Historicity

Cosmos recently did an article about finding “lost cities” with satellite imagery. They specifically talked about how easy it is to find new sites from your own office, usnig freely available maps from Google, NASA, etc., and questioned the future of “the quintessential, khaki-clad archaeologist pictured in countless movies and novels”. If it’s so easy to find these places from an office in LA, whither Dr. Jones?

Personally, I think it may breed more Drs. Jones. There will never be a replacement for being “on site”; this map search is a replacement for wandering around in the woods looking for humanity. Imagine the excitement of the woods-wanderers when they’re told “Go to such and such coordinates and you’ll find a previously undiscovered Mayan temple”.

The article is certainly worth the read, the science of chlorophyll illumination because of limestone building materials is really cool. But don’t put away your khakis just yet.

Heard about this blog on the BBC yesterday. It is the experiences of a World War I soldier through letters, etc., posted exactly 90 years after their original date in blog format. Pretty cool!