NASA's Contributions to Remote Sensing in Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

For more than four decades, NASA has played an outsized role in advancing the use of satellite imagery for archaeological applications. Starting in the 1980s, NASA archaeologist Dr. Tom Sever organized the first conference on archaeological applications of remote sensing, infusing NASA Earth Observations into cutting-edge archaeological research being conducted around the globe. Sever’s interdisciplinary approach to archaeology influenced applications of remote sensing beyond the discipline, including the establishment of the UNESCO Maya Biosphere Reserve and the development of the flagship NASA-USAID SERVIR program. Today NASA continues to drive archaeological applications of remote sensing data through research solicitations and capacity building. Additionally, NASA’s commitment to Open Science has contributed to the widespread availability of remotely sensed big data, a resource primed for uptake by the archaeological community to address automated identification of archaeological features through deep learning, fieldwork planning and practice, modeling of past environments and environmental variability, and cultural heritage impact and risk assessments. Feedback collected from this presentation will inform a needs assessment on the future of remote sensing in archaeology for this important community of practice.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41471.0