M. Reindel – New Technologies for Archaeology (2009)

Автор: M. Reindel
Название книги: New Technologies for Archaeology
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Археология
Страницы: 510
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

This heavily-illustrated book covers recent developments in archaeometry and offers a multidisciplinary approach to reconstructing complex cultural histories. It also presents a detailed history of human development in South America’s Nasca region.

In 2002 themultidisciplinary research project ‘‘Nasca: development and adaptation
of archaeometric techniques for the investigation of cultural history’’ (Nasca:
Entwicklung und Adaption archa¨ometrischer Techniken zur Erforschung der
Kulturgeschichte) started, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education
andResearch (Bundesministeriumfu¨rBildung undForschung,BMBF) initspriority
program ‘‘New scientific methods and technologies for the humanities’’ (Neue
Naturwissenschaftliche Methoden und Technologien fu¨r die Geisteswissenschaften,
NTG). This new project continued and in a certain way fulfilled a lasting goal of
the ministry to integrate different branches of scientific activities and to foster
the transfer of expertise gained in natural sciences to the humanities and vice
versa. Archaeometry, by definition the application of scientific methods in
archaeological investigation, has been a major focus of the priority program since
its beginnings in 1989.
After funding numerous fruitful research projects that developed new
archaeometric techniques mostly in bilateral cooperation, an even greater
outcome was expected from a more multifaceted approach with the participation
of various scientific disciplines around awell-defined, archaeological research topic.
Furthermore, it was intended to establish a project outside the traditional research
areas in central Europe or theMediterranean. It was the great merit of the person
formerly in charge of the BMBF priority program, Dr. Edgar Pusch, to develop
these far-reaching perspectives and we are extremely grateful that after a rigorous
screening our project among other interesting ones was selected for funding.
Our project was in a favourable situation because it met precisely the
requirements defined by the BMBF, having developed a challenging research
design centered on the puzzling problem of the Nasca lines in the desert of
southern coastal Peru. The initial archaeological steps were financed by the
Swiss-Liechtenstein Foundation for Archaeological Research Abroad (SLSA)
and we are not only grateful for this support of the archaeological activities, but
even more for this unique opportunity to develop a key project which in many
ways became exemplary and trend-setting for future research activities. We also
received very valuable financial support from the Japan Maria Reiche Fund,
which enabled us to build a little museum in the center of Palpa where we can
now present the results of our scientific work to the public
We were always supported and assisted in the organization and management
of the project by the project-executing institution at the Research Center Ju¨ lich,
especially its representatives, Dr. Hans-Joachim Krebs and Dr. Sabine
Gerhard. It was their idea to organize not only meetings and workshops in
Germany, but also a field conference directly in the research area, in Palpa,
where the base camp of our field campaigns was located. Five days of very
intensive talks and discussions and the following excursion with about 70
participants of the field conference, among them the project members,
Peruvian partners and colleagues, and international specialists from many
different countries, reflected very well the special spirit of this project group:
the concentration of knowledge in an interdisciplinary project in direct contact
with the areas of research yielded an exceedingly high output of scientific results
in an excellent working atmosphere.
At this point we as the coordinators and at the same time the editors of this
volume, which constitutes the final report of our research project, would like to
thank all our German, Swiss, Peruvian, and other international colleagues for
their dedicated work in this very productive cooperative effort to develop new
methods and technologies for archaeological investigation and to advance the
knowledge of the ancient South American cultures.
In Peru we always received optimal support from the authorities and the
cooperating institutions. We are indebted to the National Institute for Cultural
Heritage (Instituto Nacional de Cultura, INC) for always handling the permits
for our archaeological investigations in a nonbureaucratic and effective
manner, and we especially thank the former director of the INC, Dr. Luis
Guillermo Lumbreras, for his steady support of and interest in our project.
We also thank our direct partners at the regional department of the INC, Rube´n
Garcı´a and Susana Arce, for their very friendly and effective cooperation.
The realization of the high goals of our project, sometimes resulting in a very
tight working schedule, would not have been possible without the support of the
German embassy, which not only aided at the administrative level, but also
enabled the logistics; exchanging research equipment and samples for the
analyses in laboratories in Germany were crucial for the success of this
project. We are especially grateful to the ambassador Dr. Roland Kliesow
and the attache´ for cultural affairs, Jens Urban, for their support and sincere
interest as well as their visits to Palpa and participation in public activities of the
project in Lima and Palpa.
Our special thanks go to our Peruvian colleagues and friends in Nasca and
Palpa, for their hospitality and for their patience while introducing us to their
fascinating world and showing us the enigmas of their pre-Hispanic history.
Without their knowledge and careful observations, but also the ability to
assimilate quickly new skills and at the same time to adapt to the sometimes
seemingly strange behavior of the ‘‘gringos’’ who populated the Palpa valleys
for a short time every year, they contributed a great deal to the success of the
project. Our host for several years at the Fundo Jauranga, merits special
mention: Don Oscar Tijero, who not only followed our research activities
with special interest, but also transmitted to us his fascination for the local
history and motivated some of the most successful archaeological activities of
the project.
In summary, after five years of intense research activities with a multitude of
scientific results, new insights into Andean history, the development of new
technologies for archaeology being useful also in other regions of the world,
countless publications in different disciplines, public presentations and
documentaries on radio and television, the people of Palpa will be astonished
when they realize that the slogan they coined many years ago for their little
forgotten desert town, turns out to be quite accurate: Palpa es ma´s de lo que te
imaginas (Palpa is more than you can imagine).