Table Of ContentSpringerBriefs in Archaeology
Archaeological Heritage Management
For further volumes:
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Douglas C. Comer (cid:129) Michael J. Harrower
Mapping Archaeological Landscapes
from Space
Douglas C. Comer Michael J. Harrower
International Committee on Archaeological Johns Hopkins University
Heritage Management (ICAHM) Near Eastern Studies
Baltimore, MD, USA Baltimore, MD, USA
ISSN 1861-6623 ISSN 2192-4910 (electronic)
ISBN 978-1-4614-6073-2 ISBN 978-1-4614-6074-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-6074-9
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Published in Observance of the
40th Anniversary of the World
Heritage Convention
Foreword
Archaeologists have made use of the vertical perspective and imaging technologies
since the 1880s when dry plates made photography from hot air balloons more fea-
sible. The use of aircraft in the 1900s enabled more widespread local to regional
scale coverage for aerial photography. The last half of the twentieth century brought
transformative changes with access to space, technologies to image much more of
the spectrum than seen by the human eye, precise global positioning, and well-cal-
ibrated digital imaging approaches that collectively provide scienti fi c quality spec-
tral and spatial information across vast areas, on a repeat basis and with fi ne
resolution. The application of these transformative technologies to archaeological
discovery, to understanding the spatial relationships of archaeological fi nds to each
other and to the physical environment, and to the preservation of cultural patrimony
de fi nes Space Archaeology.
The primary objectives of NASA’s Space Archaeology Program have been to
facilitate enhanced access to and use of remote sensing data, to promote the devel-
opment and application of analysis tools and techniques for archaeological research,
and to encourage more widespread utilization of such data and techniques. NASA
data began being used for archaeological studies during the 1970s, with data streams
from the Earth Resources Technology Satellites (ERTS), now the Landsat series,
and the L-band SeaSAT synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The NASA Shuttle Imaging
Radar(s), SIR-A/B/C, speci fi cally targeted sites of archaeological interest. Today,
Hyperion and the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) continue to provide data to the
archaeological community. In addition, NASA has fl own airborne systems such as
SAR and LiDAR to support archaeological research in Southeast Asia and Latin
America. These data supplement other space-based data streams from both the com-
mercial sector, including both high-resolution optical data and SAR data, and more
moderate resolution optical and SAR data provided by other space agencies around
the world. Never before has the archaeological community been presented with
such an array of sensing techniques, large archives of data global in scope with
much of it publicly available, and associated visualization and analysis tools.
vii
viii Foreword
NASA has supported archaeological investigations since the 1980s, and these are
now solicited regularly through a formal program. The inspiration for the NASA
Space Archaeology Program came from the successful use of imagery obtained by
NASA satellites and aerial platforms over the past four decades. Over the years,
these results have been widely disseminated through professional meetings, the
journal literature, a series of specialty workshops, and books. The fi rst conference
on Remote Sensing in Archaeology was held at the NASA Stennis Flight Center in
1984. The most recent NASA Space Archaeology Workshop was hosted by the
Johns Hopkins University Department of Near Eastern Studies from October 8 to
10, 2011, and co-sponsored by ICOMOS International Committee on Archaeological
Heritage Management (ICAHM) and the CSRM Foundation. This book was con-
ceived at that workshop.
Much of what you will read in this volume has been developed under NASA
Space Archaeology Program grants or by participants in the Space Archaeology
Workshops. The book provides sections on the history of space archaeology, multi-
spectral and hyperspectral data, synthetic aperture radar, LiDAR, and modeling.
This book is intended to provide a clear and concise introduction to archaeologists
who are considering the use of satellite and aerial imagery and the technologies that
produce it. The authors give exciting examples of how these technologies have
bene fi tted archaeological research and furthermore have advanced the effective
management of archaeological sites and landscapes around the world. NASA looks
forward to continuing collaboration with the archaeological community as more
archaeologists become familiar with Space Archaeology.
Washington, DC, USA Myron Craig Dobson
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank a number of people and institutions that played extremely
important roles in the production of this publication. Prof. Glenn Schwartz of the
Department of Near Eastern Studies at The Johns Hopkins University suggested
that the co-editors for this book meet to discuss their mutual interest in aerial and
satellite remote sending some years ago. It was through these conversations that the
NASA Space Archaeology workshop was held at Johns Hopkins University October
8–10, 2011. Dr. Myron Craig Dobson, Space Archaeology Division Program
Manager, Earth Science Division, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
arranged for the participation of several scientists and engineers with the NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech (JPL/NASA), who also wrote introductory sec-
tions on key technologies for this book. We thank Dr. Dobson for his unceasing
efforts to introduce the archaeological community to technologies and imagery
sources developed by NASA programs.
Several interns for the ICOMOS International Scienti fi c Committee on
Archaeological Heritage Management (ICAHM) participated in the daunting task
of tracking and editing the multiple drafts of each of the 22 chapters that appear in
this book. Victoria van der Haas (Leiden University) oversaw the tracking of drafts
and reviews, and Robert Goldberg (UCLA) provided editing assistance, including
review and revision of standard formatting throughout the book. Melanie Kingsley
(Brandeis University) provided assistance to these efforts. A number of Johns
Hopkins University graduate students assisted with the arrangements for the October
2011 workshop, including Jennifer Swerida, Karen (Maggie) Bryson, Sarah Yukich,
and Ioana Dumitru.
We would also like to thank Prof. Fred Limp, University of Arkansas, Center for
Advanced Spatial Technologies, for his comments on the manuscripts of this publi-
cation, and the authors of the chapters in this book, who each provided comments
on several chapters written by others.
ix
Description: Given the rising awareness and interest in aerial and satellite remote sensing, there is a need to familiarize archaeologists with the basic principles and applications of what have become the most useful technologies. This volume, in the Springerbriefs Archaeologial Heritage Management series,
