The Innovative Growth of Space Archaeology: A Brief Overview of Concepts and Approaches in Detection, Monitoring, and Promotion of the Archaeological Heritage

• Published in: Remote sensing (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 15; no. 12; p. 3049
• Main Authors: Zingaro, Marina, Scicchitano, Giovanni, Capolongo, Domenico
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.06.2023
• Subjects: archaeological heritage; Archaeological sites; Archaeology; Archives & records; Artificial satellites in remote sensing; Cultural heritage; Data integration; Data processing; Geographic information systems; Historic buildings & sites; Historic sites; Image enhancement; Image processing; Image reconstruction; Information processing; Inspection; Literature reviews; Looting; Monitoring; Remote sensing; Satellites; Software; space archaeology; Statistical analysis; Sustainable development; Topography; United Kingdom; Germany
• ISSN: 2072-4292; 2072-4292
• DOI: 10.3390/rs15123049

Space Archaeology (SA), also known as Satellite Archaeology, Satellite Remote Sensing for Archaeology, or Archaeology from Space, is part of the wider interdisciplinary field of Remote Sensing for Archaeology. The application of satellite data in archaeological investigations has proven useful for landscape observation and analysis, the detection of archaeological traces, the reconstruction and monitoring of natural and anthropic processes, and the management and promotion of archaeological heritage. During the last few decades, the increasing number of SA studies has demonstrated innovative growth in archaeological disciplines due to the significant enhancement of spatial technologies, the advancement of visual inspection and image processing techniques, the development of data fusion methodologies, and the improvement of multi-temporal analysis methods. Therefore, a broad overview of the current situation in the concepts and approaches of SA is necessary to gain greater awareness of the current potentialities and limitations of this science to better address future studies. The present work provides a review of the scientific literature by exploring the different aspects of SA and the goals achieved to date in three main application fields: Detection, monitoring, and promotion of archaeological heritage. The contributions reviewed were divided within each of these three categories by analyzing the type of SA data and methods applied. The results indicate that (1) most studies aim to detect archaeological sites compared to monitoring and promotion; (2) optical images are used more than SAR data; and (3) techniques of image enhancement and visual interpretation are applied more than other data processing methods. This brief overview allows us to consider SA as an evolving discipline, an engine for cross-skills training, as well as a promising future science that can play a key role in the frontier of sustainable development and the new space economy.