Starting off the challenge is A is for archaeology.
Archaeology is not all Indiana Jones and a bullwhip exploring lost sites in the jungle. The Society for American Archaeology defines archaeology as "the study of the ancient and recent human past through material remains. Archaeologists might study the million-year-old fossils of our earliest human ancestors in Africa. Or they might study 20th-century buildings in present-day New York City.” Other definitions include a reference to excavations, a primary research technique.
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| Square and trowel survey square |
Trowels and brushes are not the only tools available to archaeologists. Modern technology has a place alongside maps and exploring in the jungle. Metal detectors have uncovered the secrets of battlefields yielding artifacts and insights into troop movements. When combined with traditional excavation techniques, it goes beyond the conflict and provides insights into the human aspects of a soldiers life.
can help interpret large areas.
Ground penetrating radar is a non-invasive technology that allows scientists to take a peek below the surface of the ground. By using GPR, archaeologists can make more educated decisions on where and how deep to dig.
Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a technology that works like x-ray vision for objects that are hidden in plain sight. The technology works by directing pulses of light toward the ground and measuring the time it takes for the light to reflect back. LiDAR then generates a virtual 3D map from a single large-scale survey. This technology can render years of surveying landscapes to an exercise that takes a single afternoon. It has been used to discover hidden beneath the Guatemalan rainforest and a 5,000-year-old fortress in Romania that nature had hidden for centuries.
My experience with various archaeological techniques has mostly been survey digs at historic sites and metal detectors using the flag-bag-tag technique on revolutionary war battlefields. And exploring my family farm for artifacts. Just because the present works with the future, doesn't mean we have to eliminate the human. For myself, I'll take both technology and Indiana Jones.
If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.
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