View a list of upcoming Knowledge Series lectures at http://www.saa.org/AbouttheSociety/KnowledgeSeries/tabid/1525/Default.aspx#1. Registration opens approximately 30 days before the course date. Some events are free, while others require a fee.

 

Instructor: Dr. Luis Jaime Butters Castillo

 

 

Description:Small AUVs, or drones, have opened up new and unexpected possibilities for archaeologists. Aerial photos on demand, when you need them and in the conditions you want them, are a dream come true for us. They, by themselves, are a step forward, but used in conjunction with photogrammetry and GIS software can provide us with even more remarkable images of sites and archaeological features, making them real tools for archaeology and for the recording and protection of cultural patrimony. Furthermore, the recording of sites using drones, and the production of orthophotography and 3D models is providing us with the most remarkable tools for archaeological survey and site protection. This one-hour online presentation will present some of the results of the intensive use of these technologies in Peru, of the lessons learned and mistakes to be avoided, both by the Ministry of Culture and by the San Jose de Moro Archaeological Program, where we don't build drones nor do we create the software, but we simply use these resources intensively.

Luis Jaime Castillo Butters is a Professor of Archaeology at the Pontifícia Universidad Católica del Perú, where he was also Dean of International Relations and Studies from 1994 - 2010. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and most recently served as the Vice- Minister of Culture for Peru. Dr. Castillo has been the Director of the San José de Moro Archaeological Program on the north coast of Peru from 1991 to the present.  In this work, he has been one of the most innovative figures and creative thinkers working in Latin American archaeology over the past two decades.

 

He has held a fellowship in Pre-Colombian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, as well as fellowships with the National Geographic Society, the Backus Foundation, and the Kaufman/Atwood Foundation. He has been a Visiting Professor in several universities in Europe, North and South America. He has published extensively on the Moche and other complex societies of Northern Peru, particularly on their material culture, funerary practices, ideology and power, and technology. In the last years Dr. Castillo has been quite interested in the use of drones and other UAVs, 3D modeling and photogrammetry for archaeological research and protection of cultural patrimony. A Vice Minister of Culture, Dr. Castillo organized a special service using these technologies on a national scale.