Direct detection of Southeast Asian smelting sites by ASTER remote sensing imagery: technical issues and future perspectives

Satellite-based multi-spectral remote sensing data were used in an attempt to identify control signatures for known prehistoric copper smelting sites in Thailand. It had been hoped that these characteristic signals could then be used as a reference for the detection of unknown Southeast Asian metal production sites, with the overall intention of strengthening the evidence base for early technological interactions with China and India. Regrettably, control signatures were not identified from the ASTER data due to issues of scale, chemistry, and vegetation, but we are able to offer reasons for this setback that might lead other scholars to develop successful applications of this methodology in more amenable (non-tropical) environments. Combined with ground truthing, intensive survey, excavation, and the technological analysis of metallurgical assemblages, this potentially useful and cost effective approach could lead to improved data density for the metal technology transmission discussions currently spanning Eurasia.