TECHNOLOGY WATCH:
New to the Archaeologist’s Tool Kit: The Drone ( William Neuman and Ralph Blumenthal,
NYT).
Archaeologists around the world, who have long relied on the classic tools of their profession, like the trowel and the plumb bob, are now turning to the modern technology of drones to defend and explore endangered sites. And perhaps nowhere is the shift happening as swiftly as in Peru, where Dr. [Luis Jaime] Castillo [Butters, Peru’s vice minister of cultural heritage] has created a drone air force to map, monitor and safeguard his country’s ancient treasures.
The article is mostly about Peru, but the following also comes up in passing:
In the Middle East, researchers have employed them to guard against looting.
“Aerial survey at the site is allowing for the identification of new looting pits and determinations of whether any of the looters’ holes had been revisited,” said Morag Kersel, an archaeologist from DePaul University in Chicago who is part of a team using drones in Jordan and Israel.
