A novel machine learning automated change detection tool for monitoring disturbances and threats to archaeological sites

Archaeological sites across the globe are facing significant threats and heritage managers are under increasing pressure to monitor and preserve these sites. Since 2015, the EAMENA project has documented more than 200,000 archaeological sites and the disturbances and threats affecting them across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, using a combination of remote sensing, digitization, and fieldwork methodologies. The large number of sites and their often remote or otherwise difficult to access locations makes consistent and regular monitoring of these sites for disturbances and threats a daunting task. Combined with the increasing frequency and severity of threats to archaeological sites, the need to develop novel tools and methods that can rapidly monitor the changes at and around archaeological sites and provide accurate and consistent monitoring has never been more urgent. In this paper, we introduce the EAMENA Machine Learning Automated Change Detection tool (EAMENA MLACD). This newly-developed online tool uses bespoke machine learning algorithms to process sequential satellite images and create land classification maps to detect and identify disturbances and threats in the vicinity of known archaeological sites for the purposes of heritage monitoring and preservation. Initial testing and validation of results from the EAMENA MLACD in a case study in Bani Walid, Libya, demonstrate how it can be used to identify disturbances and potential threats to heritage sites, and increase the speed and efficiency of monitoring activities undertaken by heritage professionals.

1. Introduction

The heritage of North Africa and the Middle East is under threat from a variety of factors. This includes not only direct attacks on heritage such as the well-publicized examples of armed conflict and large-scale looting, but also countless other issues including urban and agricultural expansion, natural disasters, and the effects of climate change, leading to desertification, coastal erosion, and wildfires, (Huang and Xu, 2022; Jiang et al., 2023; Mamo et al., 2022; Rayne et al., 2017a, Rayne et al., 2017b; Vousdoukas et al., 2022). The Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project was established in 2015 in recognition of the growing number of threats facing heritage sites today. A collaboration between the Universities of Oxford, Leicester, and Durham, and funded by Arcadia, the EAMENA project's main objectives are to document heritage and the damage and threats affecting heritage sites across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and make them available in an online database (Oxford and Southampton, 2024; database.eamena.org) for use by heritage professionals, researchers, students, and other stakeholders (Bewley et al., 2016; Zerbini, 2018; see also eamena.org).