Outlining an Interdisciplinary Project Using Remote Sensing

Archaeologists have been puzzled and fascinated by the Bronze Age of the Southern Ural Steppe in Russia since the 1970s. Specifically, Sintashta-Petrovka (2050-1700 BCE) communities exhibited highly unusual organization for steppe pastoralists, including centrally planned towns, monumental fortifications, and sedentary subsistence. Of equal interest, these communities never invested in agriculture although their environment would have allowed for it. Thus, archaeology in this region contradicts anthropological models that expect complex, centralized societies to emerge only in agrarian and demographically dense contexts. Beginning in ca. 1700 BCE, these settlements disaggregated during the so-called “Sintashta Collapse”. It is unclear what social and demographic processes led to the dissolution of proto-urban settlements, partially due to the fact that previous research has been conducted on an atomized site-by-site basis without considering the regional perspective. Jack Berner’s research addresses these deficiencies in an interdisciplinary manner, by incorporating multiple lines of evidence to identify and map Bronze Age habitations in the Zingeyka River Valley in the Southern Urals. In this talk, he will first outline a program of research that uses multispectral satellite images, soil geochemistry, and pedestrian survey to create a highly detailed land classification that highlights Bronze Age hinterland habitations. Next, he will discuss the nature of his scientific relationships with Russian scholars, and the importance of student-driven collaboration in Russian archaeology. Finally, he will address how this project thoroughly addresses common ethical concerns including engagement with local stakeholders, open-access knowledge, and a safe environment for undergraduate volunteers.

Outlining an Interdisciplinary Project Using Remote Sensing and Survey to Trace Bronze Age Habitations in the Southern Urals
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  • This event is FREE to SAA members and not available to SAA nonmembers.
  • All times are in the Eastern Time Zone.
When
10/12/2022 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Where
Online

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