Predicting the past: Remote sensing data as a tool for locating archaeological settlements in the Amazon

Summary

The potentials of using analysis of remote sensing data (particularly Lidar data) as a method of predicting the presence of archaeological sites in densely forested areas are discussed in this paper. The case study deals with an inland area — the Belterra Plateau — situated south of Santarém in the State of Pará, Brazil. Recent fieldwork has suggested that late pre-Columbian settlements generally are found in the surroundings particular geological features and in this region. Drawing on the results of this archaeological fieldwork a tentative interpretation of remote sensing data from an area further south; originally collected for environmental preservation purposes, is attempted.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Multidisciplinary Approaches to Amazonian landscapes

Keywords

Spatial Coverage