The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol. XXXVII. Part B7. Beijing 2008 
224 
D=3 MQl, 
OH2 
Oki 
Ancient Ancient rubbish Soil filled 
Figure 6 Sketch map of ancient tombs distribution verified 
by drilling in No. 1 anomaly area 
4. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSIONS 
This research demonstrates that hyperspctral remote sensing is 
effective for archaeology even when no ground remnants or 
other traces are found. Hyperspectral remote sensing could 
detect and identify weak spectrum differences of ground objects, 
and it deserves to penetrate the archaeological research. The 
selection of hyperspectral remote sensing time for archaeology 
is important. And the best season for hyperspectral scanning is 
when crops have been harvested and the soils have been 
exposed to insolation for a longer time. Shallow-buried tombs 
usually lead to less moisture and higher thermal anomalies of 
the covering soil. Thermal infrared image scanned at nighttime 
is more effective for temperature anomaly detection than that at 
daytime. 
To the authors’ knowledges, if an underground building is large 
in scale, geometric shape is regular and physical property is 
distinct, the spectral anomalies will be much clear. Some ash 
pits filled with rubbish or bones will change the thermal 
properties and spectrum of overlying objects due to lower 
density, higher fertility and more diversified humidity. 
Therefore, the size of detectable cultural relics relies on spatial 
resolution of image, larger relics or group of small relics 
densely distributed will be more detectable by hyperspectral 
remote sensing because they can more possibly cause anomalies 
in thermal properties and vegetation growths. 
The scanning time for hyperspectral image in Shenhe tableland 
was a little late, and the ground crops had been already 5~ 
1 Ocm high, and the percentage of vegetation coverage reached 
to 60~70%. The spatial resolution of image was about 3.6 m. 
The lower resolution had had a disadvantageous influence to the 
results of studying. 
Tan K.L, Wan Y. Q., Yang Y. D., 2005, Archaeological 
Exploration Research of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing [J], 
Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves, 24(6), pp. 437~440 
Scollar, I., Tabbagh, A., Hesse, A. and Herzog, I., 1990, 
Archaeological Prospection and Remote Sensing [M], 
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
K. Tan, Y. Wan, X. Zhou, D. Song and Q. Duan., 2006, 
Application of Remote Sensing Technology in the 
Archaeological Study [J]. International Journal of Remote 
Sensing, 27 (16) ,pp. 3347-3363 
Dabas, M. and Tabbagh, A., 2000, Thermal Prospecting [M], In 
L. Ellis (Ed.), Archaeological Method and Theory: An 
Encyclopedia, pp. 626~630 (New York: Garland Publishing). 
Liu J.G, WANG Q.S., 2006, The Summarization of the Study 
of Remote Sensing in Archaeology, Bulletin of Surveying and 
Mapping, (12): pp.32~36 
Zhu F.H., 1998, Comment on all Kings of Xizhou Dynasty [M], 
Guizhou People’s Press, pp.423~424 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
During the research, the scientists of Shanghai Institute of 
Technological Physics and Institute of Remote Sensing 
Applications, Chinese Academy of sciences, have provided us 
lots of assistances in image scanning and preprocessing. Thanks 
to their valuable guidance, we have successfully completed the 
research. Here, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to 
all of the friends. 
REFERENCES 
Kvamme, K.L., 2005, Handbook of Archaeological Methods 
(Terrestrial Remote Sensing in Archaeology) [M]. Lanham, MA: 
AltaMira Press. 
Chen D.C, 2004, Remote Sensing Archaeology Explanations [J], 
Geographic Spatial Information, 2(5), pp. 33~41