Space: The Final [Archaeological] Frontier!

When I was about 6 years old my school had a week long series of guest speakers that included elements of the local Police and Fire Departments, and elements of the Army, coming in and talking to us about how great it was to serve in their respected fields.

This week also included some hands on activities such as dressing up and doing silly little exercises that all emphasised how GREAT it was to be a Police/Fire/Army Officer. Of course, by the end of the week all of my friends were 100% sure what they wanted to be when they were older.

I on the other hand, wasn't so easily swayed.

Don't get me wrong, I was hugely impressed with dressing up as a Fireman (after all, it wasn't too long ago that Fireman Sam was my hero) and the thought of running around a field wielding a gun (an ACTUAL gun, not just a stick that looks a bit like a gun!) was very tempting. But there was something these men hadn't counted on, something they weren't prepared for, and that something was JURASSIC PARK.

I had just recently watched Spielbergs 'Jurassic Park' and had decided there and then what I wanted to be when I was older.....a Velociraptor! However, after a few days of practice I was finding it hard to integrate within society as a Velociraptor and my mum eventually sat me down and explained the impossibilities of my life changing decision. I wasn't particularly heart broken about it, if I'm honest, even in my childish splendour I could see that the long term job options for such a career were limited, at best.

So, I decided to go with my second choice instead. I was to be an archaeologist!

I started collecting fossils from antique fairs and began buying a weekly Dinosaur magazine from my local newsagents, which I used to study intently. My mum would despair as I constantly dug up her garden in a lame attempt at discovering a T-Rex. All of this carried on for a few years, that was until a sober realisation set in.

You see, thanks to films and television I had a romanticised view of archaeologists/archaeology. When I considered my future as an archaeologist, I saw this...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a196d4ac6104.jpg[/atsimg]

When in reality, it was going to be more like this...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/81954b33c045.jpg[/atsimg]

Dont get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with these fine gentlemen, and who doesn't love a bit of Time Team on a Sunday afternoon? But it just wasn't what I was expecting.

It was also around this time that I started noticing the opposite sex, and the more I began to think about the practicalities of my career choice the more I didn't like the sound of it. The thought of inviting a girl back to my room to show her my massive...collection of ammonites wasn't something I particularly relished the thought of.

“And this is my favourite trowel.”

“You have a...favourite trowel?”

“Yeah...don't you?”

“...”

Well, you get the picture.

A decade later and, of course, I regret my hesitancy. I can now fully appreciate just how AMAZINGLY COOL the field of archaeology really is. Especially in light of recent developments.

Why is he telling me all of this? I hear you ask. Well, it's simple. Archaeology is getting a facelift!

What does the past look like from 200 miles up? A new generation of archaeologists has found that the history of civilization may look far clearer from the top of the atmosphere than it does from the bottom of a dig.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c3d89984cf65.jpg[/atsimg]
- The temple of Angkor Wat from above—the surrounding ruins hold untouched archaeological treasure.

Here in Cambodia, the new archaeology has changed the history of a civilization. The low-key Evans, a director of the University of Sydney’s Greater Angkor Project at just 32 years old, has already mapped northern Angkor, another heavily landmined area, from a computer screen in Australia. He has used radar and satellite images to chart its vast network of canals and reservoirs, proving that Angkor was once the largest city in the world, a metropolis consuming an area about the size of present-day Los Angeles. His work also underpins a radical new explanation of why, in the 15th century, the Angkor civilization died out, a finding that holds grave undertones for the megacities of the 21st century.

Source

Thanks to this technology we are now uncovering lost cities and hidden treasures.

How it works...

Step 1

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/33c20f5693f8.jpg[/atsimg]

NASA’s Aster satellite images the Earth in 15 different wavelengths. Parcak processes the data so that fields are red, cities blue and ancient ruins green.

Step 2

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d82f16209852.jpg[/atsimg]

A zoomed-in view of the image reveals a subtle green mound among the red fields. The white square is a water-treatment plant.

Step 3

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/16e0e26e7356.jpg[/atsimg]

Using a visible-light image from the Quickbird satellite, Parcak spots a buried wall [stretching from the center of the brown field toward the upper left].

Step 4

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4cd0761a8fd8.jpg[/atsimg]

An on-the-ground dig identifies the ruins as the enclosure wall of the ancient city of Tell Tebilla, which dates from 600 B.C.

Source

It seems that even the heavily excavated Egypt has secrets to hide...

Egyptian pyramids found by infra-red satellite images

Seventeen lost pyramids are among the buildings identified in a new satellite survey of Egypt.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/60a4145b642e.jpg[/atsimg]

More than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements were also revealed by looking at infra-red images which show up underground buildings.

Source

I'm sure by now you have noticed that the main driving force behind this recent explosion of technological advancements in archaeology comes from...NASA!

NASA Earth Scientists Advance Space Archaeology
NASA helps Doc Savage to explore archaeological sites

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4087e83d8be5.jpg[/atsimg]

I cant help wondering whether they have used this technology on the Moon and Mars, and if so, what did they find? It's also interesting to note how eager NASA have become in relation to Earth's archaeological sites. Do they know something we dont? What could they be searching for?

Of course, that is just my paranoid mind at play. And I'm quite happy at this point to just sit back in awe of how brilliant these new finds could be, without there having to be some secret, sinister forces at play

I really encourage everyone to read, fully, the linked sources provided. They are fascinating!

Additional:
Space Archaeology
Space: The Final [Archaeological] Frontier

This is really interesting stuff. Great post. I am not understanding one critical part though. The infra-red satellite, how does it decide what places are ancient ruins? Distinguishing between a field and a city I can understand, but how does it decide which spots are to be green? I followed the link to the source, but they didn't really explain how it works.

reply to post by dave0davidson

While still in graduate school, Parcak loaded an image of the Egyptian Nile River Delta taken by NASA’s Landsat Earth-observing satellite into a program called Erdas Imagine, a cross between Google Earth and Photoshop that geologists and climate scientists use to analyze satellite images. All natural features—trees, water, sand—reflect and absorb light differently, and the program can tease out any unique signature the researcher is looking for. Using data from known archaeological sites, Parcak had already figured out how to sort for the high organic matter and phosphorus content that marked Egyptian “tells,” or ancient house mounds. She processed the new images so that any tells would show up pink.

When she analyzed the images, her computer screen filled with pink splotches. “I thought, ‘Wait a minute, those can’t all be archaeological sites,’ ” Parcak recalls. But then she went into the field with a GPS receiver. At the pink points on the Landsat image, the delta’s flat green fields gave way to silty brown mounds: remnants of tells. Parcak has since used satellite data to uncover hundreds of sites in Egypt, none of them exposed to the naked eye.

In northern Angkor, which isn’t as heavily forested as Lingapura, Damian Evans uses synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a type of all-weather radar beamed from the belly of an aircraft that can gather far more information than ordinary radar alone. The time it takes for the radar waves to reach the ground and bounce back up to the aircraft records changes in elevation, and variations in soil humidity and other factors produce signals of differing “brightness,” thus allowing archaeologists to pick out ancient canals and man-made mounds.

There are all different types of technology that, when combined, allow archaeologists to pin-point man made looking features in the images topography. They then use ground-penetrating radar to locate the precise spot to dig.

reply to post by LiveForever8


Ah, I see. I was imagining a computer program just spitting out the results. But, they are using a good bit of interpretation to get their pictures. I've always been very interested in ancient cultures. Thanks for putting this thread together, this stuff is right up my alley.

reply to post by dave0davidson


Oh absolutely, don't get me wrong, the work of archaeologists hasn't been replaced by computers. There is still A LOT of field work to be done once a suspected area has been located.

If anything the archaeologists job has just gotten somewhat harder, at least for the "old school" archaeologists who now have to learn a completely new form of archaeology.

What it also does is change the way archaeologists are taught how to work, they will now have to be competent using these new technological programs and analysing the data extrapolated.

So yeah, it's an exciting time to be a young person hoping to become an archaeologist someday

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2bf5388dd67d.jpg[/atsimg]

Originally posted by LiveForever8
I cant help wondering whether they have used this technology on the Moon and Mars, and if so, what did they find?

Nothing, because the only artificial things on Mars are the little probes we sent there. There are a few places with geometric shapes on or in the ground, but nothing that can't be explained by various geological or weather processes.

Originally posted by LiveForever8
I was to be an archaeologist!

I started collecting fossils from antique fairs and began buying a weekly Dinosaur magazine from my local newsagents, which I used to study intently. My mum would despair as I constantly dug up her garden in a lame attempt at discovering a T-Rex. All of this carried on for a few years, that was until a sober realisation set in.

I guess you figured out somewhere's along the way that archaeologists don't deal with dinosaurs...paleontologists do.

Just the same...Archaeology is pretty cool!

reply to post by LiveForever8
Blimey LF, that's a very good piece of writing in your OP. Made me smile.

Since I was a kid, the possibility of something ancient and abandoned being found somewhere has appealed. Tombs, temples and old bones; I'm not fussy at all. They're like messages from the past that help to tie us to this Earth and make us recognise how many revolutions around the Sun we've been taken on.

The biggest of all finds would be something on one of our neighbouring planets, planetesimals or moons. Preferably not one featuring eggs that hatch into critters that burst from stomachs. Instead, an abandoned complex or crashed craft would be an amazing adventure for science and humanity. Life magazine covers and TV specials could chart the exploration. In such a scenario, people could enjoy the thrill that, sure, 'LIFE' is 'out there' and not have to reassess their belief-systems too much.

I don't think we've had any such luck.

I believe that if it did occur, for some passing moments, the human race would be united as one as they looked up in increased wonder.

We'd be throwing bombs and bottles and screwing each other over in the meantime, but that moment of magic would be a keeper. lol

reply to post by Blue Shift


Thanks for such a concise and definite answer.

reply to post by LiveForever8


Thanks for this LF8!

You throw a natural light on the very hard, sometimes unknown, and dark work of archeology!

And yes, the Space is the last frontier for the next unthinkable discoveries.

What a exciting times....
S&F!

Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck
I guess you figured out somewhere's along the way that archaeologists don't deal with dinosaurs...paleontologists do.

I certainly did chief

Like I stated, I was 6/7 years old.

Thanks for the reply.

reply to post by LiveForever8


What a Great Opening Post !! Flagged and Starred !!

Awesome writing, very informative and great links.

Exploring space is in its infancy. We only really know like 4% of what's out there...fascinating. Yet, there are still so many mysteries to be found here on earth. The depths of the oceans are still to be searched...

Just recently, they found a string of underwater volcanoes - HUGE volcanoes - in Antarctica.

Some of the peaks tower nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above the ocean floor - nearly tall enough to break the water's surface.

"That's a big volcano. That's a very big volcano. If that was on land it would be quite remarkable," said Philip Leat, a vulcanologist with the British Antarctic Survey who led a seafloor mapping expedition to the region in 2007 and 2010.

www.armageddononline.org...

While my curiosity peaks when they find new info on the moon, planets, suns and our universe, I still am amazed at what they find in our own backyard. On the ground, under it and under water.

Great Great Thread !

And I hope that you get way more traffic than what it is so far. You would truly deserve it !

reply to post by Kandinsky


Thanks for the reply Kandinsky.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
I believe that if it did occur, for some passing moments, the human race would be united as one as they looked up in increased wonder.

I too believe we would be united as one with a sense of wonder.

"I wonder who I'll have to kill to get my hands on that?"
"I wonder how much money I'll make from that?"

But that's my pessimistic side showing through

But yeah, I think there is enough we are yet to discover about our own race before we start thinking about little green men. At least in archaeological terms. But it's still fun to speculate.

Originally posted by LiveForever8
But yeah, I think there is enough we are yet to discover about our own race before we start thinking about little green men. At least in archaeological terms. But it's still fun to speculate.

Still, the closest thing to what you are suggesting was the archaeological survey that was done on the Roswell Site. Sadly, there was no 'smoking gun' discovered, but I would have liked to be a shovel money on that crew. Like I say...I work within the system, though the fun is often on the fringes. Here are a couple of relevant links:
www.examiner.com...
alejandrotrojas.blogspot.com...

Oh, and S&F for the thread!

Just to add...I'd rather have a pint with the Time Team than Indy...less chance of Nazi assassins, and yes I do have a favourite trowel.

Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck
...but I would have liked to be a shovel money on that crew.

Sorry...that's shovel monkey. Can't spell...may as well dig.

reply to post by LiveForever8


I watched the BBC documentary detailing Dr Parcak's mapping of Ancient Egypt, it was enormously exciting to watch whole cities emerging from theses images, as clear as day, and I know Zahi Hawass comes in for a lot of criticism here, but he was almost beside himself, like a school boy in a sweetie shop.

Sadly the documentary isn't available on iplayer anymore...but there are a couple of clips...

www.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by SonoftheSun

Originally posted by SonoftheSun
Just recently, they found a string of underwater volcanoes - HUGE volcanoes - in Antarctica.

Some of the peaks tower nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above the ocean floor - nearly tall enough to break the water's surface.

"That's a big volcano. That's a very big volcano. If that was on land it would be quite remarkable," said Philip Leat, a vulcanologist with the British Antarctic Survey who led a seafloor mapping expedition to the region in 2007 and 2010.

www.armageddononline.org...

A perfect example

I made a thread some time ago that shares a correlation to the theme you picked up on: As Above, So Below?

Originally posted by LiveForever8

Space: the final frontier.

Well, not quite.

Ever since we crawled out of the slime mankind has dreamt of reaching out to the stars. First in fiction, thanks to the prominent fathers of science fiction writing such as H.G. Wells, Hugo Gernsback and even Edgar Allan Poe.

Eventually, thanks to advancements in rocketry in the 1930's/40's space flight became a reality and, spurred on by the Cold War space race, man finally set foot on The Moon in 1969. Since then massive amounts of time and money have been spent on satellites, probes, space shuttles and space stations alike - all in an effort to better understand the universe and the secrets it contains.

However, there was another father of science fiction that I have missed out - Jules Verne. While Verne also wrote of the possibilities of space travel (see here) he also wrote about another form of exploration, not up into space, but down into the depths of the oceans. This novel was called Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and told the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus as seen from the perspective of Professor Pierre Aronnax.

One hundred and forty years later and we still know very little of what lurks beneath the surface - in essence - the deep seas are still at the mercy of speculation. Science fiction more than science fact.

An estimated 50-80% of all life on earth is found under the ocean surface and the oceans contain 99% of the living space on the planet. Less than 10% of that space has been explored by humans.

Who knows what lurks beneath!?

People tend to slam archeologists because they are slow producing results, even though it is not because they are hiding the results, in some cases they want to protect their status by not spouting something that can not be supported by others, without first having something to back them up, because of what happens to others that do come forth before double checking and acquiring data that supports their finds only to find they were incorrect and being a laughing stock of the archeological community.

It is archaeologists that will be the ones to uncover anything that has been lost due to the ravages of time. New devices are helping them with their tasks as well such as satellite radar and ground penetrating sonar as well. It is an exciting time to be an archaeologist I am sure and if we ever set foot on Mars, geologists as well as archaeologists might be called upon as well for missions, you can never be certain.

Originally posted by AlienCarnage
People tend to slam archeologists because they are slow producing results, even though it is not because they are hiding the results, in some cases they want to protect their status by not spouting something that can not be supported by others, without first having something to back them up, because of what happens to others that do come forth before double checking and acquiring data that supports their finds only to find they were incorrect and being a laughing stock of the archeological community.

Thing about archaeology is that it is not just about 'the goodies'. Cultural material needs to be dealt with in its context, and conclusions need to be well thought out, based upon the accepted knowledge of the day. If new discoveries contest the status quo, they need to be well argued. There are very few 'eureka!' moments in the field...it's all about the lab work and peer-reviewed conclusions reached. The process is slow, and I can tell you that very few archaeologists have the luxury of working on their publishing in the middle of the field season.