Cited by 2Archaeological Research and ProtectionArchaeology and Cultural HeritageImage Processing and 3D Reconstruction

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 58 of the 58 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Remote Sensing and AI Coupled Approach for Large-Scale Archaeological Mapping in the Andean Arid Highlands: Case Study in Altos Arica, Chile

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Castiello, Maria Elena, Landauer, Jürgen, Saintenoy, Thibault·2025·Remote Sensing

Abstract

Artificial intelligence algorithms for automated archaeological site detection have been scarcely applied in the Andean highlands, regions that preserve a significant amount of surface archaeological architecture but have not yet been fully explored or mapped due to the difficult terrain. This paper presents a case study of the application of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to automatically identify archaeological architecture in the Azapa valley in the Arica y Parinacota region of Chile. Using a high-resolution and big regional-scale archaeological geodatabase created through a systematic and detailed photo-interpretation survey of satellite imagery and fieldwork, our study demonstrates the efficiency of CNN-based automated detection in identifying archaeological stone structures such as roundhouses and corrals in the Chilean highlands. After outlining the technical protocol for automated detection, we present the results and discuss the potential of our AI model for archaeological mapping in arid highland environments, from a regional to a more extended and global perspective.

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Crossref · 10.3390/rs17203499

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Research works printed but not linked: 10

  1. Uribe, 2011, Las sociedades Formativas de San Pedro de Atacama: Asentamiento, cronología y proceso, Estud. Atacameños, 42, 53
  2. Jackson, 2004, Hallazgo o búsqueda de sitios paleoindios: Problemas de investigación en torno a los primeros poblamientos, Rev. Werken, 5, 9
  3. Jackson, 2005, Urban expansion in northern Chile and its implications for cultural heritage, J. Anthropol. Archaeol., 24, 408
  4. Santoro, 2011, El tránsito Arcaico-Formativo en la Circumpuna y Valles Occidentales del Centro Sur Andino: Hacia los cambios “neolíticos”, Chungara, 43, 487
  5. Uribe, 2004, Tiwanaku en Chile: Nuevas evidencias, nuevos debates, Boletín Mus. Chil. Arte Precolomb., 13, 35
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  7. Hidalgo, J., and Focacci, G. (1986). Historia prehispánica de Arica y el valle de Azapa. Chungara: Revista de Antropología Chilena No. 16/17, actas x Congreso Nacional de Arqueologia Chilena (Octubre 1986), Universidad de Tarapaca. Available online: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27801889.
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  10. Powers, D.M. (2020). Evaluation: From precision, recall and F-measure to ROC, informedness, markedness and correlation. arXiv.

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Metadata

Authors
Castiello, M. E., Landauer, J., & Saintenoy, T.
Affiliations
  • Institute d’Archéologie et de Sciences de l’Antiquité, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Landauer Research, 71642 Ludwigsburg, Germany
  • Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
Venue
Remote Sensing
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2025-10-21
Volume
17
Issue
20
Pages
3499
ISSN
2072-4292 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4415403352
Cited by
2
References
54
Citations by year
2026: 2
FWCI
2.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Remote Sensing (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • IRIS (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Archeology › Archaeological Research and Protection
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Image Processing and 3D Reconstruction
Keywords
convolutional neural networks, archaeological mapping, Andean highlands, Azapa Valley, roundhouses, corrals, stone structures, satellite imagery, aerial photograph interpretation

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