Valley of lost cities found in the Amazon – technological advances in archaeology are only the beginning of discovery
Instead, without needing to brave the hazards of the forest, Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) has revealed networks of buried roads and earthen mounds.
- Instead, without needing to brave the hazards of the forest, Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) has revealed networks of buried roads and earthen mounds.
- The point of exploratory science is to reveal what has so far been hidden.
- So has 300 years of research and recent technological advances left us with little left to be discovered?
- The changes in technology are wonderful tools that help me find and model history, but they do not deplete it.
Why excavation is key to understanding
- They have opened up areas of exploration that were previously too remote, too deep, or too dangerous.
- But seeing an image of something in the ground or at the bottom of the sea is only the most preliminary step in discovery.
- You cannot truly understand an image until you have seen the artefacts associated with ancient constructions and you have studied the occupational history.
- In the excavation, coins, the evidence of burning, catapult stones and ceramics were discovered.
More and more sites to study
- The challenges in the field are not that we are running out of things to study, but that we lack the resources to study and protect the abundance of poorly understood ancient sites.
- The increased capacity to find sites highlights the need to conserve these places and protect them from development and looting.
- Profound knowledge comes with the study of the culture and the vertical excavation that peels back the history of a lost civilisation.
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Jay Silverstein receives funding from the National Geographic Society and The American Research Center in Egypt.