A discovery of the ancient Egyptian archaeological site “Site No. 52” using a wide variety of satellite data

Abstract

There are some Egyptian pharaonic sites discovered by the utilization of optical and microwave satellite data. Those discoveries suggested us that satellite data can be a powerful tool to detect unknown archaeological sites in the desert of Egypt. On the other hand, there are many Hellenistic archaeological sites at the Nile Delta. As a new application of satellite remote sensing, a wide variety of satellite data such as ALOS/PALSAR, Landsat-7/ETM+, CORONA, and WorldView-2 was used to detect Hellenistic archaeological sites distributed at the Nile delta. As a result of the study, a trace of the ground surface in a rectangular shape considered to be undiscovered Hellenistic archaeological site has been found. It is the first example in the history of archaeology of this area that a previously unknown and potential Hellenistic site of the Nile Delta was discovered by satellite data. This is a preliminary report about the discovery of Site No. 52.