Satellite imagery has long been recognized as well suited for the regional and ecological questions of many archaeological surveys. One underexplored aspect of such data is their temporal resolution. It is now possible for areas to be imaged on an almost daily basis, and this resolution offers new opportunities for studying landscapes through remote sensing in parallel with ground-based survey. This article explores the applications of these data for visibility assessment and land-cover change detection in the context of the Sinis Archaeological Project, a regional archaeological survey of west-central Sardinia. We employ imagery provided by Planet, which has a spatial resolution of 3 m, in four spectral bands, and is collected daily. Using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values calculated for each survey unit, we find that there is a relationship between NDVI values and field-reported visibility in general, though the strength of this correlation differs according to land-cover classes. We also find the data to be effective at tracking short-term changes in field conditions that allow us to differentiate fields of similar land cover and visibility. We consider limitations and potentials of these data and encourage further experimentation and development.

中文翻译：

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卫星遥感在考古调查中的应用：以撒丁岛 Sinis 考古项目为例

长期以来，人们认为卫星图像非常适合许多考古调查的区域和生态问题。此类数据的一个未充分探索的方面是它们的时间分辨率。现在几乎每天都可以对区域进行成像，并且该分辨率为通过与地面调查并行的遥感来研究景观提供了新的机会。本文探讨了这些数据在 Sinis Archaeological Project（撒丁岛中西部地区考古调查）背景下的能见度评估和土地覆盖变化检测的应用。我们使用由 Planet 提供的图像，其空间分辨率为 3 m，分为四个光谱带，每天收集。使用为每个调查单位计算的归一化差异植被指数 (NDVI) 值，我们发现总体上 NDVI 值与现场报告的能见度之间存在关系，尽管这种相关性的强度因土地覆盖类别而异。我们还发现这些数据可以有效地跟踪田间条件的短期变化，从而使我们能够区分具有相似土地覆盖和能见度的田地。我们考虑这些数据的局限性和潜力，并鼓励进一步的实验和开发。