For Recording Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa.', Geosciences., 7 (4)
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Durham Research Online Deposited in DRO: 29 September 2017 Version of attached le: Accepted Version Peer-review status of attached le: Peer-reviewed Citation for published item: Rayne, L. and Bradbury, J. and Mattingly, D. and Philip, G. and Bewley, R. and Wilson, A. (2017) 'From above and on the ground : geospatial methods for recording endangered archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa.', Geosciences., 7 (4). p. 100. Further information on publisher's website: https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences7040100 Publisher's copyright statement: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0). 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Durham University Library, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LY, United Kingdom Tel : +44 (0)191 334 3042 | Fax : +44 (0)191 334 2971 https://dro.dur.ac.uk 1 Type of the Paper (Article, Review, Communication, etc.) 2 From Above and on the Ground: Geospatial Methods 3 for Recording Endangered Archaeology in the Middle 4 East and North Africa 5 Louise Rayne 1 *, Jennie Bradbury 2, David Mattingly 1, Graham Philip4, Robert Bewley2 and 6 Andrew Wilson2 7 1School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, 8 UK ; 9 2 School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 1-2 South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3TG, UK; 10 3 School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH ; 11 University of Leicester, UK; 12 4Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK; 13 14 *Correspondence Louise Rayne: [email protected] Tel.: 01163736248 15 Jennie Bradbury: [email protected] 16 David Mattingly: [email protected] 17 Graham Philip: [email protected] 18 Robert Bewley: [email protected] 19 Andrew Wilson: [email protected] 20 21 Academic Editor: name 22 Received: date; Accepted: date; Published: date 23 Abstract: The Endangered Archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project is 24 a collaboration between the Universities of Leicester, Oxford and Durham; funded by the Arcadia 25 Fund and the Cultural Protection Fund. This paper explores the development of the EAMENA 26 methodology, and discusses some of the problems of working across such a broad region. We 27 discuss two main case studies: the World Heritage site of Cyrene illustrates how the project can use 28 satellite imagery (dating from the 1960s to 2017), in conjunction with published data to create a 29 detailed set of database records for a single site and, in particular, highlights the impact of modern 30 urban expansion across the region. Conversely, the Homs Cairns case study demonstrates how the 31 EAMENA methodology also works at an extensive scale, and integrates image interpretation 32 (using imagery dating from the 1960s to 2016), landuse mapping and field survey (2007-2010) to 33 record and analyse the condition of hundreds of features across a small study region. This study 34 emphasises the impact of modern agricultural and land clearing activities. Ultimately, this paper 35 assesses the effectiveness of the EAMENA approach, evaluating its potential success against 36 projects using crowd-sourcing and automation for recording archaeological sites, and seeks to 37 determine the most appropriate methods to use to document sites and assess disturbances and 38 threats across such a vast and diverse area. 39 Keywords: Archaeology; cultural heritage; Middle East; North Africa; remote sensing 40 41 1. Introduction Geosciences 2017, 7, x; doi: FOR PEER REVIEW www.mdpi.com/journal/geosciences Geosciences 2017, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 42 42 As a result of innovations in open source geospatial and database technologies and 43 software, archaeologists can now collect and analyse data at unprecedented scales [e.g. 1, 2]. As 44 Hritz [3] (p.229) recently pointed out, these developments have also enabled us to develop 45 strategies to ensure better documentation and management of landscapes that are under threat or 46 rapidly disappearing. Despite these advances, access to the data, technology and software required 47 to query, analyse and manage threats is very uneven across the Middle East and North Africa 48 (MENA) region. 49 The Endangered Archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) Project [see 50 4, also 5] is documenting archaeological sites and the threats posed to them in an online database 51 that spans 20 countries (an area of roughly 10,000,000 km2, see Figure 1). The project uses two main 52 methodological approaches, both designed to promote the recording, protection and understanding 53 of cultural heritage at risk across the MENA region as a whole. First, we focus on accessible, 54 user-friendly and open-source remote sensing technologies and tools. Second, we seek to enhance 55 our data and understanding of risk/damage to sites with more specific analyses using 56 high-resolution data where possible. 57 EAMENA is a collaborative project between the Universities of Oxford, Leicester and 58 Durham, directed by a group of archaeologists with significant experience of remote sensing and 59 archaeological survey in the MENA region, and supported by a team of post-doctoral researchers 60 who undertake data entry, remote sensing analysis and prepare fieldwork based studies, and who 61 will deliver training. To date, the project has focused on: 62 • the construction of our database, using the open-source Arches software and with 63 the creation of over 150,000 records, 64 • the detailed analysis of specific causes of damage to archaeological sites in the 65 MENA region, 66 • the initial stages of our training programme [6]. 67 In a second phase of the project, we will develop a series of intensive training courses in the 68 EAMENA methodologies to be attended by heritage professionals from eight MENA-region 69 countries. 70 This article explores the underlying methodological approaches adopted by the EAMENA 71 project. We discuss how EAMENA focuses on the production of accurate and accessible data by 72 applying well established techniques to promote standardisation and replicability; ensuring 73 openness, ease of training, and adoption across the MENA region as a whole. We evaluate this 74 methodology alongside other geospatial methods for heritage recording such as crowd-mapping 75 and automation. The challenges of measuring and dealing with uncertainty are also addressed. Geosciences 2017, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 42 76 77 Figure 1: EAMENA study area (highlighted in grey) and the location of the case studies discussed in this 78 paper. 79 1.1. Remote Sensing and Heritage Recording in the MENA Region 80 The use of historical aerial photography and satellite imagery has a considerable legacy in 81 the MENA region, developing from the work of Poidebard [7], Stein [8], and others in the early 20th 82 century. Recent projects have revisited historical aerial images [9, 10, 11], and conducted new 83 programmes of image collection (for example, the APAAME project [12, 13, 14]. The use of these 84 resources, alongside drone photography, photogrammetry and satellite imagery analysis, is now 85 fairly commonplace. For Middle Eastern landscapes in particular, the declassification in the 1990s of 86 Cold War satellite photography collected in the 1960s-70s revolutionised this sub-field. This 87 facilitates the mapping of features, especially as many sites have been damaged or destroyed 88 during phases of agricultural and urban expansion in the last 40 years [15, 16, 17, 18, 19]. In North 89 Africa, projects focusing on Libya initially made use of the Landsat sensors which have been 90 collecting data since the 1970s (e.g. the Libyan Valleys Project, [17]). 91 The greater availability of high-resolution modern satellite data since the early 2000s, such 92 as Spot5/6 and Ikonos, and more recently from sensors with spatial resolutions as high as 0.30m, 93 such as WorldView 3 and 4, has also allowed projects working in the MENA region to undertake 94 detailed recording of archaeological sites across discrete sub-regions [15, 18, 5, 11]. While these data 95 enable the mapping of complex features to be undertaken, their high cost is prohibitive for most 96 archaeological projects. Free data, such as Google Earth, have allowed the mapping of more 97 extensive areas and have been used quite widely by archaeologists to identify sites (for example by 98 the Fragile Crescent Project in the Middle East (Durham), and the Trans-Sahara Project in North 99 Africa (Leicester). 100 There has also been a growing awareness of the potential of remote sensing to detect and 101 monitor damage and disturbances to archaeological sites and thus a growing emphasis on its use 102 for these purposes [21, 22, 23]. Archaeologists in this region increasingly rely on space-borne data to 103 give a wide-scale view of heritage. For example, projects have made use of imagery offering a wide 104 spectral range, for example mapping causes of damage using the multispectral properties of 105 datasets such as Landsat, Sentinel, and higher resolution images (at a cost).