More on Satellite Archaeology

Post by **Minimalist** » Wed May 14, 2008 7:07 am

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 112348.htm

ScienceDaily (May 14, 2008) — Satellite imagery obtained from NASA will help archeologist Bill Middleton peer into the ancient Mexican past. In a novel archeological application, multi- and hyperspectral data will help build the most accurate and most detailed landscape map that exists of the southern state of Oaxaca, where the Zapotec people formed the first state-level and urban society in Mexico.

kbs2244 · Post by **kbs2244** » Wed May 14, 2008 3:18 pm

This is the kind of thing that is going to change the “science” forever.
Already we have examples in Italy of a guy finding a site via Goggle Earth that no one suspected was there.
The roads across Arabia and the Amazon basin and who knows what else.
It is just to bad boats do not leave trails.

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Fri May 16, 2008 5:53 pm

kbs2244 wrote:It is just to bad boats do not leave trails.

If paleoboats are anywhere to be found I'm betting it is under a thick layer of Toba ash, now offshore of Sumatra.
To locate and get at them is extremely difficult, but when they do dig/fish them up, they might reveal beautifully preserved specimens. And we can already predict their age: 75,000 years BP...

War Arrow · Post by **War Arrow** » Sat May 17, 2008 10:01 am

“They had the first writing system, the first state society, the first cities.

Apart from the Olmecs of course, unless I'm getting my dates wrong (though might be true about the writing system).
It all sounds canny but I must confess, having read the article, I'm still at a loss as to what advantage there might be in this whole deal with the satellite technology.

Forum Monk · Post by **Forum Monk** » Sat May 17, 2008 2:26 pm

More on remote satellite imaging for archaeological surveys:
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/lab/remote_sensing.html