7 Ancient Mysteries Archaeologists Will Solve This Century

[Judi Lynn]

7 Ancient Mysteries Archaeologists Will Solve This Century

National Geographic archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert predicts the amazing finds we may make in the 21st century.



By Kristin Romey, National Geographic
PUBLISHED September 08, 2015

When the National Geographic Society awarded its first archaeology grant to Hiram Bingham in 1912, the archaeologist headed off to Machu Picchu with one of the most advanced pieces of technology at the time: a Kodak panoramic camera. More than a hundred years later, archaeologists have a staggering array of technological tools to employ, from remote-sensing equipment that allows us to “see” beyond the visual bandwidth to computers so powerful that they can process in a second what it would take humans thousands of years to do.



“There’s a reason why National Geographic is calling the 21st century the “new age of exploration,” says archaeologist and Society fellow Fredrik Hiebert. “The opportunities for what we can discover in this century — and the questions we’ll finally be able to answer — seem almost limitless.”

With that enthusiasm in mind, we asked Hiebert to share his predictions on what we may be able to look forward to in this new century of discovery:

1. Discovering previously unknown cities—or even civilizations—in Central and South America

“Archaeologists are using LiDAR [light detection and ranging] to literally ‘see’ beneath dense jungle canopies in places like Honduras and Belize to locate settlements that we weren’t aware existed,” says Hiebert.

More:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150908-archaeology-future-discoveries-technology-ancient-mysteries/




(As we learned today, in an earlier thread, Rupert Murdoch will control National Geographic since he just bought a huge majority of the publication. What a shame to see it turned to crap in our lifetimes.)

[CBGLuthier]

1. He is not buying the society. Instead he is increasing their money resources to a billion dollars

He bought a 77 percent stake in the magazine and the channel not in the society and the society is what does the important work. The magazine was losing money.

He is paying over 700 million and if that increases their resources to a billion they can fund a hell of a lot of research just off the earning power of a billion dollars.

[newfie11]

2. Thanks for posting this

Truly fascinating what new technology is finding.

[bvf]

3. Amazing

but a bit of a bummer that the last two may come about as a direct result of climate change.