Indiana Jones

• • Girsu was a city of the Sumer, one of the earliest known civilizations in the historical region of Southern Mesopotamia, dating from the Early Dynastic period (2900-2335 BCE), emerging as the capital of the Lagash Kingdom. It was the religious center of the Lagash state
• Sumerians invented writing, established the first cities and first codes of law between 3,500 and 2,000 BCE, making them one of the first civilizations in the ancient world
• In 1877, archaeologists discovered Girsu, the 4,500-year-old remains of a lost palace from the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu in Southern Iraq, by Dr. Sebastien Rey and found mudbrick walls, 200+ cuneiform tablets (all taken to an Iraq Museum in Baghdad)
• • However, after World War II and the ensuing conflicts in Iraq, the site has been left and exposed with no conservation work for more than 80 years. It is now an ongoing archeological project that aims to excavate and study the ancient city of Girsu
• Researchers from the Girsu Project used technology and drone photography to identify the subsurface remains of a previously unknown large complex at Tablet Hill (at the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu, stands a mound known as Tablet Hill, and it was also known as “The cradle of civilization”) but during the 19th and 20th century, it had been damaged by excavations
• Later on, archaeologists also discovered the Temple of the White Thunderbird, aka the Eninnu, which is the main sanctuary of the Sumerian god Ningirsu, the namesake of the ancient city. It was built around 2,100 BCE by the ruler Gudea
• Archaeology is important because it helps us to understand what historical factors affected our ancestors and how they reacted to them
• • A computerized tomography (CT) scanning combines a series of X-ray images taken from different angles and uses computer processing to create cross-sectional (slices) images and produce 3D images. CT scan images provide more detailed info about ancient remains than plain X-rays do
  • In 1967, Sir Godfrey Hounsfield invented the first CT scanner. In 1971, the first patient brain CT was performed in England, a year later, it was publicized
• Hyperspectral imaging is a technique that involves taking high-resolution images at different wavelengths of light, collecting and processing info across the electromagnetic spectrum to obtain the spectrum for each pixel in an image. By combining the benefits of digital imaging and a spectrometer, hyperspectral imaging provides both spatial and spectral info about the object’s physical and chemical properties
• In 1983, NASA started developing hyperspectral systems to image in the ultraviolet (UV) and infrared wavelengths. In 2001, the first on-orbit hyperspectral imager, Hyperion, was launched into space
• Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) are independent underwater robots used to explore our ocean. Unlike remotely operated vehicles (ROV), AUVs are untethered from a ship, allowing the robots to complete pre-planned missions without direct control from an operator
• Light detection and ranging (Lidar) is a form of airborne laser scanning technology typically mounted on drones and helicopters. It was originally developed in 1970s
• Portable X-ray fluorescence analyzers (PXRF) are hand-held instrumentation that are capable of analyzing simultaneous multi-element outside the confines of a lab. By using them, researchers can perform immediate chemical analyses of the field to understand the soil composition
• Not only does modern archaeological technology prevent artifacts from getting destroyed and allow exploration underwater and underground, but it also protects the dignity of the dead
• Using a combination of peptide mass fingerprinting to identify hominin (early form of human) remains along with radiocarbon dating, researchers are able to confirm that the Chatelperronian tools were in fact developed by Neanderthals
• Peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) is an analytical technique for protein identification
• Neanderthals are an extinct species/ subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. The type specimen, Neanderthal 1, was found in 1856 in the Neander Valley in present-day Germany
• Space archaeologists are combining satellite imagery and the power of crowdsourcing to understand more about sth without having to come over to that specific place
• Geographical Infor Systems (GIS) are computer-based tools used to store, visualize, analyze, and interpret geographic data