IN THE MUSEUM...Space Age Archeology

For 150 years, archeologists have been exploring Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, looking for clues about the civilization of the Maya that flourished 4000 years ago. Since 1984, NASA's Ames Research Center has been using Landsat remote sensing technology to help archeologists. A key question is: why did Mayan civilization decline? One theory is that the environment of the area may have changed.

Landsat imagery has discovered 12 previously unknown Mayan sites. Satellite imagery has also provided new discoveries about Mayan settlement patterns, their use of natural resources, and what the land was like at the time. Archeologists had wondered for years how the Mayas could have lived on the little water that is in the area today. Satellite imagery, however, located ancient coastlines, indications of past sea levels, and the location of now dried-up rivers. Landsat imagery also shows the canal systems and water reservoirs built by the Maya.