News in Science

Archaeologists google an ancient find

Indiana Jones's next adventure may well be in front of a computer if Hollywood scriptwriters decide to embrace a new approach to archaeological research in war-torn zones.

David Thomas, a PhD student in La Trobe University's archaeological program in Melbourne, has used Google Earth to safely uncover historic sites in a remote part of war-torn Afghanistan.

Using the free internet resource, Thomas found up to 450 possible archaeological sites in Registan, which borders Helmand and Kandahar provinces in southern Afghanistan.

The decision to use Google Earth was "partly born out of adversity", Thomas says when a planned field trip was cancelled because of security concerns.

The region has been made inaccessible because of the ongoing military conflict between western and Afghan government forces and the former Taliban government.

Since the Soviet invasion in 1979, Afghanistan has been increasingly difficult for archaeologists to visit, he says.

However, Google Earth allows archaeologists to overcome the perils of war zones.

Bounty of new sites

Thomas's approach has reaped a huge bounty of new details about known archaeological sites, and uncovered hundreds of previously unknown sites in the country.

Under the project, which was presented to the recent World Archaeological Congress in Dublin, Thomas and his team have surveyed a virtually unexplored 75 kilometre by 17 kilometre strip of the Registan desert.

Overlapping images of the area were zoomed to a scale 100 metres above the ground and the research team then tediously viewed the image for signs of archaeological sites.

Thomas says one 17 square kilometre took up to nine hours in front of the computer to assess.

After the initial review of the aerial maps, they had 1800 "suspicious sites" which were then reassessed and culled to 450 sites "that we think are significant".

Among the structures the team has located are remnants of camp sites, villages centred on a mosque, animal corrals, reservoir, dams and water channels and military installations such as occupation mounds.

He says by using Google Earth he has been able to expand the known area of the Ghaznavid winter capital of Bust, on the Helmand River.

Impressive

"French archaeologists worked at the site from 1949-1952, but despite their impressive achievements, large areas remain unsurveyed," he says.

The aerial technology has allowed Thomas and his team to identify remnants of structures and canals at the medieval site and expand the known area of the site.

"[Our] plans provide Afghan archaeologists with the framework on which to base large area surveys and to undertake more detailed localised studies."

Thomas says while the Google Earth approach cannot replace field work, it can give archaeologists access to areas that are off-limits due to war.

"The most valuable aspect of what we are doing is that we can pass on the information to the Institute of Archaeology in Afghanistan," Thomas says.

"Then it is a question for them as to whether they can travel there and have the resources to investigate further."

Thomas, whose doctorate is investigating the semi-nomadic Ghurid people and their empire that stretched from eastern Iran to Bengal in India in the latter part of the 12th century, says he hopes archaeologists will take Google Earth more seriously as a result of his finds.

"The potential for further research using Google Earth images is huge, particularly as the areas covered by high-resolution images increases," he says.

The project is sponsored by the Cary Robertson Fund at Trinity College in Cambridge, England.