Identification of Archaeologically Relevant Areas Using Open Geodata

Abstract

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and digital terrain models (DTM) revolutionized archeological prospection in the last two decades. Using the new technique, comprehensive areal detections of archeological relief structures (field monuments) hidden under dense vegetation became possible and archeologists found new sites even in well-known areas. In times of Open Geodata policies, archeologists have access to geospatial data sets such as DTM. Assessing its full potential requires automated workflows, which is a recent research topic in archeological research. However, all approaches, both manually and automated, are affected by misclassifications caused by confusions of archeological and modern structures. Digital landscape models (DLM) help differentiating structures by their location. Concerning these data, only 74% of the total area of Westphalia and Lippe need archeological investigation, increasing precision of automated classification approaches.