Three breakthroughs that established the discipline as transformative rather than supplementary.
Method · LiDAR
LiDAR through forest canopy
Destroyed the prevailing assumption that Maya, Khmer, and Amazonian civilisations were less extensive than they were. Caracol revealed as a city of roughly 115,000 people; Angkor revealed as a metropolitan complex of about 1,000 square kilometres; the Mosquitia (Honduras) "lost cities" cluster.
Reference: Caracol · Angkor · Ciudad Blanca
Method · Multispectral · Declassified
CORONA imagery for the Near East
The 1960s–70s CORONA satellite imagery was declassified in 1995. Archaeologists have used it extensively for sites in Iraq, Syria, and Iran — many of which have since been destroyed by ISIS or development. Jesse Casana and his collaborators have built whole careers on it.
Reference: CORONA program
Method · Multispectral · ML
Crowdsourced detection at scale
Multispectral commercial imagery combined with machine learning for site detection across very large areas. Sarah Parcak's GlobalXplorer crowdsourced site spotting from Maxar imagery in Peru, turning thousands of volunteers into a distributed survey team.
Reference: Sarah Parcak