Abstract
Remote sensing archaeology in recent years has emphasized the use of high-precision and high-accuracy tools to achieve the detailed documentation of archaeological elements (drones, LIDAR, etc.). Satellite remote sensing has also benefited from an increase in the spatial and spectral resolution of the sensors, which is enabling the discovery and documentation of new archaeological features and sites worldwide. While there can be no doubt that a great deal is being gained via such “site detection” approaches, there still remains the possibility of further exploring remote sensing methods to analyse archaeological problems. In this paper, this issue is discussed by focusing on one common archaeological topic: the mapping of environmental resources used in the past and, in particular, the procurement of lithic raw material by hunter-gatherer groups. This is illustrated by showing how the combined use of Landsat 8 images and “ground-truthing” via focused field studies has allowed the identification of a number of potential chert sources, the major lithic resource used by coastal groups between 11,500–1,500 cal. BP, in a vast area of the Atacama Desert covering 22,500 km2. Besides discussing the case study, the strength of remote sensing techniques in addressing archaeological questions comprising large spatial scales is highlighted, stressing the key role they can play in the detection and study of specific environmental resources within challenging physical settings.
Highlights
Remote sensing in archaeology has grown into a large and varied field
Since the 1970s, geological studies have tested the capacity of satellite remote sensing for lithological mapping in different environmental contexts, highlighting the ability of spectral analysis to discriminate between diverse rock and soil units, complementing and improving the accuracy of the data provided by conventional geological maps [4,5,6,7,8,9]
The procurement of high-quality stone has been considered a key aspect in the technological organization of these kinds of groups and an activity that affected, in diverse and complex ways, the configuration of their settlement and mobility patterns [13,39,40,41]
Summary
Remote sensing in archaeology has grown into a large and varied field. In particular, satellite remote sensing has benefited from an increase in the spatial and spectral resolution of the sensors, an improvement which has enabled the discovery and documentation of new archaeological features and sites worldwide [1,2,3]. Hunter-gatherer societies had to develop strategies to ensure the availability of adequate toolstone raw materials in the locations where they were required for subsistence activities [13,42,43], investing, in some cases, considerable time and effort in their procurement [12,13,44] In desert areas such as the Atacama, this discordance is manifested as a stark contrast between the coastal environments, rich in biotic resources, where local hunter-gatherer-fisher communities settled, and the vast barren landscape of the Central Depression, profuse in high-quality lithic resources, where only ephemeral occupations were possible [45,46,47,48,49,50]. These groups had to organize forays taking them between 40–115 km away from their settlement areas into the hyper-arid core of the Atacama Desert [45,46,48,52,53,54]
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