Background research has become far easier, with ready access to online bibliographies and scanned historical maps. Remote sensing techniques are becoming commonly used in studies; the availability of Google Earth and other high-resolution aerial photography has made maps an important component prior to, during, and after field work. Admittedly, maps have always been an important part of field work, but now you can get very high quality maps on the fly. Software allowing the use of recorded sites and features overlaid onto high quality maps such as ESRI's ArcGIS has made the production of high quality data and maps standard operating procedures.
This photo is a Google Earth photograph of the archaeological complex of Tihuanaco (or Tiwanaku), located on Lake Titicaca on the border between Chile and Bolivia.
This photo is a Google Earth photograph of the archaeological complex of Tihuanaco (or Tiwanaku), located on Lake Titicaca on the border between Chile and Bolivia.


