A Digital Eye of Horus for Archaeologists

[Davita]

A Digital Eye of Horus for Archaeologists




As technology evolves at an increasingly rapid rate, the study of ancient sites is aided by some of it’s developments. One such tool that has leaped into the hands of Egyptlogists and Archaeologists in recent years is the satellite. A great boon to any study of a site is the ability to view an area from above.

In the previous story we heard Dr Zahi Hawass state that he begins any archaeological work on the Giza plateau by climbing to the top of the Great Pyramid to get an overview of the site. The bird’s eye view that is provided by aerial photography and satellite imaging has been instrumental in the discovery of new sites, sites that woud perhaps never have been discovered.

[Davita]

Sarah Parcak
As the images obtained from satellites continue to get sharper and more detailed their effectiveness in locating undiscovered ruins increases. Archaeologist Sarah Parcak has become a pioneer in the field of ‘Satellite Archaeology’ and has already located hundreds of possible sites. In 2003 and the following year Parcak conducted expeditions to the possible sites and surveyed them, confirming 132 of them as new archaeological sites, most of which were previously unknown.

From the article “Satellites unearthing ancient Egyptian ruins”:

Parcak’s process weds modern tools with old-fashioned grunt work. The archaeologist studies satellite images stored on a NASA database and plugs in global positioning coordinates for suspected sites, then tramps out to see them. Telltale signs such as raised elevations and pot shards can confirm the images.

As a result, the big picture comes into view.

“We can see patterns in settlements that correspond to the [historical] texts,” Parcak said, “such as if foreign invasions affected the occupation of ancient sites.



 
Sarah Parcak's book

“We can see where the Romans built over what the Egyptians had built, and where the Coptic Christians built over what the Romans had built.
“It’s an incredible continuity of occupation and reuse.”

The flooding and meanders of the Nile over the millennia dictated where and how ancient Egyptians lived, and the profusion of new data has built a more precise picture of how that worked.
“Surveys give us information about broader ancient settlement patterns, such as patterns of city growth and collapse over time, that excavations do not,” said Parcak, author of a forthcoming book titled “Satellite Remote Sensing and Archaeology.”

The vagaries of climate in the region make satellite technology advantageous, too.

“Certain plants that may indicate sites grow during certain times of the year,” Parcak said, “while sites may only appear during a wet or dry season. This is different everywhere in the world.”
Archaeologists working in much more verdant climates, such as Cambodia and Guatemala, also have used the technology to divine locations of undiscovered ruins.

They have been able to see similarities between the vegetation at known sites and suspected sites that showed up in fine infrared and ultraviolet images covering wide areas of forbidding terrain.

“For the work I do [in Egypt], I need wet season images as wet soil does a better job at detecting sites with the satellite imagery data I use,” Parcak said. “I can pick the exact months I need with the NASA satellite datasets.”

[Davita]

Other ways in which Archaeologists are utelising Satellite Technology:

By stitching together the many high quality satellites images companies like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have been able to recreate complete 3D models of the globe. This has provided a platform upon which archaeological sites can now be recreated using programs such as Google’s Sketchup.

[Davita]

Digital Karnak
The Digital Karnak Project, built by the University of California at Los Angeles includes a 3D virtual model of the temple of Karnak. This is available in Google Earth, accessible by simply downloading a small Google Earth file (KML).

Rome Reborn
The Rome Reborn project has created 3D digital models illustrating the urban development of ancient Rome from the first settlement in the late Bronze Age (ca. 1000 B.C.) to the depopulation of the city in the early Middle Ages (ca. A.D. 550)

Kom Firin & Google Earth’s PhotoOverlay
The author of this post in OgleEarth descibes how a mobile version of Google Maps was used on a mobile phone to locate the Ramesside temple complex at Kom Firin in the Delta while driving there. Once there, photographs of the site were taken and uploaded into Google Earth to create a 360-degree panorama with clickable hotspots using Google Earth’s PhotoOverlay view.

Archaeological Sites of Afghanistan in Google Earth (ASAGE)
David Thomas, a graduate student at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, belongs to a team that launched a project called Archaeological Sites of Afghanistan in Google Earth (ASAGE) last year after plans for a survey near the Minaret of Jam had to be abandoned because of the continuing conflict in the region. He and his colleagues decided that making discoveries using computer mice, rather than shovels and trowels, would have to do instead.
Armchair Archaeology

40 year old Satelite Images used to create 3D images
The University of Arkansas is providing archaeologists with satellite imagery as old as 40 years to see what archaeological sites looked like before the spread of cities encroached on them.

With the aid of new technology able to ‘undistort’ the images, a three-dimensional view of what these sites looked like in recent history can be achieved. An atlas of the Middle East will be developed using the new methods enabling integration with modern mapping software such as GoogleEarth to locate areas of interest.

SCA recreating sites in 3D from aerial photography
The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities is currently undertaking a project involving the digital 3D reconstruction of Egypt’s archaeological sites with the aid of aerial photography.

[Davita]

Use of Google Maps & Google Earth on Talking Pyramids
Readers of this blog will be aware that Google Maps are used on each of the Pyramid Fields pages to allow the visitor to explore each of the sites. Each field has a Google map embedded at the top of the page with links to each pyramid in that field. The visitor can click on these links to display the pyramid of their choice or they can explore the field themselves by clicking and dragging and zooming in and out.

Recently I began creating Google Earth tours for each of these sites. A Google Earth file can be downloaded and with Google Earth installed on your computer you can run the tour, stopping it at any time to interact with the site. A video is made of the tour so that photos can be incorporated to add detailed views. Currently only Abu-Roash has the video tour but the other Pyramid Fields will be completed in the near future.

[Davita]

Use of Google Maps & Googe Earth on Pyramid Texts Online
Pyramid Texts Online utilises Google Maps to display specific photos embedded in the map of Saqqara. By placing images on a map of the site, the visitor gains an additional perspective of the site by understanding the location the photo was taken. This page also include Google Earth KML files and a video tour built in Google Earth.

The Varying Quality of Satellite Images

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Google Map of Saqqara



Yahoo Map of Saqqara

[Davita]

One of the most advanced Multispectral imaging technologies providing infrared and ultraviolet radiation is provided by the QuickBird satellite, which has been in orbit since 2001. The satellite can collect nearly 29 million square miles of imagery data in a year, and is operated by DigitalGlobe. Next year the company will launch an upgraded version of Quickbird called WorldView2 which will provide even higher resolution imagery.

Google just recently upgraded a lot of it’s images with the photos from their GeoEye satellite, giving a much higher resolution than previous imagery. However, the view of Egypt’s archaeological sites doesn’t appear to have increased in quality.

Sometimes Yahoo Maps can give a more detailed second perspective as they use different satellite imagery taken at a different time of day with differing shadows. I have created two images as a comparison, pictured here on the right. You can visit each page and explore the differences closer for yourself: YahooMaps & GoogeMaps.

Microsoft’s Virtual Earth uses the same source images as Yahoo Maps although they contain a little bit less detail than the Yahoo Maps images. Ryan Jonasson has developed an effective combination of both Virtual Earth and Google Maps in the same window. This is an ideal tool for enthusiasts wanting to explore an area. Any interaction with one map is replicated on the other.

The bird’s-eye view provided by satellite technology is a powerful addition to the expanding tool kit of Archaeologists. The 3D reconstructions created by projects such as Rome Reborn, University of Arkansas, and the Karnak Project are expanding the applications of satelite use into another realm with the addition of a time scale.

The future looks good for looking at the past.

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