The use of UAVs to monitor archeological sites: The case study of Choirokoitia within the PROTHEGO project

Abstract

© 2017 SPIE. PROTHEGO (PROTection of European Cultural HEritage from GeO-hazards) is a collaborative research project funded in the framework of the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPICH) - Heritage Plus in 2015-2018 (www.prothego.eu). PROTHEGO aims to make an innovative contribution towards the analysis of geo-hazards in areas of cultural heritage, and uses novel space technology for the management of sites and world heritage monuments located throughout Europe, using specialized remote sensing techniques. The methodology will include the 395 monuments of UNESCO in Europe, with case studies conducted in 4 UNESCO sites in England, Spain, Italy and Cyprus. For the Cyprus case study in Choirokoitia, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are used to monitor and assess the risk from natural hazards on the archaeological site to evaluate cultural heritage sites deformation. The UAVs were flown over the study area to produce time-series data, including orthoimages, 3D models and digital elevation models of the Choirokoitia site in order to identify changes in the area caused by natural hazards.