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Sunday, October 15, 2006
Archaeology and Google Earth
The Raleigh N&O has a story of another example of the Google Earth program being used as an archaeological tool:
Web lets UNC prof do armchair archaeology
After 25 years of fieldwork abroad, UNC-Chapel Hill archaeologist Scott Madry has dug up a new way to hunt for ancient ruins -- without leaving home.
Last year, Madry read how an Italian man accidentally discovered the outline of an ancient Roman villa while looking at his house on Google Earth. Since then, with help from the French government, Madry has confirmed the free service's promise as a research tool. As the news spreads, other scientists are growing excited, too.
Madry claims to have found 101 potential archaeological sites in France and later confirmed that about 75% of those were actual sites on record. He presented his findings recently at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology conference, a good sign that satellite imagery, specifically Google Earth technology, is growing as a legitimate research tool and making its move into the academic mainstream (much like the internet itself did several years ago). The only drawback is that not all areas of the globe are high enough in resolution to be very useful, including rural Northwest Honduras where I work. Over the years, I suspect that this will improve, maybe even in tandem with its use in archaeology.
Using satellite images and aerial photography are nothing new in archaeology, but this is the first time that researchers have been able to simply sit at their desk at no cost and no extra work and browse the globe like an online library catalog. Another promising step from Google's side is the recently-launched Google for Educators which attempts to make the company's technologies accessible to teachers for use in class and research projects. Google Earth is included, of course, and I can only hope that this will be one way to stimulate kids to become interested in geography and archaeology.
Posted by Will at October 15, 2006 08:00 PM in Archaeology