Graphics and Archaeology: Interpreting the Past

Snowbird, Utah
20-23 May 2000

 

Panel:

Archaeological Survey & Excavation: A Virtual Approach

Presenters:

  • Colleen Cleary
  • Lon Addison
  • Kevin Case
  • Philippe Martinez

Presentation Resources:

Summary:

    Colleen started the panel with an overview of various remote surveying techniques. She is an archaeologist / anthropologist by avocation (definitely how she uses her vacations). The conditions are often adverse - temperature, animals, people. Archaeology is a time and labor intensive pursuit and can be destructive. This is why she is interested in the use of technology to produce better, faster (but not necessarily cheaper) results.

    The examples of remote surveying techniques she presented were:

    • Jurassic Park - The opening segment of this popular film provided an engaging  look at the use of subsurface scanning through percussion waves (explosive charges).
    • Qantyr, Egypt - A news release featured the use of subsurface magnetic imaging techniques to locate and examine an ancient city below an active farming region. This non-destructive survey enabled archeologists to excavate only areas where structures of particular interest were, through magnetic imaging, known to located. The surface area of the site remained predominantly intact for continued farming.
    • Archaeology Magazine - June 1998 - Colleen showed computer generated drawings of a pyramid in Yaxuna, a Mayan site in Yucatan, Mexico, to demonstrate how Maya pyramids are typically constructed in layers, with successive rulers supplementing existing structures. This visualization was particularly important in understanding how the pyramids and temples were evolved over time and on top of each other.
    • Arqueologia Mexicana - Marzo/Abril 2000 - computer generated drawings of La Extructura II, a Maya pyramid in Calakmul in present day Campeche, Mexico,  sliced through the various layers used  to demonstrate how this great pyramid evolved over many generations. 
    • Geo Info Systems - June 1999 - Kevin P. Corbley's article, Pioneering Search for a Primitive City, was referenced as an example of how GIS (Geographic Information Systems) techniques and satellite imagery (Synthetic Aperture Radar or SAR) could be used to locate potential sites through dense cloud and vegetation through successive probability filters. These techniques enabled the location of Wakna, a Mayan city in the Mirador Basin of Guatemala.
    • GIS and Remote Sensing for Archaeology: Burgundy, France - In the Arroux River Valley of Burgundy, several different examples of non-destructive scanning were given
      • airborne thermal scanning
      • GIS and remote sensing technologies
      • predictive modeling

    Colleen summarized her presentation by expressing support of further development in non-destructive technologies for archaeology and with a challenge to educate archaeologists to the benefits of non-destructive archaeology.

    Lon offered a number of perspectives after Colleen. Yes, the tools are expensive and they raise interesting questions. What does one do with this data - how do we feed it into larger data structures? Another question that came to mind is whether or not we accelerated the excavation process by predicting where the interesting places to dig were. Have non-destructive techniques proven useful [or predictive enough to be satisfied with their findings]?

    Philippe added that archaeologists want to have a magic wand to know everything in the earth. To get results, you need to know where you want to go [before you use these survey techniques]. Is it possible to get too seduced by anticipating what you want to see? It may lead you to results you don't want to find.

    Ruth offered another perspective. The data you get is only very rough. For example, looking down through layered sediment will show you a picture that's confused data [because you are looking straight down through all the layers]. You cannot see all the different strata or their contents correctly. This is very subjective to interpretation.

    Philippe thought that these methods should only be used as a guide of careful consideration. Alyn offered that geophysicists often only use the data if they believe something is also there.

    Lon continued with an observation that there are often many months of getting technology permitted into an area of interest. It is often very difficult to obtain permission. The use of SAR radar was refused by the Chinese as a flyover of the Mongolian Desert. This refusal came because archaeologists might also detect missile silos in the ground as well. The cost/benefit needs to be weighed when the application of technology is appropriate.

    Paul noted that there is a perception that you're still looking at data when you visualize it with this technology. Lon replied that there is a multi-modality to data and that imaging needs to be still further explored and refined. Layering of multiple different data was more common in medical imaging than archaeology. Perhaps there was something to learn from there.

Conclusions / Issues:

    • When and how is the use of non-invasive sensing technologies appropriate / cost effective? 
    • What type of refinements will be necessary to address needs and concerns given in the discussion?

 

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