China's First Remote Sensing Archaeology Lab Launched

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 30, 2001

China's First Remote Sensing Archaeology Lab Launched

The first joint laboratory in China for remote sensing archaeology opened Thursday. The lab is expected to become a national center for academic research, information exchange, and personnel training in this aspect.

First joint lab opened

The first joint laboratory in China for remote sensing archaeology opened Thursday in Beijing.

The lab was jointly sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Ministry of Education, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Guo Huadong, director of the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications of the CAS, said the lab is to be made open and comprehensive so as to carry out broad, multi-level archaeological research with international cooperation.

Important role it to play

The lab is expected to become a national center for academic research, information exchange, and personnel training in this aspect.

According to Chen Shupeng, director of the lab, remote sensing archeology, based on remote sensing image processing, includes underground flawless detection, underwater archaeology, environmental evolution analysis, and cultural relic administration.

Chen said as the technology is currently at the stage of "quantitative remote sensing", China will now focus on specific areas which improve the technological level.

Remote sensing archeology

Much of human history can be traced through the impacts of human actions upon the environment. The use of remote sensing technology offers the archeologist the opportunity to detect these impacts which are often invisible to the naked eye. This information can be used to address issues in human settlement, environmental interaction, and climate change. Archeologists want to know how ancient people successfully adapted to their environment and what factors may have led to their collapse or disappearance. Did they overextend the capacity of their landscape, causing destructive environmental effects which led to their demise? Can this information be applied to modern day societies so that the mistakes of the past are not repeated?

Remote sensing can be used as a methodological procedure for detecting, inventorying, and prioritizing surface and shallow-depth archeological information in a rapid, accurate, and quantified manner. Man is a tropical creature who has invaded every environment on earth successfully; now we are ready to explore, and eventually colonize, the delicate environments of Space. Understanding how ancient man successfully managed Earth is important for the success of current and future societies.

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