Abstract
This chapter describes recent studies on the use of synthetic aperture radar for archaeological prospection and anthropogenic feature extraction. Radar remote sensing can provide unique information about objects on the ground from its sensitivity to the relative permittivity of materials and to surface roughness, as a function of the microwave wavelength. Methods have been developed to detect residues of buried structures over land cover types typical to Europe and the Middle East. These include agriculture, grassland and sand-covered areas. The techniques attempt to exploit the full information content of radar data, contained in both the amplitude and phase of the signal. They also attempt to make efficient use of time series. Results show that surface residues of buried archaeological structures in temperate vegetated areas can be identified in variously processed radar images. Anthropogenic features in sand-covered areas can also be efficiently detected. Developments in Big Data analytics and Earth observation data accessibility have the potential to bring radar remote sensing closer to the cultural heritage community.
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Stewart, C. (2020). SAR for Archaeological Prospection in Europe and in the Middle East. In: Hadjimitsis, D., et al. Remote Sensing for Archaeology and Cultural Landscapes. Springer Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10979-0_5
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