Presented by Luis Jaime Castillo (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú). Drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, are changing the way we look at the world, mostly by allowing us to look from above when we want it. In archaeology and other field related disciplines these technologies are truly revolutionizing methods and procedures, particularly if drones are use to produce detailed 3 Dimensional images. But as promising as drones sound, there are requirements and procedures to make them deliver safely and legally the kind of information we need. For the past four years Dr. Castillo has been using intensively drones to record and protect the vast archeological sites in Peru, in the process learning many useful lessons. Talk sponsored by the Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology.
Luis Jaime Castillo is Professor of Archaeology, at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and currently Visiting Professor at Harvard University. Luis Jaime got his PhD in Anthropology at UCLA. Since 1991 he has been director of the San Jose de Moro Archaeological Program which conducts research in the Jequetepeque Valley focused on the evolution of complex Pre Columbian societies, ideology and power, the political and geo political organization of the Moche, the collapse of the Moche, ritual and funerary practices, etc. He has been member of the SAA Ethics Committee and Co Editor of Latin American Antiquity and vesting professor in several universities in the Americas and Europe. He has published books and articles on the archaeology of northern Peru and particularly about the Moche. He has also been, for 18 months, Vice Minister of Cultural Patrimony and Cultural Industries, in the Ministry of Culture, Peru where he had to deal, on a daily basis with the realities of Heritage Promotion and Preservation.