Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India

Bhooma Srinivasan; Friedrich Teichmann

doi:doi:10.11648/j.es.20170203.13

| Peer-Reviewed

Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India

Bhooma Srinivasan, Friedrich Teichmann

Published in Engineering Science (Volume 2, Issue 3)

Received: 28 March 2017 Accepted: 13 April 2017 Published: 31 May 2017

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

Despite the fact that highly intriguing, historical and world famous architectures are all carved out of rocks or made up of stones, there has been a continuous vacuum in the academic literature for the stone artefacts that requires investigation regarding the spectral response curve or a specific bandwidth to identify structures made up of rocks. Therefore, this research throws some light on the rock-cut caves and sculptures which stand as a heritage monument in many places in and around India by incorporating the multispectral Landsat satellite imagery. This paper aims to corroborate a methodology to find rocks using a discrete Landsat satellite band that would highlight rock based structures from various land cover backgrounds retrieved by multispectral remote sensing methodology. Four different non-examined and two well-known archaeological sites are taken as case studies to analyze and average across the study area samples for best results. Withal it is essential to understand that this research outcome will provide a comprehensive overview of the interesting observations obtained by Landsat satellite imagery with comparatively limited spatial resolution.

Published in	Engineering Science (Volume 2, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.es.20170203.13
Page(s)	69-77
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Multi-spectral, Remote Sensing, Archaeology, Photogrammetry, Rocks, Spectral Signature

References

[1]	S. Gawlowicz, “NASA Landsat Science,” 16 05 2008. [Online]. Available: https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/archaeologist-uses-landsat-to-explore-ancient-mexico/. [Accessed 09 03 2017].
[2]	“National Geographic Society, “Sarah Parack, Archaeologist”,” [Online]. Available: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/sarah-parcak/. [Accessed 09 03 2017].
[3]	M. Petronzio, “Mashable "The New Golden Age of Archaeology Is Right Now",” 06 11 2013. [Online]. Available: http://mashable.com/2013/11/06/space-archaeology/#iZybcjuEuaqj. [Accessed 09 03 2017].
[4]	M. Venkataramanan, “Wired.co.uk "Space archaeologist discovers lost cities with satellite imagery",” 14 11 2014. [Online]. Available: http://www.wired.co.uk/article/scanning-the-past. [Accessed 09 03 2017].
[5]	“Star pupil finds lost Mayan city by studying ancient charts of the night sky from his bedroom,” The Daily Telegraph, 10 05 2016.
[6]	A. Willingham, “CNN "Breaking down the mythical 'Maya city' discovery",” 12 05 2016. [Online]. Available: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/11/americas/mayan-city-debunk. [Accessed 09 03 2017].
[7]	X. Zhu, GIS for Environmental Applications: A Practical Approach, New York: Routledge, 2016.
[8]	R. N. Clark, Manual of Remote Sensing, Remote Sensing for the Earth Sciences, New York, 1998.
[9]	R. A. Ryerson and A. N. Rencz, “Spectroscopy of Rocks and Minerals, and Principles of Spectroscopy,” in Remote Sensing for the Earth Sciences: Manual of Remote Sensing, John Wiley & Sons. Inc., 1999, pp. Pages 03-357.
[10]	J. D. Bossler, Manual of Geospatial Science and Technology, CRC Press: Taylor & Francis Group, 2010.
[11]	S. I. T. A. H. A. and H. I., “Archaeological prospection and remote sensing,” Antiquity Publications Ltd, 1990.
[12]	G. Joseph, Fundamentals of Remote Sensing, India: Universities Press, 2005.
[13]	M. A. Ashraf, M. J. Maah and I. Yusoff, “Introduction to Remote Sensing of Biomass,” Vols. 978-953-307-490-0, 2011.
[14]	A. Rowlands and A. Sarris, “Detection of exposed and subsurface archaeological remains using,” Journal of archaeological science, vol. 34, pp. 795-803, 2007.
[15]	“Microimages: Introduction to Hyperspectral Imaging,” [Online]. Available: http://www.microimages.com/documentation/html/Tutorials/hyprspec.htm. [Accessed 10 03 2017].
[16]	F. F. Sabins, “Remote sensing for mineral exploration,” Ore Geoglogy Reviews, vol. 14, pp. 187-183, 1999.
[17]	F. F. Sabins, Remote Sensing: Principles and Applications, New York: W. H. Freeman & Co., 1997.
[18]	“Edakkal caves,” Kerala Tourism, 2013. [Online]. Available: https://www.keralatourism.org/destination/edakkal-caves-wayanad/335. [Accessed 17 05 2016].
[19]	"Ellora Caves," UNESCO World Heritage Center, [Online]. Available: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/243/gallery/. [Accessed 17 05 2016].
[20]	C. Bassani, R. M. Cavalli, R. Goffredo, A. Palombo, S. Pasucci and S. Pignatti, “Specific spectral bands for different land cover contexts to improve the efficiency of remote sensing archaeological prospection: The Arpi case study,” Journal of Cultural Heritage, pp. 41- 48, 2009.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Bhooma Srinivasan, Friedrich Teichmann. (2017). Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India. Engineering Science, 2(3), 69-77. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.es.20170203.13

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Bhooma Srinivasan; Friedrich Teichmann. Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India. Eng. Sci. 2017, 2(3), 69-77. doi: 10.11648/j.es.20170203.13

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Bhooma Srinivasan, Friedrich Teichmann. Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India. Eng Sci. 2017;2(3):69-77. doi: 10.11648/j.es.20170203.13

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.es.20170203.13,
  author = {Bhooma Srinivasan and Friedrich Teichmann},
  title = {Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India},
  journal = {Engineering Science},
  volume = {2},
  number = {3},
  pages = {69-77},
  doi = {10.11648/j.es.20170203.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.es.20170203.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.es.20170203.13},
  abstract = {Despite the fact that highly intriguing, historical and world famous architectures are all carved out of rocks or made up of stones, there has been a continuous vacuum in the academic literature for the stone artefacts that requires investigation regarding the spectral response curve or a specific bandwidth to identify structures made up of rocks. Therefore, this research throws some light on the rock-cut caves and sculptures which stand as a heritage monument in many places in and around India by incorporating the multispectral Landsat satellite imagery. This paper aims to corroborate a methodology to find rocks using a discrete Landsat satellite band that would highlight rock based structures from various land cover backgrounds retrieved by multispectral remote sensing methodology. Four different non-examined and two well-known archaeological sites are taken as case studies to analyze and average across the study area samples for best results. Withal it is essential to understand that this research outcome will provide a comprehensive overview of the interesting observations obtained by Landsat satellite imagery with comparatively limited spatial resolution.},
 year = {2017}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India
AU  - Bhooma Srinivasan
AU  - Friedrich Teichmann
Y1  - 2017/05/31
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.es.20170203.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.es.20170203.13
T2  - Engineering Science
JF  - Engineering Science
JO  - Engineering Science
SP  - 69
EP  - 77
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2578-9279
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.es.20170203.13
AB  - Despite the fact that highly intriguing, historical and world famous architectures are all carved out of rocks or made up of stones, there has been a continuous vacuum in the academic literature for the stone artefacts that requires investigation regarding the spectral response curve or a specific bandwidth to identify structures made up of rocks. Therefore, this research throws some light on the rock-cut caves and sculptures which stand as a heritage monument in many places in and around India by incorporating the multispectral Landsat satellite imagery. This paper aims to corroborate a methodology to find rocks using a discrete Landsat satellite band that would highlight rock based structures from various land cover backgrounds retrieved by multispectral remote sensing methodology. Four different non-examined and two well-known archaeological sites are taken as case studies to analyze and average across the study area samples for best results. Withal it is essential to understand that this research outcome will provide a comprehensive overview of the interesting observations obtained by Landsat satellite imagery with comparatively limited spatial resolution.
VL  - 2
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Bhooma Srinivasan

Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Applied Sciences, Wiener Neustadt, Austria
Friedrich Teichmann

Geospatial Institute of the Austrian Armed Forces (Institut für Milit?risches GeoWesen IMG), Vienna, Austria

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Bhooma Srinivasan, Friedrich Teichmann. (2017). Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India. Engineering Science, 2(3), 69-77. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.es.20170203.13

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Bhooma Srinivasan; Friedrich Teichmann. Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India. Eng. Sci. 2017, 2(3), 69-77. doi: 10.11648/j.es.20170203.13

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Bhooma Srinivasan, Friedrich Teichmann. Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India. Eng Sci. 2017;2(3):69-77. doi: 10.11648/j.es.20170203.13

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.es.20170203.13,
  author = {Bhooma Srinivasan and Friedrich Teichmann},
  title = {Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India},
  journal = {Engineering Science},
  volume = {2},
  number = {3},
  pages = {69-77},
  doi = {10.11648/j.es.20170203.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.es.20170203.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.es.20170203.13},
  abstract = {Despite the fact that highly intriguing, historical and world famous architectures are all carved out of rocks or made up of stones, there has been a continuous vacuum in the academic literature for the stone artefacts that requires investigation regarding the spectral response curve or a specific bandwidth to identify structures made up of rocks. Therefore, this research throws some light on the rock-cut caves and sculptures which stand as a heritage monument in many places in and around India by incorporating the multispectral Landsat satellite imagery. This paper aims to corroborate a methodology to find rocks using a discrete Landsat satellite band that would highlight rock based structures from various land cover backgrounds retrieved by multispectral remote sensing methodology. Four different non-examined and two well-known archaeological sites are taken as case studies to analyze and average across the study area samples for best results. Withal it is essential to understand that this research outcome will provide a comprehensive overview of the interesting observations obtained by Landsat satellite imagery with comparatively limited spatial resolution.},
 year = {2017}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Analysis of Landsat 8 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for the Identification of Rock-Based Archaeological Sites in India
AU  - Bhooma Srinivasan
AU  - Friedrich Teichmann
Y1  - 2017/05/31
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.es.20170203.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.es.20170203.13
T2  - Engineering Science
JF  - Engineering Science
JO  - Engineering Science
SP  - 69
EP  - 77
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2578-9279
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.es.20170203.13
AB  - Despite the fact that highly intriguing, historical and world famous architectures are all carved out of rocks or made up of stones, there has been a continuous vacuum in the academic literature for the stone artefacts that requires investigation regarding the spectral response curve or a specific bandwidth to identify structures made up of rocks. Therefore, this research throws some light on the rock-cut caves and sculptures which stand as a heritage monument in many places in and around India by incorporating the multispectral Landsat satellite imagery. This paper aims to corroborate a methodology to find rocks using a discrete Landsat satellite band that would highlight rock based structures from various land cover backgrounds retrieved by multispectral remote sensing methodology. Four different non-examined and two well-known archaeological sites are taken as case studies to analyze and average across the study area samples for best results. Withal it is essential to understand that this research outcome will provide a comprehensive overview of the interesting observations obtained by Landsat satellite imagery with comparatively limited spatial resolution.
VL  - 2
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download