The Anthropology Department is using a multiple depth resistance survey system, a magnetic gradiometer survey system, and an electronic total station in order to upgrade its archaeology program. The departmental archaeologists are using this equipment during their summer fieldwork with student assistants in Alaska and Spain. Other departmental courses can benefit from the availability of original data produced through the use of these instruments. The equipment is also being made available to the new Environmental Sciences Program and is particularly valuable to the geologists involved in that program. Remote sensing has become a critical aspect of modern archaeological research. As the archaeological database shrinks and excavation becomes ever more expensive, methods of noninvasively probing the earth to discover the structure of the archaeological record without excavating, or with only minimal testing of interpretations, become ever more attractive. Particularly in environmental impact analyses, the ability to investigate an area intensively with minimal disturbance is highly important to successful research. For all of these reasons, it is necessary to train students in the use of remote-sensing tools and in the interpretation of their output.
