Archaeology in Google Earth

Among the many wonders of Google Earth is its ability to aid archaeologists and spatial archaeologists (geographers who do archaeology). People have been using Google Earth for a while and finding places like lost Roman villas. These efforts have been noted before by others like Archaeology@About.com and Google Earth Blog but Catholicgauze has been slow on the up take.

So there are a couple ways for you to start your spatial archaeology adventure on Google Earth. One can search the Google Earth community for "archaeology" to find news and information or "ruins" to see specific sites. Also, archaeologist James Q. Jacobs has a webpage dedicated completely to archaeological sites on Google Earth.

Here are some favorites of Catholicgauze.

• Aperlaem is a partially submerged Roman ruin city with history from both the pre-Christian and Byzantine eras.
• Ancient Greek and Roman theaters and amphitheaters have many high-resolution cultural points.
• The Cahokia placemark shows the ruins of the once great capital of Woodland Indian state.
• The last one I want to point out shows the next stage in archaeology and Google Earth using Sketchup. The Csomorkány Church Ruins are shown in 3D. Expect more ruins and sites to be portrayed in 3D. Architects already use Sketchup to show off buildings so expect other fields to utilize the technology soon.