This article describes a series of steps to integrate multiple modes of archaeological mapping in arid and agricultural settings. We use the coastal region of Peru as a case study and share our recent field experience at Cerro San Isidro, a multicomponent hill site located in the agriculture-intensive and mid-elevation (about 500 m asl) Moro region of the Nepeña Valley. In June and July 2022, we spent eight weeks deploying a combination of drone aerial imagery, pedestrian GPS reconnaissance, and GPR survey to map the surface and subsurface features at the site and in the adjacent agricultural fields. Our efforts suggest that the ancient settlement extended over an area of at least 50 ha, well beyond the visible surface architecture. Using a multimodal approach to confirming the partial destruction of archaeological vestiges by modern agricultural encroachment is both time-effective and noninvasive. The article offers insights from our experience, including the sequence of field operations, technical troubleshooting, and the collection and integration of datasets. We discuss the methodological potential and implications of this combination of multimodal mapping and its deployment in coastal Peru, a region that, like many others in the world, is increasingly subject to rapid agricultural expansion and other anthropogenic developments.

This report presents new documentation of the external canal in the Late Postclassic site of Tetzcotzinco in the municipality of Texcoco, Mexico. This structure was previously considered a waterwork separate from the monumental water-management system discovered in the central part of the site. However, reanalysis of the course of this canal allowed us to reassess its function and revise the existing Tetzcotzinco maps. We propose that this structure formed part of the main water-management system of the site.

Despite advocacy of landscape approaches in cultural resource management (CRM) and critiques of the site concept, CRM data collection methods in the western United States continue to focus on individual archaeological sites as units of observation, analysis, and management. The transect-recording unit (TRU) method strikes a balance between conventional site-based recording methods and site-less survey approaches by dividing survey space into a grid of uniformly sized cells for recording all cultural manifestations observed across a survey area. TRU survey generates site boundaries required by CRM regulations while retaining a fine-grained spatial framework for landscape-level research and management. This article discusses the technical requirements of the TRU system and its potential for improving landscape-level research and management. Advances in digital recording technologies and analysis techniques render the method efficient and effective in identifying cultural resource distributions and characteristics otherwise obscured by conventional approaches. The research and management potential of the TRU system is illustrated through identification and interpretation of precontact foot trails in New Mexico's Tularosa Basin. These trails are essentially invisible during pedestrian survey but are readily identifiable as linear patterns using aggregated landscape-scale TRU survey data from multiple survey projects, providing novel insight into precontact routes of movement and exchange.

Crossing literary evidence with archaeological data, we discuss the history of a site known as ‘Marsa Djazira’ by following the evolution of its toponym. During the Phoenician-Punic era, this site was described as a city/urban establishment with a harbour known as ‘Gaphara’. In late Roman times its name was most likely changed to ‘Minna Villa Marsi’, as the Marsi family of the aristocracy of Leptis Magna probably built a luxury residence (villa) and exploited the port to export olive products from its estates in the hinterland of Leptis Magna. In the Middle Ages, the site underwent another toponymic change to ‘Ras Chacra’ and became an official maritime station (port) on the shipping lanes. In the late Middle Ages, the ancient toponym ‘Gaphara’ reappeared again with a slight distortion as ‘Gasr Jafara/Djefara’. This last name was known when the site was already ruined and abandoned.

This article presents preliminary results from mountain survey in the Chatkal Range in the western Tian Shan piedmonts, eastern Uzbekistan. In 2021, several new Palaeolithic sites were discovered, including a single, multi-layered, open-air site—Kuksaray 2—located near a flint outcrop. The authors’ initial investigations have recovered a stone tool assemblage containing tools displaying both Middle Palaeolithic and Initial Upper Palaeolithic characteristics.

In recent years, digital technologies applied to archaeology have led to considerable changes in fieldwork. However, the use of mobile GIS for fieldwork has not been widespread, especially in countries where GIS is not yet entrenched within the field of archaeology. Over the last decade, the technological context associated with mobile GIS has changed. In this text, these changes are discussed based on a case study developed in Catamarca (Argentina), in which the possibilities of a more generalized use of mobile GIS—based on free, open, and available resources (software, data, devices)–are discussed. This article assesses the main problems faced and describes the basic steps taken to implement a field recording system based on mobile GIS.

The places in which people live and spend time are steeped in history, memory, and meaning from the intersection of daily life, environmental interactions, cultural practices, and ritual. Geologic features, plants, animals, and ecosystems merge with these cultural histories, forming critical parts of the landscape and areas of “high cultural salience,” or “cultural keystone places” (CKPs). We identify Kumqaq’ (Point Conception) and the surrounding area in California as a Chumash CKP. Ethnohistoric accounts and contemporary Chumash community members have long demonstrated the importance of Point Conception in Chumash worldview and identity, whereas biologists, ecologists, and conservationists reference the area's rich biodiversity and significance as a biogeographical boundary. Recent archaeological survey of the coastline surrounding Kumqaq’ highlights these connections, identifying over 50 archaeological sites—including shell middens, villages, lithic scatters, and rock art—with at least 9,000 years of occupation. Ongoing collaborations among archaeologists, the Nature Conservancy, and Chumash community members help document and understand the long-term linkages between cultural and biological diversity and how integrating these perspectives can help ensure the resilience of this nexus of human and natural history in the Anthropocene future.

We explore the long-term environmental and human history of a small outer coast archipelago on the Northwest Coast in western Canada. Using relative sea-level change, we reconstruct ancient landscapes to design archaeological surveys that document a rich archaeological record spanning at least 11 000 years and demonstrate the cultural centrality of this geographically marginal landscape.

This article shows how to record current events from an archaeological perspective. With a case study from the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway, we provide accessible tools to document broad spatial and behavioral patterns through material culture as they emerge. Stressing the importance of ethical engagement with contemporary subjects, we adapt archaeological field methods—including geolocation, photography, and three-dimensional modeling—to analyze the changing relationships between materiality and human sociality through the crisis. Integrating data from four contributors, we suggest that this workflow may engage broader publics as anthropological data collectors to describe unexpected social phenomena. Contemporary archaeological perspectives, deployed in rapid response, provide alternative readings on the development of current events. In the presented case, we suggest that local ways of coping with the pandemic may be overshadowed by the materiality of large-scale corporate and state response.

Issues surrounding the difficult task of correlating archaeological and climatic trajectories are directly impacting the study of human-environmental interaction in Ancient China. We have chosen to focus on the 4.2 ka BP event due to the widespread belief in recent Chinese archaeological publications that it brought about the collapse of Neolithic cultures in multiple regions of China. Following a literature review concerning the many issues surrounding the reconstruction of the 4.2 ka BP event in East Asia, we present three short case studies from the Lower Yangzi, the Shaanxi loess plateau, and the Central Plains detailing a number of problems with Chinese archaeological attempts at using climate change as a causal mechanism for sociopolitical change. We then focus on a common but highly problematic methodology—the growing use of archaeological data compiled in the Atlas of Chinese Cultural Relics to correlate with climate proxies in order to generate linear, causal models explaining sociopolitical collapse. We follow with an example from Northeast China, where work from the past three decades has provided ample data with which to begin answering these questions in a more productive manner, and end with a set of suggestions for archaeologists and climate scientists going forward.

Satellite imagery has long been recognized as well suited for the regional and ecological questions of many archaeological surveys. One underexplored aspect of such data is their temporal resolution. It is now possible for areas to be imaged on an almost daily basis, and this resolution offers new opportunities for studying landscapes through remote sensing in parallel with ground-based survey. This article explores the applications of these data for visibility assessment and land-cover change detection in the context of the Sinis Archaeological Project, a regional archaeological survey of west-central Sardinia. We employ imagery provided by Planet, which has a spatial resolution of 3 m, in four spectral bands, and is collected daily. Using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values calculated for each survey unit, we find that there is a relationship between NDVI values and field-reported visibility in general, though the strength of this correlation differs according to land-cover classes. We also find the data to be effective at tracking short-term changes in field conditions that allow us to differentiate fields of similar land cover and visibility. We consider limitations and potentials of these data and encourage further experimentation and development.

As archaeologists expand the accessibility of legacy data, they have an opportunity to use these datasets to design future research. We argue that legacy data can be a critical resource to help predict characteristics of sites and socioeconomic systems. In this article, we present a combined geographic information system (GIS) and network analysis methodology that turns site location data into testable hypotheses about site characteristics and the organization of regional settlement systems. We demonstrate the utility of this approach with a case study: Bronze Age (2700–1100 BC) settlement patterns in the mining region of Hunedoara in southwest Transylvania, Romania. We leverage unsystematically collected site location information in legacy datasets to develop testable predictions about sites, regional networks, and socioeconomic systems that can be evaluated through future systematic surveys and large-scale excavations. Such testable hypotheses can inform archaeological research design by providing a quantitative basis for determining where to focus research efforts and can also help secure funding and fieldwork permits. The method developed here can be applied in diverse archaeological contexts to reinvigorate legacy data as part of future archaeological research design.

In the desert of southeastern California, the geological and archaeological remnants of a once massive lake, Lake Cahuilla, are still visible. One of the most distinctive features marking Lake Cahuilla's relic shorelines is a series of rock fish trap features that, in some cases, stretch across thousands of square meters. These fish traps are severely understudied, and systematic archaeological survey can help scientists reconstruct the dynamic human-environmental history of the region. The large number of fish traps along with the rocky desert terrain, however, make traditional pedestrian archaeological surveys both difficult and inefficient. We used unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology along with traditional archaeological methods to conduct surveys and identify patterning in the shapes, orientations, and frequencies of fish traps. Our study demonstrates the potential of emerging archaeological field technology to better understand the nature of human-environmental ecodynamics through time and space.