνολογίες δίνουν τη δυνατότητα στους επιστήμονες για την συνολική επόπτευση της περιοχής μελέτης καθώς επίσης και το μοναδικό πλεονέκτημα της ταυτόχρονης αποθήκευσης κα διαχείρισης μεγάλου όγκου χωρικών και περιγραφικών δεδομένων που σχετίζονται με την διαχείριση και προστασία της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς. Αυτό το στόχο εξυπηρετεί και η συγκεκριμένη μελέτη που φιλοδοξεί να αναδείξει τις δυνατότητες που προσφέρει η χρήση δεδομένων δορυφορικής Τηλεπισκόπησης και ΓΣΠ για την προστασία της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς της ευρύτερης περιοχής της επαρχίας Πάφου στη Κύπρο από ανθρωπογενείς και φυσικούς κινδύνους., The study focuses on the creation of an innovative methodology for the development of a risk assessment model for the archaeological sites of western Cyprus (Paphos district). On site observation is the most common way for monitoring cultural heritage sites and monuments in Cyprus. However, this procedure which includes data collection, periodical observations, and multivariate risk assessment analysis, is practically difficult to be accomplished with the traditional practices and methods since it is time consuming and cost insufficient. Thus, the use of modern technologies such as Remote Sensing and GIS is anticipated to provide a tool of directives for the protection and preservation of cultural heritage sites from anthropogenic and environmental threats. These technologies provide to scientists integrated monitoring capabilities and have the unique advantage to store and manipulate a large amount of spatial and attribute data simultaneously. This study aims to integrate both satellite remote sensing techniques and GIS in a multidisciplinary approach, for monitoring natural and anthropogenic hazards with the use of archived and up-to-dated multi-temporal remotely sensed images in the study area, namely in areas nearby cultural heritage sites and monuments in Paphos area (Cyprus).According to the results, extensive construction and building development has taken placein the broader area. It was also proved that vast number of sites is established on areas prone to erosion and landslide phenomena. more...

This paper presents the results obtained from field spectroradiometric campaigns over Neolithic tells (“magoules”) located at the Thessalian region in Greece. In each one of the four archaeological sites selected, three sections were carried out using the GER 1500 handheld spectroradiometer. Spectral profiles of the sections and several vegetation indices such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVI) and Simple Ratio (SR) have been examined in this study. This is one of the first times that ground hyperspectral data are evaluated in such context of archaeological research for the spectral characterization of archaeological features. As it was found, ground spectroradiometric measurements can be efficiently used in order to support and validate satellite imagery results for the detection of archaeological sites. more...

This paper aims to introduce the spectral characteristics of a new Archaeological Index for supporting remote sensing applications in archaeological research. This index will be able to enhance crop marks, observed in satellite images, which are related to buried archaeological remains. For the aims of the research, ground spectral signatures were acquired from two agricultural areas of Cyprus (Alampra and Acheleia), specifically constructed in order to simulate buried archaeological remains. A complete phenological cycle of barley and wheat crops was recorded using the GER 1500 spectroradiometer with spectral range from 350 --- 1050 nm (visible --- near infrared spectrum). Correlation regression analysis and evaluation separability indices have shown that results are similar for both sites ---regardless crop type. The spectral sensitivity, for enhancement crop marks, was detected at the red edge and near infrared spectrum (≈ 700 and ≈ 800 nm). more...

The aim of the study is to validate hyperspectral ground data for the detection of buried architectural remains. For this reason spectro-radiometric measurements were taken from an archaeological area in Cyprus. Field spectro-radiometric measurements were undertaken from March to May of 2010. Spectro-radiometric measurements were taken over the previously detected magnetic anomalies using the GER 1500 spectroradiometer and they were found to be in a general agreement with the geophysical results. The results of the subsequent excavations which took place in the area verified partially the geophysical and spectro-radiometric measurements. However, the results obtained from the in-situ spectro-radiometric campaigns were found very useful for detecting spectral vegetation anomalies related with buried features. This is an issue which the authors will continue to investigate since it has proven that local conditions of the area, such as geology, is a key parameter for the detection of buried architectural remains more...

The island of Crete is an area with continuous habitation for more than 6 thousand years consisting of a variety of archaeological sites. The vulnerability of those archaeological sites is extremely high due to the changing land-use practices and various natural disasters. The use of modern technologies such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS), and Global Positioning Systems is considered to provide a valuable tool for the protection of cultural heritage from human and environmental threats. Additionally, sophisticated classification methods based on fuzzy and neural networks theory contribute to a more detailed and precise mapping of the archaeological regime of the island. more...

This article reviews the methods employed in archaeological site mapping with emphasis to ground-based geophysical techniques. The article summarizes the methodology and instrumentation underlying the basic modules of geophysical exploration of archaeological sites, such as electromagnetic, ground penetration radar, soil resistance, magnetic, seismic, gravity and chemical techniques. Sections of the article are also devoted to processing and presentation of the geophysical data and their synthesis with satellite remote sensing and GIS. more...