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Stereo analysis, DEM extraction and orthorectification of CORONA satellite imagery: archaeological applications from the Near East

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jesse Casana  and
Jackson Cothren
Jesse Casana
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA (Email: jcasana@uark.edu)
Jackson Cothren
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences and Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, 12 Ozark Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA (Email: jcothren@cast.uark.edu)
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Extract

CORONA satellite imagery, preserving an account of the earth's surface from 40 years ago, is a most important archaeological survey tool and we have often sung its praises. Here the authors use new procedures to extend the competence and revelations of CORONA even further. Stereo pairs derived from images taken from fore and aft of the satellite give three dimensional images of landscapes and even individual sites. Techniques of modelling and rectification restore the sites to their original shape without recourse to survey on the ground – in many cases no longer possible since the sites have been buried, inundated or erased. The ingenuity shown here indicates that results from CORONA are only going to get better.

Keywords

Near Eastwest AsiaCRMresearch surveyssatellite surveyCORONAlandscape surveysite surveytell settlementshollow ways
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 317 , September 2008 , pp. 732 - 749
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

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