Explore the programs of Google Earth (details on access below) to investigate selected archaeological sites. This system, which you may already be familiar with, provides primarily aerial views of sites where you have the option of zooming in and scaling the image to observe details. Note that the aerial views provide evidence of surface distributions of features, but not buried ones—that is the next stage of the research—nor surface artifacts. Other kinds of remote sensing, e.g., drones, can provide similar data, including in some cases surface remains such as artifacts, but typically on-the-ground observation is necessary.
For this third lab, use Google Earth to examine any two archaeological sites from the following list of six that are mentioned in your textbook:
New World Sites: Caracol, Teotihuacan
Middle East Sites: Erebuni
Africa: Mwela Rock Paintings
SE Asia Sites: Angkor Wat, Borobudur
Remembering your discussion of “site” from the previous Lab, write a description of what you can tell about the two sites you selected based on a birds-eye view. For example, how large is the site (in approximate meters)? What geographical features (such as rivers, mountains, etc.) are close by? Can you see or identify any features (such as stone walls, house pits, monuments) from the air? Be sure to indicate where your site is located (country or region as specifically as you can) in your answer.
A site I visited recently in Greece provides a good example of what you can observe using Google Earth imaging. In this case, the site boundaries are clearly defined and the partially-restored architecture dating back to 4500 BP is dramatically visible. The powerpoint slides for this week provide the views. To see for yourself, type in “Aphaea, Aegina Greece” in the Google Earth search bar (or in livius.org—see your Week 3 Lecture and other Module connections–go to country Greece and link “Aegina”).
Note: You may use Google maps if you can’t access Google Earth, but it may be less successful. In addition to Google Earth, the Wikipedia website listed under Week 3 has many historically-referenced sites (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Archaeological_sites_in_Zambia) which might be useful for this assignment (in particular, as an example, the Mwela Rock Paintings. This website provides details about archaeological sites from around the world; however, it is not always reliable for archaeological data. You can use these resources to identify an archaeological site that you could then search for in Google Earth, or to get a closer look at certain sites.
A few tips for using Google Earth:
Google Earth is now available as a streaming web client which you can access here: https://earth.google.com/web/ (Links to an external site.). You can also use computers in labs on campus that already have this program downloaded.
Searching for archaeological sites in Google Earth is easy; once you have opened the program, simply type a specific archaeological site name into the “search” box. Be sure that you know the country where the site is located, and be sure to look specifically for the site or monument designation to be sure you zoom in on the correct area (some names will pop up with multiple search options).
Points: 15
OPTION 2 Week 3 LAB
Consider now how museums use the archaeological record. Is this the total picture of what archaeology is? See, as an example, the “Toronto Underfoot” online museum exhibit from the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum, Canada). Click through to access images from the exhibit, click on the “Toronto Underfoot” map, and view the embedded video.
https://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/past/toronto-underfoot (Links to an external site.)
Answer the following questions based on the online exhibit:
Note how the ROM uses its specimens in an online format. What kinds of artifacts are illustrated and discussed in “Toronto Underfoot”? What kind of information is provided about the objects?
Review the video of visiting researcher Dr. Metin Eren at the ROM at the bottom of the page, then click on the projectile point near “Midtown Toronto” on the map. What did Dr. Eren find in the ROM exhibit hall that was a particularly important discovery, and why was it significant?
How does the ROM make a connection for the viewer of the archaeological heritage to be found “underfoot” within the Toronto city area? How do they connect the prehistoric artifacts to people living in Toronto today?