Bilbao - topo map

One of the more grueling tasks that Hector Neff took on during the project was the topographic mapping of Bilbao. Walking in systematic 10 meter transects across the deposit and using our Trimble Pathfinder Pro XRS he was able to generate GPS data for most of the area. I then post-processed the data using a public basestation in Guatemala City. The results are actually fairly remarkable. Although there are some odd effects that need to be blanked out (edges in particular) and some strange zig-zags (need to edit the grid), the map is fairly representative of what the place looks like. Compare these to the blimp photos below.

Balloon Photography

We had remarkably good luck with the blimp and camera system down in Guatemala. Ultimately, we had to get a tank of hydrogen and add additional balloons to the top of the blimp to keep everything afloat (we used a heavy camera), but the results we got were quite excellent. This photo at the urban center of Bilbao is particularly good (though a little blurry at the highest resolution). With shadows late in the day, it shows the giant rectangular mounds that comprise the deposit. Note that the scale of this photos is about 300 meters across.

Back from Guatemala

Made it back from Guatemala and the brief field season down there. We got some great work done - particularly with the GPR. Once we get some of the data processed I'll upload some images. Here we have students getting read for GPR, conductivity and mag - beneath the smoking volcano Fuego.

Guatemala City

Arrived at 6:30 this morning after a long flight with little to good to speak of. But all is well. I met up with Hector and we breakfasted at the downtown Marriott - there's always a big good hotel to cluster at in foreign cities - and in Guatemala, the Marriott is it. Found a cafe - good guatemalean coffee comes with the computer connection. Whoohoo! now this I can get to like. The weather is sunny but cool and breezy. The streets are buzzing with thirdworld action. We are going to be doing some searching for a cable so we can download data from the magnetometer (it was forgotten) so we are killing some time before the shops open.

LAX

One might think that a central hub like LA with flights to virtually all places on the globe -- that the place would run like a well-run watch. It seems reasonable given the numbers of flights that go in and out of this place --it would have to be organized. If one made such an assumption, one would be a moron. LAX is the stock pavillion airports -a stock pavillion run by cats on crack. This place make one feel the new global economy is not really going to be that shining place that so many make it out to be - it just sucks. too many people,too many idiots in charge who probably dont fly anwhere. that said. here I am. using one of those chicklet keyboard kiosks wasting time before I get of my fight to guatemala city. all is good, except the heat is turned up to 1000 and the place smells of bad cheese. Oh, and when I checked the ticket agent asked me "which bag was my priority bag" since, apparently, they cant guarantee that *both* of them will make it. Now -- whats up with that??? cant they predict how much luggage space they will have by the # of tickets sold? and whats up with getting me to sign a voucher that I "volunteered" to separate from my bag. ah, the joys of flying. I think its time to give walking a chance again -if you cant walk there, is it really worth going? well, till I reach some guatemalean wireless - ciao.

Cotzumalguapa Bound

Going to be taking a red-eye flight tonight to Guatemala. I'll leave LAX at 11:50 and arrive in Guatemala City a bleary 7:30AM or so. I'm prepared - though - for sleeping the entire way. At least I hope. I am hauling with me an FLIR thermal infrared camera that we rented from www.americaninfrared.com. This is a sweet camera - 14-bit resolution, false color imaging, and 0.1degree C sensitivity. Check out the crazy image of Maeve, our collie/australian shepherd hound mix. Wild. We are going to be suspending the camera from a 9' foot helium blimp (www.floatograph.com) and then studying the surface of the deposit at night (or just around dusk). As the temperatures change we expect that the buried stone architecture will cool slower than the surrounding matrix. This has worked well for other archaeologists (e.g., Ken Kvamme at the Double Ditch Site. ). We are hopeful for our work at El Baul given that we have a good solid aerial platform and an excellent camera. What we don't know is if the stone architecture is too deep to detect with thermal images. We shall certainly see!

Easter Island and Moai

Just updated the KML file for the Easter Island Archaeological Database . The file now includes pukao - the big red "top knot" (or hats) that were on many of the statues. We have recorded about 75 of these so far and the database has photos of each. Eventually, I'll link more metric and descriptive measurements to the database (for pukao and moai). Check this all out at: http://www.csulb.edu/~clipo/Moai/