Journal of Archaeological Science最新文献

{"title":"Reconstructing infant mortality in Iberian Iron Age populations from tooth histology","authors":"Ani Martirosyan ,&nbsp;Carolina Sandoval-Ávila ,&nbsp;Javier Irurita ,&nbsp;Judith Juanhuix ,&nbsp;Nuria Molist ,&nbsp;Immaculada Mestres ,&nbsp;Montserrat Durán ,&nbsp;Natàlia Alonso ,&nbsp;Cristina Santos ,&nbsp;Assumpció Malgosa ,&nbsp;Judit Molera ,&nbsp;Xavier Jordana","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106088","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106088","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Neonatal Line (NNL) of the tooth serves as a unique identifier, allowing us to distinguish whether a child survived birth. This line is essential for assessing the age at death of infants from skeletal remains found in archaeological contexts. Our primary objective is to accurately determine the age of infant intramural inhumations from the Iberian Iron Age (8th-1st centuries BC) by analyzing histological sections of tooth germs. Due to their fragility and high susceptibility to taphonomic factors, these samples are challenging to handle. By accurately assessing their age, we aim to classify individuals into various stages of infant mortality, which will help reconstruct infant mortality patterns in these populations.</div><div>We analyze unerupted and still-forming crown deciduous teeth from 45 infant burials. By calculating Crown Formation Time (CFT) and identifying the NNL, we determine both gestational and chronological ages. We further validate the reliability of NNL identification through Synchrotron X-ray Fluorescence (SXRF) elemental analysis (Ca, Zn, Cu) on two contemporary and two archaeological samples.</div><div>Our histological study reveals the chronological age of 38 infants from Iberian settlements, ranging from the 30th week of gestation to the 2nd postnatal month. The age distribution shows an attritional mortality pattern, with nearly half experiencing perinatal mortality, including preterm births. These findings support the hypothesis that mortality was primarily attributed to natural causes. Our research enhances the understanding of infant life history events in prehistory by combining histological analysis of tooth NNL and CFT, highlighting the technique's potential and limitations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106088"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142428080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Magnetic detection of anthropogenic fires at Xiaodong Rockshelter, Southwest China","authors":"Yan Zheng ,&nbsp;Qing Yang ,&nbsp;Quan Zeng ,&nbsp;Haiyan Li ,&nbsp;Yu Zhang ,&nbsp;Lin Shi ,&nbsp;Xueping Ji ,&nbsp;Chenglong Deng ,&nbsp;Xiaoqiang Li ,&nbsp;Michael Petraglia ,&nbsp;Hongbo Zheng","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106086","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106086","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Xiaodong Rockshelter, located on the southwest edge of Yunnan Province, is known as Southeast Asia's oldest (&gt;43.5 ka) and northernmost Hoabinhian technocomplex site. The rockshelter preserves a rich record of animals, plants, and lithic artifacts excavated from sediments with a thickness of 4.6 m. New dating reported here indicates that the stratigraphic sequence spans from 65 ka to 15 ka. Several layers in the sedimentary sequence show evidence of fire, representative of the earliest evidence of fire by Hoabinhian population in a tropical-subtropical area. Here, we use magnetic methods coupled with mineral analysis to differentiate natural material from anthropogenically fired sediment. Archaeological fire events are characterized by higher magnetic concentrations and coarser magnetic grains compared to natural sediments. Significant magnetic enhancements were caused by the transformation of paramagnetic iron-bearing silicates into ferrimagnetic, spherical-shaped magnetite with increasing temperatures. Notably, a pronounced magnetic enhancement was observed between 1.8 and 2.5 m, spanning between 42 and 34 ka, indicating intense and concentrated heating, with estimated firing temperatures reaching ca. 400 °C. Additionally, three thin layers exhibiting magnetic enhancement were detected at depths of 3.65 m, 4.45 m, and 4.55 m, dating to ca. 55.6 ka, 62.3 ka and 64.8 ka respectively. This suggests three short-term fired ash deposits with minimal vertical magnetic enhancement, indicative of fire temperatures at ca. 350 °C. The magnetic method proves effective in detecting anthropogenic fire in archaeological sediments and potentially estimating ancient fire temperatures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106086"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142322781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mosaic pattern of sustained rice domestication and its environmental and cultural implications in Neolithic East China","authors":"Haiyan Li ,&nbsp;Chengpeng Wang ,&nbsp;Xiaolei Zhang ,&nbsp;Jianping Zhang ,&nbsp;Chunmei Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106084","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106084","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>China is one of the main locations in which rice agriculture occurs, with East China now playing a significant role in research on rice domestication and culture interactions. However, the exact timing of sustained rice domestication and the process of prehistoric cultural exchange in East China remain unclear. Here, we present phytolith records of two profiles from Lingjiatan in the Chaohu Lake Basin. Our results show that rice cultivation was practiced throughout the Lingjiatan culture period (5800-5300 cal BP), and that sustained rice domestication began around 5500 cal BP, which was later than on the Taihu Plain (∼6200 cal BP), Ningshao Plain (∼5800 cal BP), and along the middle and lower Huai River (∼5800 cal BP). Combining other archaeological records and geomorphological features in East China, we hypothesize three possible routes for the spread of rice cultivation and cultural exchange between the lower Yangtze River and the middle and lower Huai River. Lingjiatan, situated at the intersection of two of the possible routes, experienced a gradual increase in its settled population as a result of cultural exchange and technological innovations in cultivation, thereby giving rise to its distinctive culture. This study demonstrates the significant role of Lingjiatan in facilitating transportation and fostering cultural exchange in East China during the mid-Holocene.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106084"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142311282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Immune proteins recovered in tooth enamel as a biochemical record of health in past populations: Paleoproteomic analysis of Mission Period Native Californians","authors":"Tammy Buonasera ,&nbsp;Jelmer Eerkens ,&nbsp;Diana Malarchik ,&nbsp;Lee M. Panich ,&nbsp;Christopher Canzonieri ,&nbsp;Christopher Zimmer ,&nbsp;Courtney Clough ,&nbsp;Thomas Ostrander ,&nbsp;Aja Sutton ,&nbsp;Michelle Salemi ,&nbsp;Glendon Parker","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106069","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106069","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The enamel proteome includes a range of proteins that are well-preserved in archaeological settings but have so far received less study than those associated with sex-estimation of enamel. We look beyond sex-specific sequencing of amelogenin to investigate the potential of several serum proteins, including immunoglobulin gamma (IgG), the major immunoglobulin found in blood serum, and C-reactive protein (CRP), which is associated with inflammatory response, to provide insight into the health and stresses experienced by individuals in the past. We apply this approach to enamel samples from Mission-Period ancestral Ohlone interred at Asistencia San Pedro y San Pablo (CA-SMA-71/H; n = 11). For comparison, we also examine enamel from historic-period European-Americans interred in the City Cemetery in San Francisco (n = 12), and extracted third molars from present-day military cadets (n = 8). Results indicate that IgG is elevated among individuals at the asistencia relative to samples from present-day military cadets, and historic City Cemetery individuals (ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey Kramer tests, p &lt; .02). Further, the inflammatory protein CRP, normally expressed at much lower levels than IgG, was present in 55% (6 of 11) of the asistencia samples, and in 17% (2 of 12) of the historic City Cemetery samples, but was not detected in enamel samples from present-day military cadets. While more studies are needed, we argue that the difference in IgG could reflect higher levels of chronic diseases such as tuberculosis among Ohlone living within the Mission system, and the presence of measurable amounts of CRP could relate to higher degrees of physical, social, and emotional stresses. To our knowledge, this is the first paleoproteomic study of immune proteins in tooth enamel. The ability to track immune responses during tooth formation could provide valuable and high-resolution information on ancient health and disease at the level of the individual over archaeological time-scales.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106069"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142446436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Improving archaeomagnetic interpretations by reusing magnetically oriented samples for micromorphological analysis","authors":"Ada Dinçkal ,&nbsp;Ángela Herrejón Lagunilla ,&nbsp;Angel Carrancho ,&nbsp;Cristo M. Hernández Gomez ,&nbsp;Carolina Mallol","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106081","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106081","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Here we present a novel approach that combines soil micromorphology with the analysis of magnetically oriented samples to improve the interpretation of archaeomagnetic results. The aim is to test whether irregular archaeomagnetic data can be examined with micromorphological soil analysis in a single sample methodology, allowing said archaeomagnetic data to contribute to more meaningful archaeological interpretation. Experimental work included reusing oriented magnetic samples previously treated with sodium silicate resin, which were then re-impregnated with polyester or epoxy resins to produce thin sections. Initial experimentation was conducted to understand the potential effects of sodium silicate treatment on the optical and mechanical qualities of the thin sections. When no significant optical anomalies were identified, the methodology was tested using samples gathered from hearths at level X (ca. 52 ky BP) at the Middle Palaeolithic site of El Salt, Spain. Thin section analysis was conducted on archaeological hearth samples to identify syn- and post-depositional processes influencing the magnetic data. Micromorphological analysis of magnetic samples can identify the causes of anomalous magnetic direction, attributing them to specific sedimentary features rather than sampling or measurement errors. Discrepancies in magnetic signatures are linked to the presence or absence of certain combustion layers, such as black and white layers, as well as the impact of bioturbation and mechanical deformation. This integrative approach improves the interpretive potential of archaeomagnetic studies by not only validating the magnetic data as representative of the deposit but also providing a visual understanding of the sedimentary structure creating the magnetic signature. Our findings advocate for the routine inclusion of thin section inspection in archaeomagnetic research, particularly when dealing with complex sedimentary sequences and ambiguous magnetic data.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106081"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440324001493/pdfft?md5=1daf5ea8ee2840b0723192c0783d3d73&pid=1-s2.0-S0305440324001493-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142232032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"'JSDNE': A novel R package for estimating age quantitatively with the auricular surface by Dirichlet normal energy","authors":"Jisun Jang ,&nbsp;Enrico Mariconti ,&nbsp;Rebecca Watts","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106080","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106080","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Age estimation plays a significant role in forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology. However, widely-used traditional methods involving macroscopic observation suffer from subjectivity and statistical bias. The present research aims to minimize both issues by applying computational and mathematical approaches. A laser scanner was used to reconstruct 890 auricular surfaces of adult individuals from three known-age European skeletal collections. Dirichlet Normal Energy (DNE) was applied to assess the curvature of the auricular surface and its relationship with known age-at-death. Ten variables had high correlations, including total DNE per Total polygon faces, Mean value of DNE on apex, proportion of polygon faces with DNE of less than 0.0001 and proportion of polygon faces with DNE of over 0.6. The variables were used to develop age prediction models which are freely available in a novel R package, JSDNE. The package predicts age mathematically, objectively, and user-independently. It includes three functions: principal component quadratic discriminant analysis (PCQDA), principal component regression analysis (PCR), and principal component logistic regression analysis (PCLR), which produce age estimates with 91%, 76%, and 92.9% levels of accuracy, respectively. JSDNE package (<span><span>https://cran.r-project.org/package=JSDNE</span><svg><path></path></svg></span>) can be downloaded automatically using install.packages(\"JSDNE\"). The detailed code and the raw data of this study are openly available at <span><span>https://github.com/jisunjang19/cran-JSDNE</span><svg><path></path></svg></span>, doi: 10.5281/zenodo.12708779 or ‘JSDNE’ package.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106080"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142163405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Understanding mammal resource choices and subsistence strategies during the Holocene Climate Optimum: Integration of evidence from palaeodistribution modelling, animal bones and archaeological remains in the farming-pastoral ecotone, northern China","authors":"Yumeng Qu","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106071","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106071","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The farming-pastoral ecotone (FPE) is considered to be the most sensitive and unstable area in relation to the surrounding environment in northern China. The ecological improvement during the Holocene Climate Optimum (HCO) profoundly influenced livelihoods and adaptability of early sedentary communities. The reason for diverse utilization of mammals and specific subsistence strategies among different FPE sites remains unclear due to the lack of reconstructions demonstrating explicit spatial distribution and abundance of species that people ate. In five case studies during HCO from FPE in China, I illustrate what palaeodistribution modelling powered by Species Distribution Models (SDMs) tells us about three different large and medium-sized mammal species, and how the integration of this information with Site Catchment Analysis (SCA) helps to understand resource choices and subsistence strategies in these different sites. Analysis indicates that reduced residential mobility at FPE during HCO is associated with the spatial distribution of mammals within site catchments. Inhabitants of the ecotone may adapt to distinct mammal resources by long-distance logistical mobility, high residential mobility, improving technological flexibility, or intensifying the utilization of certain wild species. This evidence provides valuable insights into the highly flexible adaptability of early sedentism in FPE.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106071"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142163404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deep learning-based detection of qanat underground water distribution systems using HEXAGON spy satellite imagery","authors":"Nazarij Buławka ,&nbsp;Hector A. Orengo ,&nbsp;Iban Berganzo-Besga","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106053","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106053","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Qanats are a remarkable type of ancient hydraulic structure for sustainable water distribution in arid environments that use subterranean channels to transport water from highland or mountainous areas. The presence of the qanat system is marked by a line of regularly spaced shafts visible from the surface, which can be used to detect qanats using satellite imagery. Typically, qanats have been documented by field mapping or manual digitisation within a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. This process is time-consuming due to the numerous shafts within each qanat line. However, several automated methods for detecting qanat structures have been explored, using techniques such as morphological filters, custom convolutional neural networks (CNN) and, more recently, YOLOv5 and Mask R-CNN. These approaches used high-resolution RGB images and CORONA images. However, the use of black and white CORONA in CNNs has been limited in its applicability due to a high rate of false positives.</p><p>This paper explores the potential of YOLOv9 in processing the black and white HEXAGON (KH-9) high-resolution spy satellite system launched in 1971. Two areas in Afghanistan (Maiwand) and Iran (Gorgan Plain) were selected to train the system images extracted from HEXAGON imagery and artificial synthetic data. The training dataset was augmented using the Albumentation library, which increased the number of tiles used. The model was tested using two types of HEXAGON imagery for selected areas in Afghanistan (Maiwand), Iran (Gorgan Plain) and Morocco (Rissani), and CORONA imagery in Iran (Gorgan Plain).</p><p>Our study provided a model capable of predicting the location of qanat shafts with a precision of over 0.881 and a recall of 0.627 for most of the case studies tested. This is the first case study aimed at detecting qanats in different landscapes using different types of satellite imagery. Using real, augmented, and artificial data allowed us to generalise the representation of qanats into lineal groups of circular features. Thanks to applying labelling for individual qanats and their pairs as separate classes, our approach eliminated most of the isolated and clustered false positives.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106053"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440324001213/pdfft?md5=3d2f9314b9aead48de5ae05e4d64f2b1&pid=1-s2.0-S0305440324001213-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142149950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New chronology evidence of prehistoric human activities indicated by pottery luminescence dating in the humid subtropical mountains of South China","authors":"Junjie Wei ,&nbsp;Jianhui Jin ,&nbsp;Lin Fu ,&nbsp;Xinxin Zuo ,&nbsp;Junjie Qiu ,&nbsp;Chenyang Hou ,&nbsp;Daiyu Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106072","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106072","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The age of prehistoric human sites serves as a fundamental basis for studying the relationship between human activities and landscape changes in the humid subtropical mountains of South China. The presence of pottery in these archaeological sites is widespread and offers a valuable resource for precise dating purposes. The Longtoushan (LTS) site, located in the northern mountains of Fujian Province, contains a rich variety of pottery types from various periods, representing a rare multi-period stratigraphic overlap in this area and playing a crucial role in constructing the cultural sequence and lineage of prehistoric and ancient times in this region. In this study, we employed thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) techniques to establish the age of pottery samples collected from the LTS site situated in the upper Minjiang River region of southeast China for the first time, while also comparing our findings with other dating methods to construct a chronological framework for the site. The results showed that: (1) The samples analyzed in this study can be classified according to the peak strength of 325 °C TL signal at natural and regenerative doses of quartz. Samples with weak TL signal at 325 °C (type II samples) showed high recuperation and equivalent dose underestimation at a low preheat temperature (220 °C) in OSL test. (2) Conventional SAR procedures employed for type I samples are not suitable for type II samples. Type II samples require additional OSL stimulation towards the end of the cycle and an extended stimulation duration. (3) The application of various dating methods has revealed that the LTS site represents a long-term settlement in the humid subtropical mountains of South China, commencing around 4.6–4.4 thousand years ago (ka). Specifically, the dating of pottery pieces from kiln sites and tombs in the late Neolithic period provides a specific temporal reference for further understanding of prehistoric human culture and production behavior in the humid mountains of Fujian.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106072"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142149879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Moated site object detection using time series satellite imagery and an improved deep learning model in northeast Thailand","authors":"Hong Yang ,&nbsp;Shaohua Wang ,&nbsp;Shunli Wang ,&nbsp;Pengcheng Zhao ,&nbsp;Mingyao Ai ,&nbsp;Qingwu Hu","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106070","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106070","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Moated sites are crucial for revealing the formation of early civilizations and societies in Southeast Asia, and a significant amount of effort has been expended in investigating their distribution. This work is the first application of deep learning object detection methods to identify moated sites from time series satellite images. We presented multi-information fusion data (N-RGB) based on the fusion of multispectral and vegetation indices from Sentinel-2 time series imagery, generated a dataset of moated sites via the data augmentation method, and improved the YOLOv5s model by adding bidirectional feature pyramid network (BiFPN) structures for automatically identifying moated sites. <strong>The results</strong> indicate that the model trained with time series N-RGB data improves precision, recall, and mAP by more than 20.0% compared with single image data. The improved model was able to enhance the identification of small, moated sites and achieved 100% detection in a test of 100 moated sites. <strong>Ultimately</strong>, 629 targets were detected in northeast Thailand, with a false-negative rate of less than 3%, and 116 probable sites were identified. Among these, 6 probable sites were highly likely to be moated sites, as visually verified by high-resolution GEE imagery. <strong>In addition</strong>, among the targets automatically detected in other regions of continental Southeast Asia, the 5, 3, 2, 1, and 7 most probable sites were identified in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and other regions of Thailand, respectively. <strong>In summary</strong>, our approach enables the automatic detection of exposed and visible moated sites from satellite imagery, and could improve site discovery and documentation capabilities, opening new perspectives in larger geographic site units and even in civilization surveys.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106070"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142149880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}