Mapping, modelling and predicting prehistoric coastal archaeology in the southern Red Sea using new applications of digital-imaging techniques

Over 3,000 shell-midden sites have been located in the southern Red Sea using digital-imaging techniques, in a combination of palaeo-landscape reconstruction and remote survey. The primary methods include digital-imaging techniques – high-resolution satellite images, false colour images and radar data. Surveying and recording these sites during excavation has also been enhanced using digital photogrammetry – allowing high-resolution site-level data to be incorporated into wider landscape reconstructions. The resulting data are combined to construct site location models that have been proved and tested in other areas of the southern Red Sea. We also show how satellite imagery can be modified and exploited for seabed mapping and the search for underwater sites.