Normalized difference water index for cultural heritage. A reproducible method for monitoring flooded archaeological sites

This paper presents a reproducible and adaptable methodology for monitoring and analyzing archaeological sites that resurface from fluctuating lake waters. This innovative workflow addresses a growing need for a second-phase salvage approach by utilizing spectral indices extracted by free medium-resolution satellite images combined with zonal statistics to analyze the resurfaced area of archaeological sites. The methodology incorporates cloud-computing, open-source GIS, and programming languages tailored for reuse, ensuring reproducibility and ease of use. Thanks to the results available, the different applications in which the workflow was already tested, and the future possibilities, the paper will show how a tool like the one presented here can fill a gap in the current archaeological workflow regarding emerging cultural heritage.

Bibtex

@Article{Titolo-mesopotamia,
  author     = {Titolo, Andrea},
  journal    = {Mesopotamia},
  title      = {Normalized Difference Water Index For Cultural Heritage. A Reproducible Method For Monitoring Flooded Archaeological Sites},
  year       = {2024},
  issn       = {00766615},
  pages      = {175-191},
  volume     = {LIX},
  abstract   = {This paper presents a reproducible and adaptable methodology for monitoring and analyzing archaeological sites that resurface from fluctuating lake waters. This innovative workflow addresses a growing need for a second-phase salvage approach by utilizing spectral indices extracted by free medium-resolution satellite images combined with zonal statistics to analyze the resurfaced area of archaeological sites. The methodology incorporates cloud-computing, open-source GIS, and programming languages tailored for reuse, ensuring reproducibility and ease of use. Thanks to the results available, the different applications in which the workflow was already tested, and the future possibilities, the paper will show how a tool like the one presented here can fill a gap in the current archaeological workflow regarding emerging cultural heritage.},
  doi        = {},
  file       = {https://www.apicelibri.it/HandlerObjectFile.ashx?id=96a78c95-6951-402d-af57-38a899a54c2e},
  keywords   = {Remote Sensing; Change Detection; R; Google Earth Engine; QGIS},
  publisher  = {Centro Scavi Torino},
  shorttitle = {},
  url        = {https://www.apicelibri.it/catalogo/mesopotamia-2024/477?path=catalogo},
  urldate    = {2025-02-18},
}