DTM segmentation and analysis for archaeological hill-top sites recognition in GRASS

This paper presents a procedure for the automatic creation of a map of probable location of archeological hill-top sites, i. e. sites on dominant positions with respect to surrounding areas, from a digital terrain model. These areas are detected by combining segmentation techniques and morphological filtering. The application of a segmentation technique to the DTM creates two maps showing respectively homogenous areas and discontinuities, according to some criteria. The following application of filtering to the homogenous areas selects areas with a suitable combination of minimum surface, maximum value of compactness and maximum mean curvature. The result of the procedure is a map of candidate hill-top sites, which is used by archeologists for further analysis. Besides the specific application, this study provides an example of the usage of the GRASS r.seg modules with indication about the choice of suitable values for the required parameters. The study has been carried out on the whole Provincia Autonoma di Trento (north east Italy).