Archaeology from the sky: how satellite and laser technology can reveal ancient secrets

Remote sensing has brought a new golden age for the field in which the amount of material coming out of the ground will soon be greater than the museum space available to store it, writes Sean T Smith

‘Space archaeologist’ Sarah Parcak has found a way to CAT scan the planet (Sarah Parcak)

These days, if you want to search for lost civilisations, there’s no need to machete your way through jungles like Indiana Jones, you simply need to turn on your laptop.

Remote sensing technology has transformed the field of archaeology. Satellite imaging and aerial survey tools like Lidar have removed so much of the guesswork, traditional excavations are often no longer necessary.

Now that we can penetrate the Earth’s surface to reveal traces of our ancestors’ hidden homes from thousands of miles away, archaeologists tend to only embark on traditional digs if they already know what they’re going to find.