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  1. Archaeologists commonly include climatic data in their analyses of living in the past, but rarely do current weather conditions achieve mention in our professional considerations. The Kites in Context Project (KiC) focuses on a multi-scalar investigation of desert kites in the eastern badia region of Jordan. During the Neolithic (7000–5000 b.c.) period, people began building large animal traps, known as desert kites, across a wide swath of southwestern Asia. This multi-year project is designed to provide novel insights into the chronology and function of these animal traps through an intensive study incorporating remote sensing with boots-on-the-ground excavation and survey. The 2023 season began like any other—a combination of aerial survey using drones, walking the landscape in a pedestrian survey, and excavation under sunny skies. During our 2023 field season in Jordan, we experienced dramatic, atypical weather, likely driven by climate change. In this photo essay, we present images from this surprising rain and flooding event in the Black Desert of eastern Jordan that caused us to consider on a more personal level the challenges that may have faced the hunters and herders who constructed the kites and who managed the water thousands of years ago. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available January 2, 2025
  2. This paper presents the results of a large scale, drone-based aerial survey in northeastern Jordan. Drones have rapidly become one of the most cost-effective and efficient tools for collecting high-resolution landscape data, fitting between larger-scale, lower-resolution satellite data collection and the significantly more limited traditional terrestrial survey approaches. Drones are particularly effective in areas where anthropogenic features are visible on the surface but are too small to identify with commonly and economically available satellite data. Using imagery from fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, along with photogrammetric processing, we surveyed an extensive archaeological landscape spanning 32 km2 at the site of Wadi al-Qattafi in the eastern badia region of Jordan, the largest archaeological drone survey, to date, in Jordan. The resulting data allowed us to map a wide range of anthropogenic features, including hunting traps, domestic structures, and tombs, as well as modern alterations to the landscape including road construction and looting pits. We documented thousands of previously unrecorded and largely unknown prehistoric structures, providing an improved understanding of major shifts in the prehistoric use of this landscape. 
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    Mientras que la tecnología lidar se convierte en una práctica regular en la prospección arqueológica, tanto sus aplicaciones terrestres como las aéreas pueden ser complementadas con tecnología lidar integrada en drones o en inglés “unpiloted aerial vehicle” (UAV). En este artículo, presentamos un método para potenciar la data lidar adquirida por tecnología UAV con data obtenida utilizando diferentes plataformas lidar (terrestres y aéreas), a una variedad de rangos de resolución (desde 1 a + 1,000 puntos por metro cuadrado) y a diversas escalas geográficas. Utilizamos estos instrumentos para documentar un muro de mampostería en seco que rodea un precinto religioso al interior del centro real en Kealakekua, distrito de Kona, en la isla de Hawai'i. Previo al contacto europeo alrededor de dC 1779, Kealakekua era el centro político de la isla durante el festival anual de Makahiki. Los resultados de este estudio sugieren que cuando el muro fue construido, aproximadamente en dC 1640, esta fue la estructura de mayores dimensiones jamás construida en la isla de Hawai'i y una fuerte expresión material del poder religioso estatal y los rituales de Makahiki. 
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  5. While archaeologists have long understood that thermal and multi-spectral imagery can potentially reveal a wide range of ancient cultural landscape features, only recently have advances in drone and sensor technology enabled us to collect these data at sufficiently high spatial and temporal resolution for archaeological field settings. This paper presents results of a study at the Enfield Shaker Village, New Hampshire (USA), in which we collect a time-series of multi-spectral visible light, near-infrared (NIR), and thermal imagery in order to better understand the optimal contexts and environmental conditions for various sensors. We present new methods to remove noise from imagery and to combine multiple raster datasets in order to improve archaeological feature visibility. Analysis compares results of aerial imaging with ground-penetrating radar and magnetic gradiometry surveys, illustrating the complementary nature of these distinct remote sensing methods. Results demonstrate the value of high-resolution thermal and NIR imagery, as well as of multi-temporal image analysis, for the detection of archaeological features on and below the ground surface, offering an improved set of methods for the integration of these emerging technologies into archaeological field investigations. 
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  6. Si bien una larga historia de datos experimentales muestra que las imágenes térmicas aéreas pueden ser utilizadas para detectar una amplia gama de rasgos arqueológicos tanto superficiales como subsuperficiales, los obstáculos tecnológicos han en gran parte impedido la adopción generalizada de este prometedor método de prospección. Sin embargo, los recientes avances en la sofisticación de las cámaras térmicas, la fiabilidad de los drones comerciales y el creciente poder de los paquetes de software fotogramétricos han puesto al alcance de los arqueólogos la capacidad de recopilar, procesar y analizar imágenes térmicas aéreas. Este artículo ofrece una visión general de la teoría detrás de la aplicación de la termografía aérea en la arqueología, así como una discusión de un conjunto emergente de métodos desarrollados por los autores para llevar a cabo prospecciones remotas. Se resumen las investigaciones realizadas en sitios arqueológicos de Norteamérica, el Mediterráneo y el Cercano Oriente, cuyos resultados ilustran casos en los que la termografía aérea es muy eficaz, así como contextos en los que la cubierta vegetal, la composición del suelo o la profundidad y características específicas de los rasgos arqueológicos presentan desafíos. Destacamos nuevos avances para filtrar el “ruido” causado por la vegetación y métodos para mejorar la visibilidad de los rasgos arqueológicos utilizando imágenes térmicas radiométricas. 
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