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Is there some way that we could "scan the Earth" to find other long-buried sites like Göbeklitepe? Would it be possible to do something from imaging satellites

by derefr 3y ago

Is there some way that we could "scan the Earth" to find other long-buried sites like Göbeklitepe? Would it be possible to do something from imaging satellites — something akin to ground-penetrating radar / laser range-finding / ultrasound — that might not be good enough for much, but which would be "just good enough" to find any other gigantic cities with walls built of dense stone, hidden under 10-50ft of dirt or sand?

Lukeas14 3y ago
Yes they've been doing lidar scans throughout central america to detect ancient Mayan pyramids and cities that are hidden under foliage. They've identified thousands of structures but other factors have limited their ability to unearth them (# of archaeologists, funding, politics).
- derefr 3y ago
  Yes, lidar is great and all for what it does, and will definitely find us many new sites; but lidar just detects structures that cause raised areas (i.e. plants growing up and over the structures) rather than detecting structures hidden within a flat plane of fill-in medium like dirt/sand, the way Göbeklitepe was hidden. Lidar wouldn't have found Göbeklitepe.
paganel 3y ago
> Is there some way that we could "scan the Earth" to find other long-buried sites like Göbeklitepe? The Brits had started a Lidar survey of most of their country a few years ago, I'd say 2015-2016, but I'm not sure if that information is entirely accurate and, if it is accurate, I'm not sure how far they have got with it (what if all the cuts made to spending money on stuff that is not seen as essential).
- helsinkiandrew 3y ago
  https://environmentagency.blog.gov.uk/2015/09/18/laser-surveys-light-up-open-data/ https://environmentagency.blog.gov.uk/2015/09/18/laser-surve... Browsable map: https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map?ref=TQ7237355141 https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map?ref=TQ7237355141
  - paganel 3y ago
    Very cool, thanks for the links! I'm jealous in a positive way that the Brits have managed to do that. There was some talk about trying to emulate them when it comes to some archaeological sites here in Romania, but apart from a couple of tries/mappings nothing systematic has been implemented.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Sharlin 3y ago
GP radar should work, as long as the artifacts are of a material sufficiently different from the earth on top of them for the interface to cause a radar echo. I’ve no idea what exactly counts as sufficiently different" though.

by derefr 3y ago

Lukeas14 3y ago

Yes they've been doing lidar scans throughout central america to detect ancient Mayan pyramids and cities that are hidden under foliage. They've identified thousands of structures but other factors have limited their ability to unearth them (# of archaeologists, funding, politics).

derefr 3y ago
Yes, lidar is great and all for what it does, and will definitely find us many new sites; but lidar just detects structures that cause raised areas (i.e. plants growing up and over the structures) rather than detecting structures hidden within a flat plane of fill-in medium like dirt/sand, the way Göbeklitepe was hidden. Lidar wouldn't have found Göbeklitepe.

paganel 3y ago

> Is there some way that we could "scan the Earth" to find other long-buried sites like Göbeklitepe? The Brits had started a Lidar survey of most of their country a few years ago, I'd say 2015-2016, but I'm not sure if that information is entirely accurate and, if it is accurate, I'm not sure how far they have got with it (what if all the cuts made to spending money on stuff that is not seen as essential).

helsinkiandrew 3y ago
https://environmentagency.blog.gov.uk/2015/09/18/laser-surveys-light-up-open-data/ https://environmentagency.blog.gov.uk/2015/09/18/laser-surve... Browsable map: https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map?ref=TQ7237355141 https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map?ref=TQ7237355141
- paganel 3y ago
  Very cool, thanks for the links! I'm jealous in a positive way that the Brits have managed to do that. There was some talk about trying to emulate them when it comes to some archaeological sites here in Romania, but apart from a couple of tries/mappings nothing systematic has been implemented.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

Sharlin 3y ago

GP radar should work, as long as the artifacts are of a material sufficiently different from the earth on top of them for the interface to cause a radar echo. I’ve no idea what exactly counts as sufficiently different" though.