The boundaries and the occupation layer of medieval settlements destroyed by ploughing up identified using the materials of the multispectral imaging (Cheptsa culture hillforts of the 9th-13th centuries)

Based on the segmentation of multispectral images of the Soldyrskoe I Idnakar hillfort (the 9th-13th centuries), it was shown that the boundary of the settlement is determined by the outer fortification line. Despite ploughing up of the site for many years, the inner and the middle part of the settlement (predominantly, residential quarters) preserved the thickest layer with transformed surface. The outer part of the fortified settlement (production and domestic activity periphery) revealed large segments of the redeposited layer. The interpretation of the segments identified is based on the materials collected during many years of excavations that uncovered around 25 % of the Idnakar area. Using the comparison of the data with the segmentation of multispectral images from other Cheptsa culture settlements (the Kushmanskoe hillfort of Uchkakar, the Kushmanskoe III unfortified settlement, the Zabolotnovskoe hillfort of Sadeikar and the Gordinskoe I hillfort of Guryakar), the author suggests markers that can be used in assessing the boundaries of an archaeological site and the extent of its occupation layer preservation. Fundamental changes of the vegetation intensity on the fortified settlement site and the adjacent area as well as changes in the structure of the segmentation image on the gently sloping surface of the promontory can be considered to be a marker of the settlement boundary. Areas of the redeposited layer on the promontory slopes caused by sheet erosion are important markers of occupation layers.