Automated Archeological Survey of Ancient Irrigation Canals Abstract of the Thesis Automated Archaeological Survey of Ancient Irrigation Canals

In Ancient Southern Mesopotamia (now Iraq), rainfall was never high enough to sustain agriculture, so for thousands of years people used a system of canals to irrigate their fields. These canals, built up over generations, have long formed the basis of settlement patterns and state relations in the region, making their location and mapping of key interest to archaeologists. However, since 1991, western archaeologists have not been allowed into Iraq, and consequently have been unable to conduct ground surveys. This work focuses on automating the detection of these critical irrigation canals. Owing to a process of silt deposition, the canals gradually raise their banks above the surrounding plain. Using free elevation data collected by NASA in 2000, we use a combination of image filters and tracing algorithms to detect and highlight the ancient canals, quickly scanning an area for archaeologically relevant details. Our method was generally successful in detecting very large and old canals, but data noise and resolution prevented the detection of smaller features. Type of Report: MS Thesis Department of Computer Science & Engineering Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1045 St. Louis, MO 63130 ph: (314) 935-6160 WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS School of Engineering and Applied Science Department of Computer Science and Engineering Thesis Examination Committee: Robert Pless, Chair Ron Cytron Tao Ju Automated Archeological Survey of Ancient Irrigation Canals by Joseph Herman Izraelevitz A thesis presented to the School of Engineering of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE May 2009 Saint Louis, Missouri