The need is clear for rapid, wide-area, planning level inventories of archaeological sites, which are disappearing rapidly because of development and looting. Inventory makes preservation through monitoring and proactive planning possible.

Successful protocols for the use of sophisticated synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technologies for such inventories in certain environments were formulated recently.

Christopher Fennell of the University of Illinois recently concluded a study on the use of aerial thermal infrared technology to identify the infrastructural features of archeological sites.

Archaeologists have been using aerial photography and satellite imagery to locate and document large, high-contrast archaeological features since inception. But, what about smaller, low-contrast features utilized by past humans such as root patches and terrace cobble deposits?

PTT Grant MT-2210-05-NC-09, Merging Aerial Synthetic Aperture Radar and Satellite Multispectral Data to Inventory Archaeological Sites.