Space Archaeology

Nothing like combining two of my favourite topics – space technology and archaeology/history. Popsci.com posted a detailed article last week about “The Space Archaeologists“, which takes a look at how a new generation of scholars are using radar, satellite imagery and other advanced technologies to uncover the mysteries surrounding ancient civilizations:

Every few months, it seems, a discovery from the skies shakes up the world of archaeology. In Iraq, Harvard University archaeologist Jason Ur has revealed ancient irrigation canals that suggest that the 3,000-year-old Assyrian kingdom contained a network of previously undiscovered suburbs. At Easter Island, University of Hawaii and California State University scholars have exposed the paths—long a mystery—along which early Polynesians dragged statues. And in Guatemala, Saturno has uncovered sprawling Mayan sites dotted with hundreds of buildings.

While the article focuses primarily on use of the technology at Angkor in Cambodia, it still touches on plenty of interesting areas. One of my favourite quotes was this one:

As the new methods spur increasingly spectacular discoveries, they are changing historians’ understanding of the ancient world. “People are looking at this data,” says Sarah Parcak, an archaeologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, “and going, ‘Oh my goodness, we’re going to have to reconceptualize our vision of ancient landscapes.’ ”

A new era in archaeology?