Detecting and Predicting Archaeological Sites Using Remote Sensing and Machine Learning-Application to the Saruq Al-Hadid Site, Dubai, UAE

In this paper, the feasibility of satellite remote sensing in detecting and predicting locations of buried objects in the archaeological site of Saruq Al-Hadid, United Arab Emirates (UAE) was investigated. Satellite-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is proposed as the main technology for this initial investigation. In fact, SAR is the only satellite-based technology able to detect buried artefacts from space, and it is expected that fine-resolution images of ALOS/PALSAR-2 (L-band SAR) would be able to detect large features (>1 m) that might be buried in the subsurface (<2 m) under optimum conditions, i.e., dry and bare soil. SAR data were complemented with very high-resolution Worldview-3 multispectral images (0.31 m panchromatic, 1.24 m VNIR) to obtain a visual assessment of the study area and its land cover features. An integrated approach, featuring the application of advanced image processing techniques and geospatial analysis using machine learning, was adopted to characterise the site while automating the process and investigating its applicability. Results from SAR feature extraction and geospatial analyses showed detection of the areas on the site that were already under excavation and predicted new, hitherto unexplored archaeological areas. The validation of these results was performed using previous archaeological works as well as geological and geomorphological field surveys. The modelling and prediction accuracies are expected to improve with the insertion of a neural network and backpropagation algorithms based on the performed cluster groups following more recent field surveys. The validated results can provide guidance for future on-site archaeological work. The pilot process developed in this work can therefore be applied to similar arid environments for the detection of archaeological features and guidance of on-site investigations.

Automated summary

The feasibility of using satellite remote sensing, particularly synthetic aperture radar (SAR), for detecting and predicting buried objects in the archaeological site of Saruq Al-Hadid in the United Arab Emirates was investigated in this paper. SAR was found to be the only satellite-based technology capable of detecting buried artifacts from space, and the study used SAR data along with high-resolution multispectral images to assess the site and its land cover features. Advanced image processing techniques and geospatial analysis were used to characterize the site and automate the process, showing promising results in detecting previously excavated areas and predicting unexplored archaeological areas. The validated results can guide future on-site archaeological work and the developed pilot process can be applied in similar arid environments for archaeological feature detection and guidance.