Between the very distant past and the very near future, specialists in archeology and new technologies came to discuss during a round table of the SRS forum, organized by Sciences et Avenir and Research September 29 and 30, 2017.
Round table on the archeology of the future during the SRS forum, organized by Sciences et Avenir and Research September 29 and 30, 2017.
How do scientists today explore the past? This is the question addressed during the round table organized on the occasion of the SRS forum by Sciences et Avenir and Research September 29 and 30, 2017. The editor-in-chief of the special issue of Sciences et Avenir Aline Kiner moderated this debate, promising a few surprises with "exceptional images that will take you to mythical places on the planet ". Far from the classic image of archaeologists - a trowel and a brush in each hand, excavating the earth, his nose level with the pebbles - high-tech is now joining the excavation grounds.
Lidar has led to exceptional discoveries
We have thus seen the appearance of Lidar which are airborne lasers (by helicopter) making it possible to discover vestiges buried under the forest. "This is how we were able to discover new Mayan sites completely unknown in Guatemala or great Khmer cities in Cambodia ", explains Aline Kiner. Other tools have also appeared:3D scanners, infrared photography, drones, satellites and even cosmic particles. New technologies that have an impact on discoveries, on the exploration of the vestiges of the past but also on preservation.
To talk about it, three speakers who are part of the most innovative teams today:Mehdi Tayoubi, president and founder of the HIP Institute (legacy, innovation, preservation) and coordinator of the Scan Pyramids mission, Yves Ubelmann, president and co-founder of ICONEM, Sophie Madeleine and Philippe Fleury from the interdisciplinary virtual reality center, Cirev, at the University of Caen-Normandy.
To watch the entire roundtable on video: