TERRAIN MODELLING BASED ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS IN THE LOESS PLATEAU OF CHINA

Abstract. The geomorphology of loess plateaus continuously evolves with gully erosion. It is very hard to simulate geomorphic evolution in history, especially considering longer time spans, because of the lack of ancient geographic information. However, historical documents and archaeological sites are providing indispensable information about the past world. Using the remains of Wucheng in the Shanxi Province in China as the study area, we explored the possibility of combining UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) photogrammetry and GNSS (global navigation satellite system) measurements for modelling current terrain as well as ancient terrain with the help of archaeological surveying. Finally, current and ancient topography were modelled and the soil erosion was assessed. We believe our work can provide a clear workflow for terrain modelling in archaeological sites and may offer new ideas for landform evolution studies.