Abstract
Looting of archaeological sites is illegal and considered a major anthropogenic threat for cultural heritage, entailing undesirable and irreversible damage at several levels, such as landscape disturbance, heritage destruction, and adverse social impact. In recent years, the employment of remote sensing technologies using ground-based and/or space-based sensors has assisted in dealing with this issue. Novel remote sensing techniques have tackled heritage destruction occurring in war-conflicted areas, as well as illicit archeological activity in vast areas of archaeological interest with limited surveillance. The damage performed by illegal activities, as well as the scarcity of reliable information are some of the major concerns that local stakeholders are facing today. This study discusses the potential use of remote sensing technologies based on the results obtained for the archaeological landscape of Ayios Mnason in Politiko village, located in Nicosia district, Cyprus. In this area, more than ten looted tombs have been recorded in the last decade, indicating small-scale, but still systematic, looting. The image analysis, including vegetation indices, fusion, automatic extraction after object-oriented classification, etc., was based on high-resolution WorldView-2 multispectral satellite imagery and RGB high-resolution aerial orthorectified images. Google Earth© images were also used to map and diachronically observe the site. The current research also discusses the potential for wider application of the presented methodology, acting as an early warning system, in an effort to establish a systematic monitoring tool for archaeological areas in Cyprus facing similar threats.
Highlights
Looting is considered as a major anthropogenic threat for cultural heritage due to the irreversible damage that is caused to the archaeological context and the findings themselves, often diverted into the illicit market [1,2]
This paper aims to present small-scale looting attempts which seem to have been made in recent years in Cyprus
Though the use of such datasets has been presented in the past by other researchers, in this example the looting signs were of a small scale (i.e., 1–3 looting attempts per year) and no schedule image was provided
Summary
Looting is considered as a major anthropogenic threat for cultural heritage due to the irreversible damage that is caused to the archaeological context and the findings themselves, often diverted into the illicit market [1,2]. Due to the complexity of the problem, the scientific community and local stakeholders are seeking ways to minimize the degree and the extent of looting by the exploitation of innovative technologies [10]. In this concept, Earth observation and aerial sensors are considered as important aspects of a holistic approach to eventually constraining the problem. Earth observation and aerial sensors are considered as important aspects of a holistic approach to eventually constraining the problem Recent examples from both optical and passive remote sensing technologies can be found in the literature, indicating the advantages and the accuracy of the results for mapping archaeological areas that are under threat [11–14]. Ground geophysical prospecting has been applied, as in the case of [5] in Peru
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