Remote Sensing and Its Uses in Archeology

Abstract

Aerial photography, remote sensing technique has been used as a tool for acquisition of archaeological information for several decades. At the turn of the twentieth century, archaeologists realized that valuable archaeological data could be extracted from aerial photos, thus it has been developed into a systematic discipline known as aerial archaeology. Though aerial photography has a long history of use, Satellite remote sensing is a recent discipline applied in detection, mapping and analysis of archaeological matter, providing that the spatial resolution of the sensor is adequate to detect the features. Both aerial photography and satellite imagery have advantages and limitations with regard to archaeological applications. In the last few years, combination of the two was found to be ideal for archaeological remote sensing applications. Remote sensing has increased in importance to archaeology, as being an important close integrator with Geographic Information Systems. Remote sensing and its kindred tool of GIS have become central elements of modern spatial information and analysis system in archaeology.

Keywords

• Aerial photography, acquisition of archaeological information, aerial archaeology, Remote sensing, GIS