Detection, Morphometric Analysis and Digital Surveying of Archaeological Mounds in Southern Iraq with CartoSat-1 and COSMO-SkyMed DEMs

Abstract

In Near and Middle Eastern archaeology, satellite-derived digital elevation models (DEM) of medium spatial resolution (≥30 m) are mostly used to locate and map archaeological mounds (namely ‘tells’), whereas high resolution DEMs (≤10 m) are still poorly exploited. To fill this gap, the 5 m resolution CartoSat-1 Euro-Maps 3D Digital Surface Model (DSM) is assessed vs. the 30 m Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) global DEM, the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) World 3D–30 m (AW3D30) and a 10 m COSMO-SkyMed DEM, on a test area in Wasit, southern Iraq, where the high density of tells is yet to be exhaustively documented. A total of 344 sites was mapped, with one order of magnitude improvement compared to previous mapping exercises, existing databases and historical maps. The morphometric analysis not only highlights the reliability of CartoSat-1 DSM height and volume estimates, but also suggests that, in the test area, the volume of a tell can robustly be calculated based on the simple knowledge of its basal area, following a quadratic function. Morphology and elevation of at least 53% irregularly shaped tells were impacted by anthropogenic disturbances. Morphometric indices (e.g., Topographic Position Index, DEViation from mean elevation) are a viable automated method to ease tells detection. When integrated with other satellite datasets (e.g., CORONA, Google Earth, Sentinel-2 imagery), the CartoSat-1 DSM can unveil morphological changes and support condition assessment. In Wasit, agriculture and modern development are among the major threats for tells preservation, alongside looting.