Revealing Hidden Art: Authenticating And Unveiling Neolithic Rock Paintings Through Advanced Hyperspectral Imaging Techniques

• Published in: IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium proceedings pp. 8064 - 8068
• Main Authors: Anna-Maria, Raita-Hakola, Samuli, Rahkonen, Ilkka, Polonen
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 07.07.2024
• Subjects: Cameras; Geoscience and remote sensing; Hyperspectral imaging; Pigments; Rocks; scandinavian rock paintings; Source coding; spectral unmixing
• ISSN: 2153-7003
• DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS53475.2024.10640641

Finnish rock paintings from Neolithic Stone Age are located on open-air bedrock panels, being subject to the effects biotic and climatic influences. Consequently, these paintings have predominantly faded and are challenging to discern. Through hyperspectral (HS) imaging and computational unmixing methods, both the delineation of these drawings and the identification of their pigments can be enhanced. In this study, we developed an unmixing method for detecting hematite and compared various techniques for delineating figures from HS images captured from Halsvuori rock painting. The results indicate that HS cameras combined with unmixing methods can successfully identify pigments and render the figures more discernible than before. HS data and source code are open and available in Zenodo [1].