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Recent and Past Archaeological Looting by Satellite Remote Sensing: Approach and Application in Syria

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Remote Sensing for Archaeology and Cultural Landscapes

Part of the book series: Springer Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry ((SPRINGERREMO))

Abstract

Illegal excavations represent one of the main risks which affect archaeological heritage throughout the world. Actions oriented to quantify damage and prevent looting can be supported by satellite technologies which can provide reliable information to detect and map devastation phenomenon in particular for remote or non-accessible sites. In these cases, it is desirable to use satellite-based semiautomatic or automatic approaches for the mapping and quantification of looting patterns. In this paper, an automatic method for archaeological looting feature extraction approach (ALFEA) has been applied to an archaeological site in Syria, Tell Sheikh Hamad, affected by archaeological looting before and during the civil war. The aim is to evaluate the capability of ALFEA to extract past and recent looting features and patterns using Google Earth images. The results have been assessed through visual inspection, which shows that the rate of success was higher than 90% for recent looting and around the 80% for past archaeological disturbance.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeological and Monumental Heritage, CNR-IBAM (Italy), Tito Scalo, Potenza, Italy

    Nicola Masini

  2. Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis, CNR-IMAA (Italy), Tito Scalo, Potenza, Italy

    Rosa Lasaponara

Authors
  1. Nicola Masini
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  2. Rosa Lasaponara
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicola Masini .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus

    Diofantos G. Hadjimitsis

  2. Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus

    Kyriacos Themistocleous

  3. Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus

    Branka Cuca

  4. Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus

    Athos Agapiou

  5. Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus

    Vasiliki Lysandrou

  6. Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis, CNR-IMAA (Italy), Tito Scalo, Potenza, Italy

    Rosa Lasaponara

  7. Institute of Archaeological and Monumental Heritage, CNR-IBAM (Italy), Tito Scalo, Potenza, Italy

    Nicola Masini

  8. Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Aerospace Center (DLR), Wessling, Germany

    Gunter Schreier

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Masini, N., Lasaponara, R. (2020). Recent and Past Archaeological Looting by Satellite Remote Sensing: Approach and Application in Syria. In: Hadjimitsis, D., et al. Remote Sensing for Archaeology and Cultural Landscapes. Springer Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10979-0_8

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