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The Radio weblog of Hal Rager

Thursday, May 23, 2002

Satellite Imagery of Prehistoric Human Footpaths Bring Archaeologists Back To Costa Rica after 20 Years. "Images of the footpaths, some dating to 2,500 years ago, were first made in 1984 by a NASA aircraft equipped with a suite of instruments that can "see" in the electromagnetic spectrum invisible to humans, said CU-Boulder anthropology Professor Payson Sheets. Sheets and NASA archaeologist Tom Sever, a CU-Boulder graduate, used the data to pinpoint the footpaths in the Arenal region of central Costa Rica. The researchers have been able to date the ancient paths using stratigraphy gleaned from the Arenal volcano, which has erupted 10 times in the last 4,000 years. Excavations of the footpaths, covered by as much as six feet of volcanic ash, sediment and vegetation, turned up floors of ancient houses, as well as stone tools and pottery. "Remote sensing has been used to detect ancient Roman roads, large prehistoric roads around Chaco Canyon in New Mexico and Incan roads," said Sheets. "But we had no idea it would be possible to image these little erosional footpaths. It is an exciting find with potential archaeological applications to other areas of the world." [Science Daily] 5:59:40 PM    comment   trackback []