Multispectral satellite imagery processing to recognize and analyze archaeological sites in the central area of Sicily (Italy)

Abstract

This article aims to improve the study of archaeological sites in the territory of Milena, a town located in Sicily (Italy). Between the 80 s and 90 s different excavation campaigns had documented numerous prehistoric sites. However, most of the ancient settlements have yet to be discovered and studied. The search operations are made difficult by the large size of the territory and its geomophorological characteristics. In fact, many settlements stand on chalky hills that are rapidly crumbling, risking damage to the archaeological remains. To intervene as soon as possible, we have relied on the use of modern approaches, capable of speeding up the work of researchers. Here we propose a new approach based on remote sensing and the GIS technology to detect archaeological sites. In particular, we used multispectral remote sensing data in a GIS environmental both for predictive and post-dictive analyses. We were able to locate areas where there are ceramics and elements that can be recoded to human settlements. The quality of the results depends on the choice of the remotely sensed images, which can have different spectral characteristics, on the acquisition period, but also on the preprocessing algorithms adopted for the classification in the GIS environment.