QuickBird-based analyses for archaeological investigations

Rosa Lasaponara
Istituto di Metodologie per lAnalisi Ambientale, IMAA-CNR, C.da S.Loja 85010 Tito Sc. (PZ), Italy Tel. ++39 0971 427 214 fax ++39 0971 427 217 e_mail: lasaponara@imaa.cnr.it

Nicola Masini
Istituto Beni Archeologici e Monumentali, IBAM-CNR, Sezione di Potenza, Via Federico II, 85020 Lagopesole (PZ), Italy, Tel. ++39 0971 865918 fax ++39 0971 865947 e_mail: n.masini@ibam.cnr.it

Keywords: VHR satellite, QuickBird, aerial archaeology ABSTRACT: In this study, we evaluate the potential of the use of panchromatic and multispectral QuickBird data fusion products for the identification and spatial characterization of archaeological sites. The investigations were performed for a test site (Monte Irsi) located in the Southern Italy. The obtained results showed that the Quickbird fused products can be a flexible data source for archaeological prospection, giving valuable information at different spatial levels, from small details to synthetic views thus providing an impressive picture of the archaeological landscape without the need for invasive or expensive survey methods. 1 INTRODUCTION

Due to the limited spatial resolution of conventional imagery, such as TM (30 m) or Spot (10 m), the use of satellite remote sensing data in the field of archaeological investigations have been generally restricted to the reconstruction of past environments, such as landscape archaeological investigations and paleogeographic environment analyses. The recent availability of Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite images, such as IKONOS (1999) and Quickbird (2001), can provide high potentiality for the application of satellite data in the field of archaeology. The high spatial resolution and spectral capability coupled with a wide coverage can make the VHR satellite images a valuable data source to assist or initiate interpretation of sites and areas of archaeological landscape. In this study, we evaluate the potential of the use of panchromatic and multispectral QuickBird data fusion products for the identification and spatial characterization of archaeological sites. Our investigation is focused on the assessment of the ability of Quickbird data to detect typical marks (shadow, soil and crop marks) and surface anomalies expected in the presence of buried remains. The investigations were performed for a test case located in the Southern Italy. The obtained results showed that the Quickbird fused products can be a flexible data source for archaeological researches addressed to the identification and spatial characterization of buried archaeological sites, such as villages, walls, single buildings. 2 DATA SET AND TEST SITE

The QuickBird satellite provides data from two imaging sensors: the panchromatic, having a spatial resolution at 0.61 m, and the multispectral sensor that acquires data in four spectral bands from blue to near infrared with a spatial resolution at 2.44. Both panchromatic and multispectral sensors offer 11 bit (2,048 grey levels) resolution. The QuickBird data used for this study were acquired on 4th July 2004 with an off nadir view angle of 9.3 degrees, thus assuring a limited geometric distortion.

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The investigations were performed for a well documented test case (Monte Irsi), in the Southern Italy (Fig. 1). This site is characterized by the presence of vegetation made up of wheat and herbaceous plants, growing in non-agricultural vegetation cover, and morphological features which make archaeological prospection with any remote sensing technologies difficult.
Apulia

Basilicata

Figure 1. Monte Irsi location in the Southern Italy.

Monte Irsi is a hilly plateau located near the confluence of the Bradano and Basentello rivers, in the Irsina territory (Fig. 2). In this territory, archaeological data state human presence from Paleolithic to Roman Age (1). As regards the hill archaeological remains suggest the presence of a site dating back to Late Iron age. The site was resettled in the Roman Age and then in the Middle Ages (2). As regards this last period, documentary sources state the existence of a village (Yrsum) and a monastery (3). The village achieved its maximum expansion between the 12th and 13th centuries and was abandoned in the 15th century, whereas the monastery was destroyed around 1370.

Figure 2. Panoramic view of Monte Irsi.

Today the only building remaining is a church (see C in Fig. 3b), near of it there are the foundations of a Roman villa (see D in Fig. 3b). Finally, other archaeological remains such as foundations, walls and earthenware are sited at the highest part of the hill (see A in Fig. 3b). They are referable to a medieval settlement that was built on structures dating back to the Late Iron Age (1).

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Figure 3. QuickBird images obtained from the edge detection algorithm applied to (a) panchromatic image; (b) panchromatic and NIR channel data fusion product. In (b) arrows with capital letters denote the top of the hill, characterized by a ditch, and some marks referable to a fortified structure (A); marks relative to buried structures of the medieval settlement (B); a church (C); and a roman villa (D).

METHOD: RATIONAL BASIS AND TOOLS

The use of QuickBird panchromatic image should be able to detect the typical marks, expected in the presence of buried structures as in the case of aerial photos. Different kinds of marks, such as crop, soil and shadow marks (4, 5, 6), are associated with the presence of buried archaeological sites. Their characteristics strongly dependent on soil and/or vegetation cover types. The use of multispectral QuickBird data should allow to emphasize the different marks by using specific spectral bands, depending on the specific characteristics of the investigated sites. Additionally, other advantages of satellite QuickBird data compared to aerial photos, are the synoptic view and, above all, the possibility of performing a combined analysis with multispectral images that should allow the detection of ancient buried remains by exploiting the differences in the reflectance values observed between the potential targets and background. The availability of both Quickbird panchromatic and multispectral data permits the spatial detail of the panchromatic to be fused with the spectral imagery prior to data analysis thus providing a higher capability and spatial resolution of multispectral images. The approach we adopted is based on a combined analysis of data fusion and edge detection algorithms (7). The data fusion products were obtained by using a data fusion algorithm (8) specifically developed for VHR satellite images, which exploits a method based on least squares for finding the best approximation between the fused image bands and the original data to obtain the maximum increasing of details coupled with a minimum distortion. The edge detection was performed by applying a multiscale approach based on the scale-space theory (9) that uses Gaussian smoothing kernels. The selection of scale was performed by keeping in mind that, in our case it was necessary to focus on structures having small sizes and signal amplitudes as expected in the case of surface anomalies due to buried walls, buildings and roads. Finally, using visual inspection, we only consider regular pattern anomalies because the presence

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of geometric features which are quite rare in nature and generally provide useful information for the identification of signs, indicating ancient human activities. 4 RESULTS

The reconnaissance of marks referable to buried structures was performed by analyzing the results obtained from the edge detection algorithm applied to both single channel and data fusion products. A small number of marks are visible from blue, green and red channel. Whereas panchromatic image and the NIR data fusion product provided the best results (Fig. 3a and 3b). The fact that the NIR is more capable than the other spectral channels (blue, green and red) to enhance the surface anomalies is due to the presence of vegetational cover. In fact, the NIR band is particularly sensitive to different vegetational growing that is regarded as a reliable indicator of the presence of buried structures, pits and ditches. Most of the marks surveyed are located on the top of the plateu, where a ditch and marks referable to foundations and buried walls, suggest the existence of a fortified structure (see A in Fig. 3b). Finally between the top of the hill and the church other marks with geometrical pattern are visible (see B in Fig. 3b). 5 FINAL REMARKS

Results from our investigations showed that the Quickbird fused products can be a flexible data source for archaeological researches addressed to identify high probability locations for buried archaeological sites, such as villages, walls, single buildings. The use of Quickbird data revealed to be extremely flexible for extracting information at different spatial levels, from small details to synthetic views thus providing an impressive picture of the archaeological landscape without the need for invasive or expensive survey methods. Quickbird based prospecting methods can provide useful information for a detailed physical and geometrical reconstruction of the investigated archaeological site, as required prior to any excavation work. REFERENCES
1. Small, A., Small, C., Campbell, I., MacKinnon, M., Prowse, T. and Sipe, C., 1998. Field survey in the Basentello valley on the Basilicata-Puglia border. Echos du Monde Classique. Classical views, XLII, 337371. 2. Small, A., 1976. The Iron Age and Roman Site of Monte Irsi, in Canadian Archaeology Abroad, Calgary, 23-33. 3. Janora, M., 1987. Memorie storiche, critiche e diplomatiche della citt di Montepeloso (oggi Irsina), Ed. La Bautta, Matera. 4. Crawford, O. G. S., 1928. Air Survey and Archaeology. Ordnance Survey Professional Papers, new series 7, Southampton. 5. Crawford, O. G. S., 1929. Air Photography for Archaeologists. Ordnance Survey Professional Papers, new series 12, Southampton. 6. Bewley, R. H., 2003. Aerial survey for archaeology. Photogrammetric Record, 18 (104), 273-292. 7. Lasaponara, R. and Masini, N., 2005. QuickBird-based analysis for the spatial characterization of archaeological sites: case study of the Monte Serico Medioeval village. Geophysical Research Letter, in press. 8. Zhang, Y., 2002. A New Automatic Approach for effectively fusing Landsat 7 images and IKONOS images, IEEE/IGARSS02, Toronto. 9. Lindeberg, T., 1998. Feature detection with automatic scale selection. In. J. of Computer Vision, 30(2), 79-116.

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