The High-Tech Future of the Ancient Science of Archaeology
Emerging technologies could soon allow archaeologists to virtually excavate an entire site within an hour
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In many ways, archaeology is still conducted in much the same way it has been for centuries. A single archaeological team might work at a particular dig site for more than 40 years, carefully excavating, studying, preserving, and documenting their findings, and they would barely scratch the surface.
But by 2119, the entire enterprise might look completely different. Emerging technologies could soon allow us to virtually excavate an entire site within an hour, hardly disturbing a square meter of dirt in the process.
Imagine a 500-meter-square mound, with parts of an ancient wall system visible under the earth. Instead of a team of archaeologists carefully removing dirt and debris to document and analyze this ancient site over the course of decades, imagine that a fleet of drones equipped with LIDAR, thermal infrared, and hyperspectral sensing systems fly over the mound to detect subsurface architecture with near-complete accuracy in a matter of minutes. A technician reading the 3D images produced by this scan would see hot spots for the mortuary, administrative, residential, and workshop areas buried beneath the ground in front of her. On-screen color gradations would indicate early and later phases of construction, comparing buildings to an internal database of thousands of examples.
Another fleet of drones would then spread out about a meter apart from each other across the site, drilling holes with powerful lasers and firing pencil-wide probes 7 meters into the ground. The ultrasonic waves from these probes would take readings that would produce models of complete structures, objects, and burials within the site.
Miniature bots would then dig down into hot spots to collect samples of material like bone for DNA testing. They would also scan scrolls and send their images to be read back above ground, the antique material never disturbed.
A computer would then produce an analysis of the site’s likely history based on all of these inputs:
