A comparative assessment for the archaeological features detection using an integration of aerial remote sensing and electrical resistivity in Sungai Batu, Bujang Valley

Abstract

The identification of archaeological features via geophysical techniques is widely used for the prospection of new archaeological proxies. However, there are very few integration studies with remote sensing techniques have been reported, especially in the Malaysian context. This study aims to integrate remote sensing analysis throughout surface features through the expediency of Vegetation Indices (VIs) with the ground investigation technique of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) data to identify archaeological traces in Sungai Batu, Bujang Valley, Kedah. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were generated to provide visual interpretation and elevation profile to extract the archaeological features. Farther, statistical analyses were conducted to show a strong correlation between two variables data: eight VIs with Resistivity of Buried Properties (RBP) and Resistivity of Ancient River (RAR). The results obtained show that almost all indices attained a high correlation, especially DVI and RDVI which RAR (r = 0.94) and RBP (r = 0.95). In contrast, MSAVI shows a high negative correlation with RAR (r = -0.93) and RBP (r = -0.95). However, NDVI indicates the low correlation in RAR (r = 0.66) compared to RBP (r = 0.95) because we assume this algorithm is less appropriate in detecting underground water rather than extracting the vegetation spectral characteristics. It is therefore recommended that the application of the appropriate algorithm is a Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) compared to NDVI. Finally, it is anticipated that the outcome of this study could be used to map the potential area of archaeological interest and in the planning for further fieldwork investigation.