The impact of fluvial erosion on archaeological sites
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Fluvial erosion is a dynamic site formation process that has the potential to degrade and destroy archaeological sites worldwide and especially in Kansas. Fortunately, fluvial erosion can be monitored utilizing remote sensing techniques, including water indices detected through Landsat and Sentinel imagery, linear regression, and change detection algorithms. In this study, we systematically analyze the spatial and temporal dynamics of river behavior across Kansas from 1984-2024 using these approaches. By correlating shifts in water dynamics with the locations of known archaeological sites from the Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS) database, our approach identifies archaeological sites that have eroded or are eroding and informs predictive models for future erosion. Through these methods, our research found twenty-three (23) archaeological sites at immediate risk of erosion, eroding, or eroded. This study addresses the urgent need to safeguard these cultural resources by identifying critical erosion zones where fluvial forces threaten to permanently erase remnants of our past.