Title: The Use of Machine Learning and Satellite Imagery to Detect Roman Fortified Sites: The Case Study of Blad Talh (Tunisia Section)
Abstract:
This study focuses on an ad hoc machine-learning method for locating archaeological sites in arid environments. Pleiades (P1B) were uploaded to the cloud asset of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) environment because they are not yet available on the platform. The average of the SAR data was combined with the P1B image in the selected study area called Blad Talh at Gafsa, which is located in southern Tunisia. This pre-desert region has long been investigated as an important area of Roman civilization (106 BCE). The results show an accurate probability map with an overall accuracy and Kappa coefficient of 0.93 and 0.91, respectively, when validated with field survey data. The results of this research demonstrate, from the perspective of archaeologists, the capability of satellite data and machine learning to discover buried archaeological sites. This work shows that the area presents more archaeological sites, which has major implications for understanding the archaeological significance of the region. Remote sensing combined with machine learning algorithms provides an effective way to augment archaeological surveys and detect new cultural deposits.
Biography:
Nabil Bachagha has more than 5 years of experience in the field Earth Observation from satellite/airborne/ground based on passive (optical, multi-hyperspectral data) and active (radar, LIDAR) sensors. His main research interests are focused on modeling, data processing, integration, and interpretation of big Earth Observation for landscape analysis and environmental degradation, paleoenvironmental investigations and archaeological studies. He authored or co-authored of more than 12 peer-reviewed papers ( JRC journals, book etc.), guest editor for several international journals Remote Sensing , Journal of arid land, regional Sustainability and Reviewer Remote Sensing, Applied sciences, Sensor, African Journal of Ecology,IERPH,Sustainability Hydrology ,Geoscience Water .Currently His is Member of the reviewer team at BAR Publishing (The British Archaeological Reports Series, Oxford OX2 7BP, UK) He has been the scientific investigator of several research projects at international level (2 projects, funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, of China.
