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Remote Sensing
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Remote Sensing of Past Human Land Use
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Remote Sensing of Past Human Land Use

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Engineering Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2021) | Viewed by 24590

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Jesse Casana

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, 3 Tuck Drive, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
Interests: landscape archaeology; remote sensing; Near Eastern archaeology; early complex societies; settlement and land use history
Dr. Elise Jakoby Laugier

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Ecology, Evolution, Environment, and Society Program, Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, 3 Tuck Drive, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
Interests: landscape archaeology; remote sensing; human–environment relationships; archaeological science; Near East

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Archaeological traces of ancient land use practices, including agricultural fields, water management features, road and route systems, ritual sites, and built environments, offer revealing evidence regarding past systems of settlement and subsistence, environmental entanglements, and perspectives on labor, gender, and power. Nevertheless, relict traces of land use practices are among the most difficult features to resolve using traditional archaeological field methods, as these ephemeral features are often preserved only as subtle differences in soil composition, topographic expression, or vegetation health. Furthermore, land use features often extend over enormous areas of the landscape, rendering them particularly susceptible to destruction through modern agriculture or urban development. Fortunately, a suite of emerging remote sensing technologies and approaches, including landscape-scale terrestrial geophysics, mutli-sensor drone-based imaging, and analysis of multi-temporal aerial and satellite imagery, are now transforming how we explore archaeological landscapes. This Special Issue showcases new research that deploys innovative approaches to archaeological remote sensing as a means to discover, document, and interpret ancient land use features.

Prof. Jesse Casana
Dr. Elise Jakoby Laugier
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Archaeological remote sensing
  • Land use history
  • Landscape archaeology
  • Archaeological geophysics
  • Drones (UAVs)
  • Satellite imagery
  • Human-environment relationships

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 41238 KiB  
Article
The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape
by Austin Chad Hill and Yorke M. Rowan
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(3), 702; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14030702 - 02 Feb 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2829
Abstract
This paper presents the results of a large scale, drone-based aerial survey in northeastern Jordan. Drones have rapidly become one of the most cost-effective and efficient tools for collecting high-resolution landscape data, fitting between larger-scale, lower-resolution satellite data collection and the significantly more [...] Read more.
This paper presents the results of a large scale, drone-based aerial survey in northeastern Jordan. Drones have rapidly become one of the most cost-effective and efficient tools for collecting high-resolution landscape data, fitting between larger-scale, lower-resolution satellite data collection and the significantly more limited traditional terrestrial survey approaches. Drones are particularly effective in areas where anthropogenic features are visible on the surface but are too small to identify with commonly and economically available satellite data. Using imagery from fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, along with photogrammetric processing, we surveyed an extensive archaeological landscape spanning 32 km2 at the site of Wadi al-Qattafi in the eastern badia region of Jordan, the largest archaeological drone survey, to date, in Jordan. The resulting data allowed us to map a wide range of anthropogenic features, including hunting traps, domestic structures, and tombs, as well as modern alterations to the landscape including road construction and looting pits. We documented thousands of previously unrecorded and largely unknown prehistoric structures, providing an improved understanding of major shifts in the prehistoric use of this landscape. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Past Human Land Use)
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27 pages, 27178 KiB  
Article
Integrating Satellite, UAV, and Ground-Based Remote Sensing in Archaeology: An Exploration of Pre-Modern Land Use in Northeastern Iraq
by Elise Jakoby Laugier and Jesse Casana
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(24), 5119; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13245119 - 16 Dec 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3450
Abstract
Satellite remote sensing is well demonstrated to be a powerful tool for investigating ancient land use in Southwest Asia. However, few regional studies have systematically integrated satellite-based observations with more intensive remote sensing technologies, such as drone-deployed multispectral sensors and ground-based geophysics, to [...] Read more.
Satellite remote sensing is well demonstrated to be a powerful tool for investigating ancient land use in Southwest Asia. However, few regional studies have systematically integrated satellite-based observations with more intensive remote sensing technologies, such as drone-deployed multispectral sensors and ground-based geophysics, to explore off-site areas. Here, we integrate remote sensing data from a variety of sources and scales including historic aerial photographs, modern satellite imagery, drone-deployed sensors, and ground-based geophysics to explore pre-modern land use along the Upper Diyala/Sirwan River in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Our analysis reveals an incredible diversity of land use features, including canals, qanats, trackways, and field systems, most of which likely date to the first millennium CE, and demonstrate the potential of more intensive remote sensing methods to resolve land use features. Our results align with broader trends across ancient Southwest Asia that document the most intensive land use in the first millennium BCE through the first millennium CE. Land use features dating to the earlier Bronze Age (fourth through second millennium BCE) remain elusive and will likely require other investigative approaches. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Past Human Land Use)
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19 pages, 3888 KiB  
Article
Estimating Historically Cleared and Forested Land in Massachusetts, USA, Using Airborne LiDAR and Archival Records
by Katharine M. Johnson, William B. Ouimet, Samantha Dow and Cheyenne Haverfield
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(21), 4318; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13214318 - 27 Oct 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3435
Abstract
In the northeastern United States, widespread deforestation occurred during the 17–19th centuries as a result of Euro-American agricultural activity. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, much of this agricultural landscape was reforested as the region experienced industrialization and farmland became abandoned. [...] Read more.
In the northeastern United States, widespread deforestation occurred during the 17–19th centuries as a result of Euro-American agricultural activity. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, much of this agricultural landscape was reforested as the region experienced industrialization and farmland became abandoned. Many previous studies have addressed these landscape changes, but the primary method for estimating the amount and distribution of cleared and forested land during this time period has been using archival records. This study estimates areas of cleared and forested land using historical land use features extracted from airborne LiDAR data and compares these estimates to those from 19th century archival maps and agricultural census records for several towns in Massachusetts, a state in the northeastern United States. Results expand on previous studies in adjacent areas, and demonstrate that features representative of historical deforestation identified in LiDAR data can be reliably used as a proxy to estimate the spatial extents and area of cleared and forested land in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the northeastern United States. Results also demonstrate limitations to this methodology which can be mitigated through an understanding of the surficial geology of the region as well as sources of error in archival materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Past Human Land Use)
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24 pages, 9814 KiB  
Article
A Comparison of Volumetric Reconstruction Methods of Archaeological Deposits Using Point-Cloud Data from Ahuahu, Aotearoa New Zealand
by Joshua Emmitt, Patricia Pillay, Matthew Barrett, Stacey Middleton, Timothy Mackrell, Bruce Floyd and Thegn N. Ladefoged
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(19), 4015; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13194015 - 07 Oct 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2674
Abstract
Collection of 3D data in archaeology is a long-standing practice. Traditionally, the focus of these data has been visualization as opposed to analysis. Three-dimensional data are often recorded during archaeological excavations, with the provenience of deposits, features, and artefacts documented by a variety [...] Read more.
Collection of 3D data in archaeology is a long-standing practice. Traditionally, the focus of these data has been visualization as opposed to analysis. Three-dimensional data are often recorded during archaeological excavations, with the provenience of deposits, features, and artefacts documented by a variety of methods. Simple analysis of 3D data includes calculating the volumes of bound entities, such as deposits and features, and determining the spatial relationships of artifacts within these. The construction of these volumes presents challenges that originate in computer-aided design (CAD) but have implications for how data are used in archaeological analysis. We evaluate 3D construction processes using data from Waitetoke, Ahuahu Great Mercury Island, Aotearoa, New Zealand. Point clouds created with data collected by total station, photogrammetry, and terrestrial LiDAR using simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) are compared, as well as different methods for generating surface area and volumes with triangulated meshes and convex hulls. The differences between methods are evaluated and assessed in relation to analyzing artifact densities within deposits. While each method of 3D data acquisition and modeling has advantages in terms of accuracy and precision, other factors such as data collection and processing times must be considered when deciding on the most suitable. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Past Human Land Use)
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30 pages, 9514 KiB  
Article
Application of Airborne LiDAR Data to the Archaeology of Agrarian Land Use: The Case Study of the Early Medieval Microregion of Bled (Slovenia)
by Edisa Lozić
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(16), 3228; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13163228 - 14 Aug 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3125
Abstract
The use of topographic airborne LiDAR data has become an essential part of archaeological prospection, particularly as a tool for detecting archaeological features in the landscape. However, its use for landscape reconstruction and understanding archaeological sites in their environmental context is still underutilised. [...] Read more.
The use of topographic airborne LiDAR data has become an essential part of archaeological prospection, particularly as a tool for detecting archaeological features in the landscape. However, its use for landscape reconstruction and understanding archaeological sites in their environmental context is still underutilised. To this end, we took an innovative approach to using LiDAR data as a means of discovering, documenting, and interpreting agricultural land use systems by looking for significant environmental variation within a microregion. We combined information from LiDAR-derived DEM derivatives with archaeological, geological, and soil data. We introduced two methodological innovations. The first is the modified wetness index, which combines the LiDAR-derived precision with the accuracy of the effective field capacity of the soil to obtain a very realistic predictor of soil quality. The second is the modified landform classification, a combination of topographic position index and visual geomorphological analysis, which amalgamates two of the most important predictive variables for the distribution of plant species. Our approach is demonstrated by a case study focusing on early medieval settlements in the context of agricultural land use in the subalpine microregion of Bled (Slovenia). It revealed that early medieval settlers were drawn to light soils with high water retention capacity. Such soils were particularly suitable for the cultivation of barley, which is known to have been one of the most important staple crops of the period, especially in colder climate such as subalpine. Soils with lower water retention capacity were not colonized until the eleventh century, which may signify the transition at that time to a higher level of agricultural organisation and wheat as a staple cereal food. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Past Human Land Use)
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19 pages, 6502 KiB  
Article
Linking Past and Present Land-Use Histories in Southern Amazonas, Peru
by Daniel Plekhov, Parker VanValkenburgh, Paul Abrams, Amanda Cutler, Justin Han, Alexis Jair Reátegui Díaz, Bryn Sullivan and Steven Wernke
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(12), 2274; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13122274 - 10 Jun 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2922
Abstract
This paper analyzes remotely sensed data sources to evaluate land-use history within the Peruvian department of Amazonas and demonstrates the utility of comparing present and past land-use patterns using continuous datasets, as a complement to the often dispersed and discrete data produced by [...] Read more.
This paper analyzes remotely sensed data sources to evaluate land-use history within the Peruvian department of Amazonas and demonstrates the utility of comparing present and past land-use patterns using continuous datasets, as a complement to the often dispersed and discrete data produced by archaeological and paleoecological field studies. We characterize the distribution of ancient (ca. AD 1–1550) terracing based on data drawn from high-resolution satellite imagery and compare it to patterns of deforestation between 2001 and 2019, based on time-series Landsat data. We find that the patterns reflected in these two datasets are statistically different, indicating a distinctive shift in land-use, which we link to the history of Inka and Spanish colonialism and Indigenous depopulation in the 15th through 17th centuries AD as well as the growth of road infrastructure and economic change in the recent past. While there is a statistically significant relationship between areas of ancient terracing and modern-day patterns of deforestation, this relationship ultimately explains little (6%) of the total pattern of modern forest loss, indicating that ancient land-use patterns do not seem to be structuring modern-day trajectories of land-use. Together, these results shed light on the long-term history of land-use in Amazonas and their enduring legacies in the present. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Past Human Land Use)
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14 pages, 16592 KiB  
Article
Deciphering a Timeline of Demise at Medieval Angkor, Cambodia Using Remote Sensing
by Sarah Klassen, Tiago Attorre, David Brotherson, Rachna Chhay, Wayne Johnson, Ian Moffat and Roland Fletcher
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(11), 2094; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13112094 - 27 May 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3929
Abstract
The Greater Angkor Region was the center of the Khmer Empire from the 9th until the 13th to the 14th centuries CE, when it entered a period of decline. Many studies have suggested that the decline of Angkor was precipitated by several factors, [...] Read more.
The Greater Angkor Region was the center of the Khmer Empire from the 9th until the 13th to the 14th centuries CE, when it entered a period of decline. Many studies have suggested that the decline of Angkor was precipitated by several factors, including severe monsoons, geopolitical shifts, and invasions. In this paper, we use light detection and ranging and ground penetrating radar to investigate the possible intersection of two of these existential threats in one feature: the North Bank Wall. Our results indicate that this feature was designed with dual functionality of extending the urban area’s defenses to the east of Angkor Thom while maintaining the existing infrastructure for the distribution and disposal of water. These findings suggest that the North Bank Wall was built before the severe droughts in the mid-13th century. The timing of the construction indicates that the perceived need for additional security—whether from internal factional disputes or external adversaries—predated the final adaptations to the hydraulic network during the unprecedented monsoon variability of the 14th century. These results indicate that perceived political unrest may have played a more important role in the decline of the site than previously known. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Past Human Land Use)
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