Applications of GIS and Remote Sensing in Cultural Heritage Management (original) (raw)

Cultural heritage defines pre-historical and historical objects, buildings, and social complexes that show evidence of human manipulation of the environment. The field of cultural heritage management strives to identify, interpret, and protect these artifacts and sites. GIS and remote sensing technologies have made important contributions to the field of cultural heritage management in the last few decades. GIS technologies allow managers to predict the location of new sites through overlay analysis, while novel combinations of remote sensors are allowing archaeologists to find subterranean features and determine the historical extent of known sites. Once these sites have been identified, GIS and remote sensing technologies can help detect biodeteriogens and other hazards or analyze the spatial uses of the site. While aerial photographs have been helpful in identifying archaeological features and sites, different remote sensing technologies have recently been applied to this pursuit. Remote sensors can detect features through thick foliage and sometimes through thin layers of surface sedimentation. Chase et al. used LiDAR to locate Mayan structures in the Belizean jungle that were otherwise invisible through thick vegetation (2011). Similarly, Evans et al. used LiDAR to map areas surrounding the medieval urban center of Angkor Wat in Cambodia and discovered evidence of human manipulation of the environment that indicated that the city was much larger, more populous, and more developed than previously understood (2013). Rowlands and Sarris used multi-and hyper-spectral sensors to detect shallow subterranean chemical and physical anomalies to indicate ideal areas archaeological excavations (2007). In these cases, remote sensing changed the understanding of site extent, which can impact how historians and archaeologists interpret past civilizations. While remote sensing can identify archaeological remains through energy patterns, GIS overlay analysis can compare site qualities to help predict where archaeological sites may be. In Southeastern Norway, Fry et al. combined digital elevation data with information on the soil, aspect angle, land use, and other features of known grave sites to generate a model to predict where other grave sites were most likely to be located (2004). In their work in Northern Italy, Campana and Francovich were able to greatly enhance the archaeological record of the area by digitizing Ikonos-2 images, performing overlay analysis in GIS, and georeferencing these locations with GPS. While these technologies have contributed to archaeological finds, data quality and quantity can limit predictive location modeling, especially in rural or rugged areas (Fry et al., 2004). Once cultural heritage sites have been located, if the management plan calls for preservation of these sites, remote sensing and GIS also have applications in management