A $350,000 grant to develop next-generation archaeological mapping technology will let a Vanderbilt-led research team reveal information about vast settlement systems and human-modified landscapes in the Andes.
Steven Wernke, associate professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology, is the project director of the research initiative, which will result in the largest archaeological imagery survey in the Western Hemisphere. This three-year NEH Digital Advancement Grant will fund the development of Geospatial Platform for Andean Culture, History and Archaeology, or GeoPACHA 2.0.
Wernke’s original GeoPACHA 1.0 was funded by previous NEH and American Council of Learned Societies grants, which laid the foundation for this next phase of AI-assisted survey. The new version of the browser-based geographic information system will offer a continuous view of human settlement and human landscapes across more than 600,000 square kilometers in the central Andes. It …