Applications of remote sensing to archaeological studies of early Shang civilization in northern China

This is a preliminary report on the authors' collaborative work with an ongoing archaeology project undertaken by the East Asian Archaeology Center, Boston University, and the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS-IA). Since 1990, that project has sought to locate and investigate sites of the early Shang Dynasty (ca. 2000-1500 BC), including the site of the first hang capital and ritual center, Great City Shang. The research area centers on Shangqiu Xian (or Shang-ch'iu Hsien) at the far eastern end of Henan Province in the North China Plain, an area that has been blanketed by alluvial deposits from the Yellow River as its course has wandered across eastern Henan during the past four millennia. As a result, this part of the North China Plain-home of a number of the most important of China's early civilizations-is poorly known archaeologically, a situation that can be significantly improved with the application of a variety of remote sensing technologies. Rapid economic development in the area demands more efficient archaeological prospection before important sites are lost to development. The authors have assembled radar data from JERS, Corona reconnaissance image data, several Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper data sets, SPOT images, and most recently they have acquired 8 new Landsat 7 data sets of the region. Initial remote sensing efforts include standard image processing and analysis methods. They also seek sites related to early copper mining and other infrastructural elements to this early culture using Landsat band ratios and a new vegetation removal algorithm. A highly speculative application of radar data involves InSAR measurements seeking potential elevation changes related to differential swelling/shrinking of soils with moisture content.