Optical Remote Sensing, Image Analysis and Measurement Applied to the Archaeological Materials from Pyrgos, Cyprus

The archaeological investigation of the Pyrgos site in Cyprus began in 1995, when the settlement of Pyrgos was discovered near Limassol. The stratigraphic excavation began in 1998. From the geological standpoint, Pyrgos is in the southern coastal belt under the slopes of the Trodos massif, which stretches from the peninsula of Akrotiri and includes a large mining area. The archaeological site is on a rise at the centre of a large Early Bronze Age settlement whose excavated sections date from around 1950-2000 B.C. In eleven digging seasons, the Italian NRC's Archaeological Mission brought to light around 30 % of the architectural complex which corresponds to the industrial area. An especially important discovery was the industrial area devoted to process bronze, olive oil, textiles, perfumes and medicinal substances. The techniques of image analysis began in 2008, consisting of microscopic analyses aimed at identifying the morphological characteristics, biometrics and other measurement of the various artifacts, in order to establish their origin and technologies used to make them. The image analysis system was composed of various technical components: a microscope video camera mounted on an optical microscope, and an optical stereo microscope connected to a computer with a video imaging board and a high resolution monitor in order to characterize the obtained images. The different categories of archaeological materials investigated through the various elaborations of color thresholds and quantitative measurements of morphological elements have allowed of the comparison directed with the creation of a database of quantitative measurements for pottery and glass materials, archaeobotanical macroremains, textile fibers and paleopalynology.