Remote and proximal sensors for field mapping of Amazonian Dark Earths

Summary

Brazilian and Swedish archaeologists and soil scientists collaborated in the multidisciplinary research project Cultivated Wilderness (CW) to investigate Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE) locations in the Santarém‐Belterra region of the Brazilian Amazon. One of the goals of the project was to investigate the potential of rapid geophysical data collection to assess the properties and spatial distribution of ADE. About 300 reference soil samples were collected at different ADE locations. A range of sensors (based on various principles: electromagnetic induction, gamma‐ray spectrometry, x‐ray fluorescence, reflectance spectroscopy, and remote sensing) were used both in the field and in the laboratory. This presentation synthesizes the potential of these sensors in ADE surveys.

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