A few weeks back, my colleague Rob Britt touched on the news bite that an Egyptian crater had been found by a scientist using satellite technology. Using Google Earth, a bunch of armchair archaeologists were also able to spot the hole.

Now comes word that a Harvard anthropologist has used similar satellite imagery to explore the canals in Nineveh, a 3,000 year old Mesopotamian village lying near the turbulent modern city of Mosul, Iraq. His findings are interesting because they shed light on how these ancient people used irrigation to support agriculture.

What they got me thinking about, though, is just how useful–and necessary–technology has become to archaeologists investigating war-torn regions like Iraq. It would be a shame to have to suspend work in the countries which are blessed with archaeological riches but bogged down in strife; sadly, this is all to often the case. Satellite technologies like this let excavations continue, in a virtual way at least.