SEEING UNDERGROUND: THE FEASIBILITY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMOTE SENSING IN COASTAL AND HIGHLAND PERU

Abstract

This paper1 reports programmatic recommendations, an advanced seminar series in archaeology, and field tests in geophysics undertaken during a consultancy with the Peruvian Institute of Culture (INC) in October 1982. The invited international program focused on the investigation of twelve historic, Inca, and pre-Inca sites throughout the coast and highlands. Funding was provided by the OAS, UNESCO, and the Andres Bello Fund. This is the first formal presentation of this effort. The Sendero Luminoso war prevented future investigations under this initiative. The collaborative international effort had three major components: 1) a three-week seminar series on applied technology in archaeology for the archaeological and preservation staff of the INC in Lima, Cusco, and Ayacucho; 2) investigations at twelve INC project sites to recommend appropriate applied technology strategies in support of excavation and stabilization efforts; and 3) resistivity and soil chemistry tests at each site to establish the utility of a variety of site-specific remote sensing strategies (e.g., resistivity, magnetics, or ground penetrating radar/GPR) to provide enhanced definition of archaeological boundaries and internal site structure. Among the underlying strategic goals of the collaborative testing program was the development of environmental indicators, or proxies, based on correlation of the levels of a number of chemical compounds, relative to recorded resistivity levels to project the utility of GPR and resistivity at different sites (the higher the resistivity the deeper the radar penetration). Once defined, future teams could use simple and inexpensive soil chemistry tests, without the need for expensive electrical equipment, to project the utility and penetration of ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity at a variety of coastal and highland Inca, pre-Inca, and Colonial sites.