This continues a new category of posts: Guest Columns where friends, colleagues, and readers share how technology is reshaping their hobby -- basket weaving, rugby, running -- whatever.
This time it is my "northern-neighbor" in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada), Dr. Michael Lamoureux of Sourcing Innovation.
“ When Vinnie first invited me to contribute a post to his "Tech and my Hobby" series, my response was "Hobby? You kidding? Young kids, a wife in University, volunteer commitments, and a business to run?. It usually boils down to a choice between hobbies and sleep and sleep usually wins".
So then he asked me to write about something I would do again if I had time. My response was "I spend so much time in front of my MacBook Pro as a technologist and blogger, the last thing I want to do is introduce tech into any hobbies I may have time for. You'd have better luck asking me to write about the influence of technology on archaeology", as I'm interested in the application of computer science to disciplines traditionally viewed as non-computational. I was sure that would be strange enough to grant me a reprieve, but all it did was pique Vinnie's interest even more.
But what could I write about that the non-archaeologist, non-forensic scientist, and non-computational researcher would be interested in? Over the last fifty years, the science of archaeology has been revolutionized with an unending series of technical advancements that brought archaeology out of the dark ages. But many of these advancements, still out of reach of the layman, can be pretty boring compared to the glitz and glamour that recent relic-hunting blockbusters like Tomb Raider, Jack Hunter, and Indiana Jones have brought to the archaeological profession.
So I thought about it and decided that the best approach would be to discuss how recent technological advances enable a new generation of armchair archaeologists who can not only follow the field of archaeology, but even contribute to it.
Enter the Armchair Archaeologist
When you get right down to it, archaeology is about locating artifacts that can provide us with insight into the past. New advances in technology allow armchair archaeologists to identify sites of interest and analyze the finds and data collected remotely. To this end, there are four revolutionary advances that have enabled this progression from field archaeology to armchair archaeology.
Remote Sensing Data
Following the launch of the NIMBUS I, in 1972, NASA launched the LANDSAT I which was the first in a series of seven earth imaging satellites (with the LANDSAT 7 launched in 1999) that collected agricultural, geological, hydrological, geographical, and other meteorological phenomena data using full electromagnetic spectrum imaging. This greatly extended the ability of the modern archaeologist to identify, map and survey potential archaeological sites as vegetation, water, soil, and rock contrast sharply in the rendered images. The importance cannot be overlooked as it helped archaeologists to locate the lost "Arabian Nights" city of Ubar in Southern Oman (The Road to Ubar: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands, N. Clapp, Houghton Mifflin US, Souvenir Press UK, 1998) and greatly increased our knowledge of archaeological sites in Burgundy, France as described in Madry's Online Remote Sensing Tutorial. And now that a lot of this data has entered into the public domain, anyone can build topological and geomorphological representations of potential sites, analyze the data, and determine whether or not an actual site exploration may be justified.
The World Wide Web
In 1990, Tim Berners Lee, a little known computer scientist working as a contractor at CERN, authored a seemingly innocuous proposal titled "WorldWideWeb: Proposal for a Hypertext Project". Little did he know that this proposal would go on to reshape research and industry around the globe over the next 20 years, including the field of archaeology. You can instantly access research from your colleagues an ocean away, and thanks to satellite internet, access site data as soon as it is available. You can learn about a find as soon as a research report is made available, not three (or more) years later when the journal article finally gets published. Plus, you can even join an archaeological social network like ArchaeoSeek or the Archaeology Network.
Digital Imaging
In 1991, Kodak released the first professional digital camera system building on the first mega-pixel camera (that it released in 1986) and the photo-CD system (that it released in 1990). This revolutionized photography and all applications. Not only did it allow archaeologists to take extensive photographic evidence of a site and each find from multiple angles, but it also allowed them to upload the images to a PC that could, with the right software, create virtual 3-D replicas of the artifacts which could be shared in standard 3-D formats. This allows any researcher to study a priceless and delicate artifact in detail without ever having access to it, and is an armchair archaeologist's dream come true. Modern high-resolution photography (with 10+ MP cameras readily available) is so good that a researcher can study even the smallest scratches, chips, and marks and determine not only what the artifact was used for, but how it was made.
Google Earth
While the introduction of the World Wide Web and the release of remote sensing data made it possible for an educated professional with a personal computer, the right software, and some A-1 hacking skills to become an armchair archaeologist, Google Earth made it plausible. With Google Earth, any layman with a PC or Mac can scan the globe looking for sights of interest -- and make a discovery. In 2006, Madry reported how he found more archaeological sites in seven hours with Google Earth than he found in 25 years as an archaeologist, after reading how an Italian man discovered a Roman Villa while trying to find his home on Google Earth. Thomas also used Google Earth to safely uncover historic sites in remote parts of war-torn Afghanistan. Budding Egyptologists can view the pyramids from home (like Khufu below), using the locations provided in this post on the Armchair Archaeologist blog, Jacobs maintains the locations of a number of important sites in America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia on his ancient monuments site, and the New Zealand Archaeology site maintains links to Australasia Heritage Sites.
And there you have it. You too can be an armchair archaeologist. Have fun!”
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