Mapping Ancient Civilization, in a Matter of Days

[Melvadius]

The New York Times carries a good article on the application of LIDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, which has been used so successfully in Britain in recent years, into jungle areas which has revealed the extent of extensive Mayan related archaeological remains.

 

Although not useful for finding small 'spot' remains such as pits; LIDAR has been proved in the last few years to be very good at picking up linear features such as terraces, trackways and the remains of buildings or extensive settlements even under forests or as the article proves jungles.

 

For a quarter of a century, two archaeologists and their team slogged through wild tropical vegetation to investigate and map the remains of one of the largest Maya cities, in Central America. Slow, sweaty hacking with machetes seemed to be the only way to discover the breadth of an ancient urban landscape now hidden beneath a dense forest canopy.

 

Even the new remote-sensing technologies, so effective in recent decades at surveying other archaeological sites, were no help. Imaging radar and multispectral surveys by air and from space could not

Edited May 11, 2010 by Melvadius

[Kosmo]

"For a quarter of a century, two archaeologists and their team slogged through wild tropical vegetation to investigate and map the remains of one of the largest Maya cities, in Central America. Slow, sweaty hacking with machetes seemed to be the only way to discover the breadth of an ancient urban landscape now hidden beneath a dense forest canopy.

ven the new remote-sensing technologies, so effective in recent decades at surveying other archaeological sites, were no help. Imaging radar and multispectral surveys by air and from space could not

[Primus Pilus]

"For a quarter of a century, two archaeologists and their team slogged through wild tropical vegetation to investigate and map the remains of one of the largest Maya cities, in Central America. Slow, sweaty hacking with machetes seemed to be the only way to discover the breadth of an ancient urban landscape now hidden beneath a dense forest canopy.

ven the new remote-sensing technologies, so effective in recent decades at surveying other archaeological sites, were no help. Imaging radar and multispectral surveys by air and from space could not