Into the light: how lidar is replacing radar as the archaeologist ’s map tool of choice

A technology using rapid pulses of light is helping archaeologists to chart ancient settlements hidden beneath dense forest canopiesColorado State University archaeologist Chris Fisher found out about lidar in 2009. He was surveying the ruins ofAngamuco in west-central Mexico the traditional way, with a line of grad students and assistants walking carefully while looking at the ground for bits of ceramics, the remains of an old foundation or even a tomb.He had expected to find a settlement, but instead he happened upon a major city of thePurepecha empire, rivals of the Aztecs in the centuries immediately preceding the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1519.Continue reading...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - June 20, 2015 Category: Science Authors: Guy Gugliotta for the Washington Post Tags: Archaeology Mapping technologies Science Technology Belize Mexico Source Type: news