# Redefining Archaeological Research: Digital Tools, Challenges, and Integration in Advancing Methods
## 3 Types of Digital Tools
### Remote Sensing Technologies  
The use of remote sensing technologies in the archaeological process has become a favored approach within the scientific community. Traditionally, archaeologists relied on field surveys or subsurface investigations, which posed a risk of damaging archaeological remains. While early aerial images supported their research, they were often qualitative and lacked detailed analysis. By definition, remote sensing refers to the science of observing, interpreting, and measuring objects or surfaces without direct physical contact [26; 27]. Spatial data derived from image processing techniques using remotely sensed data offer advantages over con  
Figure 4: Reviewing information in the QField app: navigation and editing tasks (blue and red dots display location spots). The GPS smartphone application QField is a mobile optimized version of the QGIS desktop app. This application, using the GPS of a smartphone, has the ability to navigate the entire site area and create, localize, and delimit any archaeological entity in a coordinated space. ventional site-monitoring procedures in terms of speed and efficiency. These technologies enable the surveying of extensive areas within short timeframes and provide valuable products, such as orthophotos, digital elevation models, and 3D models, which have been proven to be exceedingly beneficial to researchers. In their review, [PERSON] et al. [28] (Figure 5) categorized the remote sensing technologies employed in archaeological studies into four main types: (a) photography, (b) multispectral and hyperspectral imaging, (c) synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and (d) light detection and ranging (LiDAR). Photography mainly focuses on interpreting archived aerial photographs of sites using various image processing techniques [29; 30]. For example, photography can be instrumental in identifying buried archaeological features, as experienced observers can detect changes in terrain relief or variations in the color of overlying soils or crops [28] (Figure 6) [31; 32]. Multispectral and hyperspectral imaging, on the other hand, leverage the spectral information provided by satellite imagery. A multispectral image comprises multiple layers, each capturing the same scene but each layer recording different portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The most common high-spatial-resolution multispectral images contain four (4) bands that capture the radiation in the following wavelength bands: blue at 450-515 and 520 nm; near infrared (NIR) at 750-900 nm; green at 515, 520-590, and 600 nm;  
Figure 5: Dura Europos, eastern Syria, as it appears in VHR satellite images (© 2019 Digital Globe) from August 2011 (**A**) and April 2014 (**B**). The VHR satellite image from 2011 is displayed with detected looting changes in red (**C**). In the sub-image corresponding to the area marked by the blue box in (**A**), dozens of old looting pits are visible around the Palmyrene Gate (**D**). In the sub-image corresponding to the area marked by the blue box in (**B**), a renewed phase of severe, war-related looting with fresh pits is clearly visible in the same area (**E**). Ground views (© AAAS (2014)) of looting at the Dura Europos site (**F–H**). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article). Source: [28]. and red at 600-630-680 and 690 nm [33]. The variation in spectral reflectance captured in these multispectral images offers archaeologists valuable insights into areas with significant archaeological potential. Hyperspectral images, in contrast, consist of spectral bands capturing radiation over an extended spectral range, typically from the visible and near infrared (VNIR) regions up to the short-wave near-infrared (SWIR) region for an examined area [34]. This abundance of spectral information allows for the enhanced differentiation of artifacts from the surroundings and provides detailed insights into their condition based on the spectral signature of the examined features.