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Chris

The LORE-LPB project is gearing up for the 2011 season with more promising archaeology on the way.  By late May we hope to have LIDAR coverage for the site with the expectation that this should greatly increase the amount of area we are able to cover.  More exciting news is on the way.

Chris

Thanks again Julieta

Recent Reforma article

Colorado State University geographers and anthropologists will use satellite imagery to examine ancient societies in Mexico as part of a Space Archaeology grant from NASA.

Long-term consequences of climate change

Satellite imagery from NASA will help CSU Geographer Stephen J. Leisz and colleague Christopher T. Fisher examine the long-term consequences of climate change on ancient societies in Mexico and model long-term human and environment interaction in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin in Michoacán, Mexico.

The high resolution ALOS PRISM satellite data provided to the team through the NASA grant will be integrated with ongoing archaeological and paleoenvironmental investigations to examine relationships between climatic fluctuation, landscape development, land degradation and the formation of complex societies in the west central highlands of Mexico, as part of the Legacies of Resilience: The Lake Pátzcuaro Basin Archaeological Project.

Remote sensing data

The project uses remote sensing data to better model the ancient landscape in ways not possible with data otherwise available. It is expected that the development of high-resolution, large-area, elevation models from the satellite data will represent an important archaeological tool for the research team.

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite, or ALOS, in orbit above Earth. (Photo courtesy of NASA).

“This research will allow us to create and test high spatial resolution models of linked human and environmental development and collapse over long periods of time that will in turn help current and future conservation efforts throughout Latin America,” said Leisz.

New and innovative technique

Researchers will examine the impact of the Medieval climatic anomaly (A.D. 950-1250) and the subsequent ‘Little Ice Age’ on Central Mexico.

By integrating ALOS PRISM satellite data into their research, Leisz and Fisher are offering a new and innovative technique, with potential for use by other scientists.

“The Lake Pátzcuaro Basin is an important example of coupled human and environmental change,” said Fisher, director of the Legacies project.

“A key aspect of the Legacies project is to create explanatory models to help explain changes in ancient lake level, distribution of agricultural lands and the location of ancient settlements. We want to see how people in the past responded to climate change as examples that can help modern policy.”

Agricultural adaptations

Fisher and Leisz will specifically look at the impact of the Medieval climatic anomaly (A.D. 950-1250) and the subsequent ‘Little Ice Age’ on Central Mexico.

“For the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, the Medieval climatic anomaly likely lowered lake levels and increased the agrarian potential of the region, while the opposite may have occurred during the Little Ice Age,” said Fisher. “This is the opposite impact expected by many researchers.”

How ancient peoples modified their landscape

Researchers will examine the impact of the Medieval climatic anomaly (A.D. 950-1250) and the subsequent 'Little Ice Age' on Central Mexico.

“Through the NASA-supported research we hope to better understand how ancient peoples modified their landscape to mitigate the impact of climatic fluctuation,” Leisz said. “As societies become larger, they have access to increasing amounts of labor that they often invest in the landscape to mitigate environmental change.”

One important outcome of the project will be a better understanding of the timing, form, and function of intensive agricultural features such as terraces that are found throughout the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin.

“Ultimately we hope to focus on environmental change as a long-term process rather then a trigger for social complexity,” said Fisher.

Collect ground reference data in conjunction with satellite

CSU graduate student Jason Bush surveying with Trimble equipment in Michoacán, Mexico.

Fisher and Leisz begin field work on the two-year, $155,591 grant in summer 2010. The researchers will use TrimbleRecon rugged handheld computers as well as the GeoXH and GeoXT GPS receivers, to accurately map every cultural feature they encounter as well as collect ground reference data that will be used in conjunction with the satellite imagery to create high-resolution elevation models of the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin.

CSU graduate student Jason Bush surveying with Trimble equipment in Michoacán, Mexico.

Fisher and his team recently discovered the ruins of an ancient urban center in the heart of the Purépecha Empire in Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, located in the central Mexican state of Michoacán.

Multidisciplinary research project

The multidisciplinary Legacies of Resilience: The Lake Pátzcuaro Basin Archaeological Project includes archaeologists, geologists and geographers from the United States and Mexico. They explore prehistoric sites to better understand the development of prehistoric societies and relationships between humans and climate change.

Fisher is a fellow with CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability.

Contact: Kimberly Sorensen
E-mail: Kimberly.Sorensen@colostate.edu
Phone: (970) 491-0757

PR is an important mechanism that we can use to demonstrate the value of archaeological research to other academics, stake-holders, and policy makers.  Many academic disciplines routinely send press releases as a matter of course so why don’t archaeologists?  Far from being ‘self promotion’ at the expense of the cultural resources, or putting yourself in ‘front’ of the ‘Archaeology’, PR is instead a fundamental element of fieldwork.  If we wish to move the discipline forward controlling PR is critical.

As someone who has been criticized in the past for sending out press releases I’ve come to reflect on the necessity and value of ‘effective’ PR.  Far from making you a ‘cowboy’ concerned only with personal gain, effective PR can instead help:

1)   Forge new connections and help empower marginalized groups.   Much of the archaeology that we do, especially in the America’s, concerns marginalized peoples.  Archaeology is a powerful social and political tool that can be harnessed for these groups.

2)   Increase the visibility of the discipline.  Media attention can help lay-people better understand, value, and support the discipline, translating into increased support for archaeology.

3)   Force you to create a better narrative.  We all need to be able to express the importance of our research in the sentence ‘sound bite’.  Creating and managing press releases helps the synthesis process.

4)   Find talented students, volunteers, and funding.  Being in the news links you to people that can help spread your message.

5)   Move your research in unexpected directions.  Synergies and connections will always spur innovation.

6)   Control the archaeological brand.  The title to this post is a play on Holtorf’s book, “Archaeology is a Brand”.  As a brand we should take a more active role in how we are portrayed and valued.

Managing public relations, sending press releases, and engaging the public is no longer optional.  To control the “archaeological brand” and move the discipline forward archaeologists must move toward a more effective public engagement.

Cornelius Holtorf 2007.  Archaeology is a Brand! The Meaning of Archaeology in Contemporary Popular Culture.  Left Coast Press.

Project Uacusecha is an on-going archaeological exploration of the Zacapu Basin malpaís.  Led by French archaeologist Grégory Pereira and team, Project Uacusecha aims to understand social organization, urbanism, and economic dynamics in the region prior to and during Purépecha State formation.  Project Uacusecha involves settlement pattern survey and excavation that builds on long-term research by the French team in the region.  The setting (malpaís) and archaeology is very similar to that encountered by the Legacies of Resilience Project (LORE-LPB) and we are excited by the results of their 2010 season.

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©Christopher Fisher 2010

Here is a recent article on the summer 2009 work  from an amazing writer and blogger Daniel Hernandez.  Daniel also is the author of an incredibly insightful blog called Intersections focusing on “the intersections that exist between art, society, the sublime, and the streets.”

As a dual citizen of Mexico and the United States Daniel’s work often invokes cultural fusion, borderlands, and all things Mexico – please check it out.  And thanks again to Daniel for his interest in the work.

Chris

University of Washington graduate student Anna Cohen mapping a house mound with Trimble technology, Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico, summer 2009

It’s probably fitting that this is the first blog post on the new Legacies of Resilience (LORE-LPB) website as this project is so tech dependent.  LORE-LPB has taken advantage of recent advances in mobile computing to document architectural features faster, and with a higher degree of accuracy, then traditional full coverage archaeological survey.  This allows us to occupy a ‘middle ground between traditional extensive-style survey and more intensive mapping done with a total station.

In a recent poster at the Society for American Archaeology annual meeting in Saint Louis we outlined the methodology that we use, which is based on Trimble hardware and software (TrimbleRecon rugged handheld computers as well as the GeoXH and GeoXT GPS receivers, and Terrasync and Pathfinder office software).  We also got some props from the blogosphere for our use of these new technologies. Curt Hopkins originally hooked me up with much of this gear and I owe him a big thank you!!

The big issue for us now is how do we organize all of this new information?  How can we harness all of these data to address traditional archaeological questions?  And . . . is this going to lead us to new questions?

Chris