Recent technological advances in remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have provided excellent results for archaeological research, especially in field surveys for locating new Amazonian sites. Landsat imagery, SRTM and aerial photography support the analyses of environmental variables related to archaeological sites, and allow the establishment of spatial patterns of human settlement as well as the construction of predictive models to identify new sites with similar environmental characteristics. Among these variables we highlight the proximity of water courses (rivers, lakes, and streams) and slope (flat areas), besides the vegetation and ecosystems (exposed soil, várzea and igapó forests). Researches carried out in Trombetas River, Carajás hills and Tocantins River, in the State of Pará, Brazil, led to positive results after predictive models have been created and tested for each region. New archaeological sites were identified and spatial analyses were conducted with GIS considering the relation intra and inter-sites, which allowed the formulation of hypotheses about possible routes of migration and the selection, by ancient indigenous groups, of areas for settlement and catchment of natural resources.
Amazonian archaeology; Remote sensing; Geographic Information System; Archaeological predictive modeling
