Abstract
Illegal excavations represent one of the main risks which affect archaeological heritage throughout the world. Actions oriented to quantify damage and prevent looting can be supported by satellite technologies which can provide reliable information to detect and map devastation phenomenon in particular for remote or non-accessible sites. In these cases, it is desirable to use satellite-based semiautomatic or automatic approaches for the mapping and quantification of looting patterns. In this paper, an automatic method for archaeological looting feature extraction approach (ALFEA) has been applied to an archaeological site in Syria, Tell Sheikh Hamad, affected by archaeological looting before and during the civil war. The aim is to evaluate the capability of ALFEA to extract past and recent looting features and patterns using Google Earth images. The results have been assessed through visual inspection, which shows that the rate of success was higher than 90% for recent looting and around the 80% for past archaeological disturbance.
Keywords
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
AAS (2015) Ancient history, modern destruction: assessing the current status of Syria’s World Heritage Sites using high-resolution satellite imagery. https://www.aaas.org/page/ancient-history-modern-destruction-assessing-current-status-syria-s-world-heritage-sites-using. Accessed 26 Nov 2016
Abdulkarim M (2014) Directorate general of antiquities and museums annual report 2013. Damascus: Ministry of Culture, Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums
Agapiou A, Lysandrou V, Hadjimitsis DG (2017) Optical remote sensing potentials for looting detection. Geosciences 7(4):98. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences7040098
Akkermans PMMG, Schwartz GM (2003) The archaeology of Syria: from complex hunter-gatherers to early urban societies (ca. 16,000–300 BC). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Anselin L (1995) Local indicators of spatial association LISA. Geogr Anal 27:93–115
Bao S (1999) An overview of spatial statistics. University of Michigan, USA, China Data Center
BBC (2016) The Syria: the story of the conflict. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868. Accessed on 12 Sept 2017
Bowen FW, Tofel BB, Parcak S, Granger R (2017) Algorithmic identification of looted archaeological sites from space. Front ICT 4, article 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fict.2017.00004
Bowman N (2008) Transnational crimes against culture: looting at archaeological sites and the ‘grey’ market in antiquities. J Contemp Crim Justice 24(3):225–242
Brodie NJ, Doole J, Renfrew C (2001) Trade in illicit antiquities: the destruction of the world’s archaeological heritage. McDonald Institute, Cambridge
Casana J (2015) Satellite imagery-based analysis of archaeological looting in Syria. Near East Archaeol 8(3):142–152
Caspari G (2018) Assessing looting from space: the destruction of early iron age burials in northern Xinjiang. Heritage 1:320–327
Casana J, Panahipour M (2014) Satellite-based monitoring of looting and damage to archaeological sites in Syria. J East Mediterr Archaeol Herit Stud 2(2):129–152
Cerra D, Pank S, Lysandrou V, Tian J (2016) Cultural heritage sites in danger—towards automatic damage detection from space. Remote Sens 8:781. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8090781
Contreras DA (2010) Huaqueros and remote sensing imagery: assessing looting damage in the Viru Valley, Peru. Antiquity 84(324):544–555
Conversation (2016) Inside ISIS’ looted antiquities trade. Available at http://theconversation.com/inside-isis-looted-antiquities-trade-59287. Accessed on 31 July 2017
Cunliffe E (2012) Damage to the soul: Syria’s cultural heritage in conflict, Global Heritage Fund, 2012. http://ghn.globalheritagefund.com/uploads/documents/document_2107.pdf. Accessed on 31 July 2017
Cunliffe E, Pedersen W, Fiol M, Jellison T, Saslow C, Bjørgo E, Boccardi G (2014) Satellite-based damage assessment to cultural heritage sites in Syria. UNITAR/UNOSAT. http://www.unitar.org/unosat/chs-syria. Accessed on 31 July 2017
Danti M, Branting S, Penacho S (2017) The American Schools of Oriental Research cultural heritage initiatives: monitoring cultural heritage in Syria and Northern Iraq by geospatial imagery. Geosciences 7:95. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences7040095
Ganciu I (2018) Heritage for sale! The role of museums in promoting metal detecting and looting in Romania. Heritage 1(2):437–452. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage1020029
Gatrell AC, Bailey TC, Diggle PJ, Rowlingson BS (1996) Spatial point pattern analysis and its application in geographical epidemiology. Trans Inst Br Geogr 21:256–271
Geary RC (1954) The contiguity ratio and statistical mapping. Inc Stat 5(3):115–145
Getis A, Getis O, Keith J (1992) The analysis of spatial association by the use of distance statistics. Geogr Anal 24:189–206
Gibson M (1997) Iraq Since the Gulf War. The loss of archaeological context and the illegal trade in Mesopotamian antiquities. Culture Without Context. The Newsletter of the Near Eastern Project of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre, 1, pp 6–8
Hart SM, Chilton ES (2015) Digging and destruction: artifact collecting as social practice. Int J Herit Stud 21:318–335
Lasaponara R, Masini N (eds) (2008) Advances in remote sensing for archaeology and cultural heritage management. In: Proceedings of I international EARSeL workshop “Advances in remote sensing for archaeology and cultural heritage management”. Rome 30 September–4 October, 2008. Aracne: Roma. ISBN: 978-88-548-2030-2
Lasaponara R, Masini N (2010) Facing the archaeological looting in Peru by local spatial autocorrelation statistics of very high resolution satellite imagery. In: Taniar D et al (eds) Proceedings of ICSSA, the 2010 international conference on computational science and its application, Fukuoka-Japan, March 23–26, 2010. Springer, Berlin, pp 261–269
Lasaponara R, Masini N (2016) Combating illegal excavations in Cahuachi: ancient problems and modern technologies. In: Lasaponara R, Masini N, Orefici G (eds) The ancient Nasca world new insights from science and archaeology. Springer International Publishing, pp 605–633. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47052-8_25
Lasaponara R, Masini N (2018) Space-based identification of archaeological illegal excavations and a new automatic method for looting feature extraction in desert areas. Surv Geophys. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-018-9480-4
Lasaponara R, Danese M, Masini N (2012) Satellite-based monitoring of archaeological looting in Peru. In: Lasaponara R, Masini N (eds) Satellite remote sensing: a new tool for archaeology. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, ISBN 978-90-481-8800-0, pp 177–193. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8801-7_8
Lasaponara R, Leucci G, Masini N, Persico R (2014) Investigating archaeological looting using satellite images and GEORADAR: the experience in Lambayeque in North Peru. J Archaeol Sci 42:216–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.10.032
Lasaponara R, Leucci G, Masini N, Persico R, Scardozzi G (2016) Towards an operative use of remote sensing for exploring the past using satellite data: the case study of Hierapolis (Turkey). Remote Sens Environ 174:148–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.12.016
Lauricella A, Cannon J, Branting S, Hammer E (2017) Semi-automated detection of looting in Afghanistan using multispectral imagery and principal component analysis. Antiquity 91(359):1344–1355
Looted Heritage (2016) Looted heritage monitoring the illicit antiquities trade. https://heritage.crowdmap.com/main. Accessed on 31 July 2017
Matthiae P (2015) Distruzioni, saccheggi e rinascite. Gli attacchi al patrimonio artistico dall’antichità all’Isis. Mondadori Electa, Florence
Memarsadeghi N, Netanyahu NS, LeMoigne J (2007) A fast implementation of the ISODATA clustering algorithm. Int J Comput Geom Appl 17(1):71–103
O’Neil T (1972) Archaeological looting and site destruction. Science 176:353–355
Parcak S (2007) Satellite remote sensing methods for monitoring archaeological tells in the Middle East. J Field Archaeol 32(1):65–81
Pringle H (2010) Google Earth shows clandestine worlds. Science 329:1008–1009
Proulx BB (2013) Archaeological site looting in global perspective. Nature, scope and frequency. Am J Archaeol 117:111–125
Richards JA, Jia X (2006) Remote sensing digital image analysis – hardback.4th edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg
Stone EC (2008) Patterns of looting in southern Iraq. Antiquity 82:125–138
Stone EC (2015) An update on the looting of archaeological sites in Iraq. Near East Archaeol 78(3):178–186
UNESCO (1956) Recommendation on international principles applicable to archaeological excavations. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13062&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Accessed on 31 July 2017
UNESCO (1970) Convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13039&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Accessed on 31 July 2017
United Nations Security Council (2015) Unanimously adopting resolution 2199, security council condemns trade with Al-Qaida associated groups, threatens further targeted sanctions. https://www.un.org/press/en/2015/sc11775.doc.htm. Accessed on 31 July 2017
Ur J (2006) Google Earth and archaeology. SAA Archaeol Rec 6:35–38
van Ess M, Becker H, Fassbinder J, Kiefl R, Lingenfelder I, Schreier G, Zevenbergen A (2006) Detection of looting activities at archaeological sites in Iraq using Ikonos imagery. Angewandte Geoinformatik, Beiträge zum (18). Wiechmann-Verlag, Heidelberg, pp 668–678
Vella C, Bocancea E, Urban TM, Knodell AR, Tuttle CA, Alcock SE (2015) Looting and vandalism around a World Heritage Site: documenting modern damage to archaeological heritage in Petra’s hinterland. J Field Archaeol 40(2):221–235
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Masini, N., Lasaponara, R. (2020). Recent and Past Archaeological Looting by Satellite Remote Sensing: Approach and Application in Syria. 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_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10979-0_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-10978-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-10979-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)