FROM LANDSCAPE TO WRITING: NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN THE STUDY OF PRE-COLUMBIAN CIVILIZATIONS OF THE AMERICAS
This symposium proposes to bring together researchers who employ new technologies for the study of the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas. Its main objective is to analyze not only the incorporation of digital, remote and computational tools in Americanist research, but also the way in which these technologies transform the questions, methods and interpretive frameworks used to study the ancient societies of the continent.
Under the theme “from landscape to writing,” the symposium seeks to integrate different scales of analysis: from the detection and reconstruction of archaeological landscapes, cities, roads, terraces, agricultural systems and settlement networks, to the documentation of monuments, hieroglyphic texts, images, objects, archives and heritage collections. Proposals related to Mesoamerica, the Andes, Central America, the Amazon, the Caribbean and other regions of the pre-Columbian world will be received.
Papers dedicated to the use of LiDAR, geographic information systems, remote sensing, satellite imagery, photogrammetry, three-dimensional modeling, digital documentation of monuments, digital epigraphy, databases, artificial intelligence, image analysis, virtual reconstruction, archaeometry and other interdisciplinary approaches will be especially welcome. The symposium also seeks to open a space to discuss how these methodologies make it possible to identify previously unknown sites, revise urbanism models, study communication and territorial control systems, document materials at risk, improve the reading of inscriptions and generate new forms of preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage.
At the same time, the symposium considers it essential to critically examine the limits of technologies applied to the study of the past. It therefore invites reflection on the relationship between data and interpretation, dependence on digital infrastructures, the risks of automation, the role of specialized expertise, the reproducibility of results, the long-term preservation of digital archives, and the ethical dimensions of heritage documentation, especially in relation to local and indigenous communities.
The proposal is based on the premise that new technologies are not merely auxiliary instruments but active components of a broader methodological transformation. By bringing archaeology, epigraphy, iconography, history, geography, computer science, conservation and heritage studies into dialogue, this symposium aims to contribute to a more complex, critical and interdisciplinary understanding of the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas.
