Aerial and satellite survey in archaeology: application and new opportunities

This article discusses theoretical and methodological applications of aerial and satellite survey, including multispectral survey, in archaeological research. It is advisable to apply natural scientific methods, including non-contact methods and techniques (remote sensing) in archaeology. The field of drone survey has been rapidly developing in addition to satellite survey, and is gradually replacing the latter due to some obvious advantages. This article provides an overview and analytical materials mainly obtained from the authors ’ own experience in using advanced techniques in the field of drone survey. The authors propose multispectral drone imaging for mapping archaeological sites, establishing and correcting their boundaries, searching for new objects, and monitoring the known objects and complexes. While conducting combined survey of archaeological sites (using the referential sites of the Altai Mountains as an example), the authors (Krupochkin E.P., Papin D.V., Sukhanov S.I., Fedoruk A.S.) tested techniques of ground and drone surveys with photogrammetric processing and post-processing in the Agisoft Metashape and Credo Topoplan software. This technique can be recommended for creating large-scale archaeological maps as a part of ongoing cataloguing of sites throughout the entire Russia. The need to cadastrally register all archaeological objects requires high accuracy (primarily in terms of ground plan). In conclusion, comparative features of shooting and best conditions for reaching the tasks are provided.