Qualitative evaluation of COSMO SkyMed in the detection of earthen archaeological remains: The case of Pachamacac (Peru)

tArchaeological prospection of earthen buried structures, namely non-fired sun-dried mud bricks mixedwith organic material, is a critical challenge to address. In fact, this building material exhibits a very lowgeophysical contrast compared to its surroundings and, therefore, earthen structures are very complexto be identified using remote sensing. In order to cope with this issue, in this paper, we focus on theevaluation of satellite X-band radar data (COSMO-SkyMed) capability for detecting earthen buried struc-tures in a desert area. The results obtained from satellite radar data have been validated for a test site inPachacamac (Peru) by using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and geomagnetic techniques. The test siteis outside the fenced protected zone of Pachacamac, today in the tentative UNESCO list. This paper isthe first attempt made until now in evaluating the detectability of earthen archaeological remains usingsatellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. Outcomes from our investigations clearly point out thatthe approach we adopted can be useful applied for preventive archaeology and for the planning of futureexcavation campaigns