Fall/Winter 01

Using Remote Sensing
by Brian Damiata


Conducting an electromagnetic survey in Iceland in
search of a Viking longhouse

Collaboration between geophysicists and archaeologists reflects a
growing cross-fertilization between the hard and soft sciences. Field archaeology is entering a new age by utilizing remote-sensing technologies with the ultimate goal of a better understanding of human development in the ancient world.

Damiata's general interest is the use of remote sensing and geophysical methods to support archaeological studies. The use of these methods provides an indirect means of detecting and delineating buried archaeological features and thus helps to guide excavations. His current projects include general geophysical support to the Shaanxi Archaeology Institute (Xi’an, China) for work at various archaeological sites including the tumulus of Jing Di, the fourth Han emperor; electrical and electromagnetic surveying in Iceland to delineate Viking-age turf structures (directed by John Steinberg, UCLA); and magnetic surveying at a Longshan cultural site in Shandong Province, China (directed by Anne Underhill, Field Museum).



Elucidating Population Aggregation on the Pajarito Plateau
by Michael R. Walsh


At Wupatki Pueblo, Arizona

The shift from family-level residence to residence in large village
communities is one of the most profound developments in human social history. The Pajarito Plateau provides a well-dated and data-rich case study in the underlying causes of population aggregation, showing literally hundreds of archaeological sites dating to the time periods immediately preceding, during, and immediately following population aggregation.

Based on the Pajarito Plateau, some 25 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Walsh’s research is focused on elucidating the causes and consequences of population aggregation among prehistoric puebloan farmers. For over a hundred years (ca. ad 1150-1325) the inhabitants of the Pajarito Plateau lived in small multifamily pueblos, housing between about fifteen and fifty people. In very short order (ad 1325-1350) the Plateau saw a rapid and dramatic shift in residence pattern to one of large, aggregated village communities of five hundred people and more. Walsh is evaluating competing explanatory hypotheses for the phenomenon, including models citing defensive, economic, political, and ceremonial causes, primarily through investigation of communities inhabited immediately prior to the onset of population aggregation.