712 research outputs found
On the Use of Google Earth Engine and Sentinel Data to Detect 'Lost' Sections of Ancient Roads. The Case of Via Appia
The currently available tools and services as open and free cloud resources to process big satellite data opened up a new frontier of possibilities and applications including archeological research. These new research opportunities also pose several challenges to be faced, as, for example, the data processing and interpretation. This letter is about the assessment of different methods and data sources to support a visual interpretation of EO imagery. Multitemporal Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 data sets have been processed to assess their capability in the detection of buried archeological remains related to some lost sections of the ancient Via Appia road (herein selected as case study). The very subtle and nonpermanent features linked to buried archeological remains can be captured using multitemporal (intra- and inter-year) satellite acquisitions, but this requires strong hardware infrastructures or cloud facilities, today also available as open and free tools as Google Earth Engine (GEE). In this study, a total of 2948 Sentinel 1 and 743 Sentinel 2 images were selected (from February 2017 to August 2020) and processed using GEE to enhance and unveil archeological features. Outputs obtained from both Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 have been successfully compared with in situ analysis and high-resolution Google Earth images
Damage scenario of the earthquake on 23 July 1930 in Melfi: the contribution of technical documentation
As regards the 1930 Irpinia earthquake a detailed research both on the institutional response to the seismic event in Vulture area and reconstruction of the damage scenario for the town of Melfi has been performed. This study was carried out by an analysis of coeval dossiers drawn up by the Special Office of Civil Engineers, which was set up after the earthquake. The research brought to light the typologies and the modalities of the institutional actions taken during the post-seismic period. In general, these territorial interventions had a notable effect on urban systems, especially those involving both the partial shifting of urban areas and the construction of earthquake-proof buildings. The research also identified the damage pattern in Melfi by a deeper study on about 2400 archive files. A preliminary analysis of the damage pattern indicates probable seismic amplification phenomena due to the lithological and geomorphological features of the site. Moreover, the analysis of time-dependent activities of reconstruction has shown that almost all the buildings of the town (90%) were repaired or reconstructed
within five years after the seismic disaster
SAR Sentinel 1 imaging and detection of palaeo-landscape features in the mediterranean area
The use of satellite radar in landscape archaeology offers great potential for manifold applications, such as the detection of ancient landscape features and anthropogenic transformations. Compared to optical data, the use and interpretation of radar imaging for archaeological investigations is more complex, due to many reasons including that: (i) ancient landscape features and anthropogenic transformations provide subtle signals, which are (ii) often covered by noise; and, (iii) only detectable in specific soil characteristics, moisture content, vegetation phenomenology, and meteorological parameters. In this paper, we assessed the capability of SAR Sentinel 1 in the imaging and detection of palaeo-landscape features in the Mediterranean area of Tavoliere delle Puglie. For the purpose of our investigations, a significant test site (larger than 200 km2) was selected in the Foggia Province (South of Italy) as this area has been characterized for millennia by human frequentation starting from (at least) the Neolithic. The results from the Sentinel 1 (S-1) data were successfully compared with independent data sets, and the comparison clearly showed an excellent match between the S-1 based outputs and ancient anthropogenic transformations and landscape features
“The role of diagnostics in the restoration project”
Over the last few years, in the field of restoration and conservation, the techniques used to evaluate the extent of damage are becoming increasingly more important before carrying out any work on a historical building. The diagnostic phase is the instrumental, methodological and procedural means of guidance and control during the preliminary cognitive examinations of the building which requires work. For this reason, in the restoration project, the procedural sequence is heavily based to the cognitive phase.
In order to evaluate the conservational state of a structure correctly, it is necessary to understand the symptoms of the degradation and the principal cause. When this correlation is unclear there follows the planning and carrying out of a series of cognitive investigations. There is a preference in using indirectly destructive or non destructive investigative techniques to evaluate the state of the damage and degradation of monuments. These tests, which are carried out in situ, are based on identifying global physical properties present in the walls or the walls’ components and provide information about their behaviour. This study presents the planning and implementation of a series of surveys, carried out in situ, preliminary to structural consolidation and redevelopment work on a medieval castle: the castle of Cancellara (South Italy)
Google earth engine as multi-sensor open-source tool for supporting the preservation of archaeological areas: The case study of flood and fire mapping in metaponto, italy
In recent years, the impact of Climate change, anthropogenic and natural hazards (such as earthquakes, landslides, floods, tsunamis, fires) has dramatically increased and adversely affected modern and past human buildings including outstanding cultural properties and UNESCO heritage sites. Research about protection/monitoring of cultural heritage is crucial to preserve our cultural properties and (with them also) our history and identity. This paper is focused on the use of the open-source Google Earth Engine tool herein used to analyze flood and fire events which affected the area of Metaponto (southern Italy), near the homonymous Greek-Roman archaeological site. The use of the Google Earth Engine has allowed the supervised and unsupervised classification of areas affected by flooding (2013–2020) and fire (2017) in the past years, obtaining remarkable results and useful information for setting up strategies to mitigate damage and support the preservation of areas and landscape rich in cultural and natural heritage
Integrated use of multi-temporal multi-sensor and multiscale Remote Sensing data for the understanding of archaeological contexts: the case study of Metaponto, Basilicata
This paper is focused on the archaeological area of Metaponto (Μεταπόντιον) and its
territory, located in southern Italy. The area played an important role for the agricultural
economy and the traffic of goods and people, from the south of Italy towards the central
regions, starting from the Neolithic period, and reaching the zenith with the Greek polis of
Metaponto and its hinterland. The site is herein analyzed through an integrated use of several
Earth observation and remote sensing technologies and ancillary data produced over the years
by archaeologists and scholars. The aim was to identify new buried elements of archaeological
interest, for the reconstruction of the historical-archaeological landscape. Through the
combined use of optical and radar satellite images, high-resolution images obtained by
Unmanned Aerial System (visible, multispectral, and thermal infrared), geophysical data, and
archival data, it was possible to deepen the knowledge of the area, in particular the “Castrum”
area, identifying new buried evidence (structures, roads, and elements of the ancient
landscape)
The NuSTAR Extragalactic Surveys: unveiling rare, buried AGNs and detecting the contributors to the peak of the Cosmic X-ray Background
We report on the results of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detection by NuSTAR
performed in three extragalactic survey fields (COSMOS, UDS, ECDFS) in three
hard bands, namely H1 (8-16 keV), H2 (16-24 keV) and VH (35-55 keV). The
aggregated area of the surveys is deg. While a large number of
sources is detected in the H1 band (72 at the level of reliability), the
H2 band directly probing close to the peak of the Cosmic X-ray Background (CXB)
returns four significant detections, and two tentative, although not
significant, detections are found in the VH band. All the sources detected
above 16 keV are also detected at lower energies. We compute the integral
number counts for sources in such bands, which show broad consistency with
population synthesis models of the CXB. We furthermore identify two
Compton-thick AGNs, one in the COSMOS field, associated with a hard and faint
Chandra source, and one in the UDS field, never detected in the X-ray band
before. Both sources are at the same redshift , which shifts their
Compton-hump into the H1 band, and were previously missed in the usually
employed NuSTAR bands, confirming the potential of using the H1 band to
discover obscured AGNs at in deep surveys.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
Georadar investigations to detect cavities in a historical town damaged by an earthquake of the past
This paper aims to highlight the use of the georadar as a useful prospecting
technique to identify the areal density and the geometrical features of the
grottoes placed in a historical town characterised by high seismic hazard.
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The town considered here is Rionero in Vulture (Southern Italy) that was hit
by several historical earthquakes, among which the 1930 Irpinia earthquake
(Me=6.7, Is=VIII MCS).
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For this event a damage map was already available from a previous study
(Gizzi and Masini, 2006). This map shows that some sectors of the town
suffered higher damage. One factor causing the uneven distribution of the
effects is considered to be the presence of grottoes.
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To strengthen this work hypothesis it was necessary to in-depth investigate
the subsoil of Rionero in Vulture. Therefore, geophysical data were
correlated and integrated with data obtained from field surveys and
historical documentary sources. All these investigations allowed to obtain
more insights about the influences of the man-made caves on seismic damage
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