Xenoarchaeology

Xenoarchaeology is a hypothetical form of archaeology concerned with the physical remains of past (but not necessarily extinct) alien cultures. These may be found on planets or satellites, in space, the asteroid belt, planetary orbit or Lagrangian points.

Xenoarchaeology is currently only hypothetical science that exists mainly in science fiction works and is not practiced by mainstream archaeologists. Although some fringe theories of alien archaeology exist, and several attempts at observing extraterrestrial structures at common Lagrangian points in our solar system have been made, most serious archaeological work has been in refutation of it.

Etymology

The name derives from Greek "xenos" (ξένος) which means 'stranger, alien', and archaeology 'study of ancients'.

Xenoarchaeology is sometimes called "exoarchaeology", although some would argue that the prefix exo- would be more correctly applied to the study of human activities in a space environment. [cite web| last=Freitas| first= Robert| title= Naming Extraterrestrial Life| url=http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/NamingETL.htm, retrieved October 7, 2006.]

Other names for xenoarchaeology, or specialised fields of interest, include Probe SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), extraterrestrial archaeology, space archaeology, SETA (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Artefacts), Dysonian SETI, Planetary SETI, SETT (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Technology), SETV (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Visitation), [cite web| last=Darling| first= David| title= SETA (Search for Extraterrestrial Artifacts)| url=http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/SETA.html, retrieved October 7, 2006.] extraterrestrial anthropology, areoarchaeology and selenoarchaeology.Matthews, Keith, 2002, Archaeology and the Extraterrestrial, in Miles Russell (ed), Digging Holes in Popular Culture, Bournemouth University School of Conservation Sciences Occasional Paper 7, Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 129-60]

Justification

It is arguably the case that, due to the immense distances between stars, any evidence we discover of extraterrestrial intelligence, whether it be an artifact or an electromagnetic signal, may come from a long-vanished civilization. Thus the entire SETI project can be seen as a form of archaeology. [cite web| publisher=SETI League| title= They're Dead, Jim!| url= http://www.setileague.org/askdr/dead.htm, retrieved October 7, 2006.] [cite web| publisher=Astrobiology Magazine| url=http://seti.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=120&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0| title=Future Archaeology| date=October 5, 2006] [cite web| last=Tarter| first= Jill| url= http://discuss.longnow.org/viewtopic.php?t=22| date=July 9th, 2004| title=Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence - A Necessarily Long-Term Strategy, retrieved October 7, 2006.]

The study of alien cultures might offer us glimpses into our own species' past or future development. [cite journal| last=Kershaw| first= Carolyne| url=http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba15/ba15lets.html| journal=British Archaeology| issue=15| month= June| year=1996| title= Letters - Star Trek digging, retrieved October 7, 2006.] [cite journal| last=Thomas| first= Charles| url=http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba11/ba11int.html| issue= 11| month= February| year= 1996| title=Diggers at the final frontier| journal=British Archaeology, retrieved October 7, 2006.]

Vicky Walsh argued for the existence of "exo-artefacts" using the principle of mediocrity and the Drake equation. She proposed that a theoretical and speculative field of archaeology be established in order to test outlandish claims, and to prepare for a time when undeniably extraterrestrial artefacts needed to be analysed.

"If it is possible to construct an abstract archaeology that can be tested and refined on earth and then applied to areas beyond our planet, then the claims for ETI remains on the moon and Mars may really be evaluated in light of established archaeological theory and analysis" [Walsh, Vicky, 2002, The case for exo-archaeology, in Miles Russell (ed), Digging Holes in Popular Culture, Bournemouth University School of Conservation Sciences Occasional Paper 7, Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 121-8.] .

Greg Fewer has argued that archaeological techniques should be used to evaluate alleged UFO landing or crash sites, such as Roswell [Fewer, G. Searching for extraterrestrial intelligence: an archaeological approach to verifying evidence for extraterrestrial exploration on Earth, http://www.nidsci.org/pdf/fewer.pdf, retrieved October 7, 2006.]

History

The origins of the field have been traced [Sutton, Mark Q. & Yohe, Robert M., II 2003, Archaeology: The Science of the Human Past, Allyn & Bacon, Boston, p. 73] to theories about a hypothetical Martian civilization based on observations of what were perceived as canals on Mars. These theories, of which Percival Lowell was the most famous exponent, were apparently inspired by a mistranslation of a quote by Giovanni Schiaparelli.

The 1997 Theoretical Archaeology Group conference featured a session on "archaeology and science fiction".

The 2004 annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association featured a session "Anthropology, Archaeology and Interstellar Communication" [http://www.seti.org/site/pp.asp?c=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=617353, retrieved October 7, 2006.] .

Planetary SETI

Planetary SETI is concerned with the search for extraterrestrial structures on the surface of bodies in the Solar system. Claims for evidence of extraterrestrial artefacts can be divided into three groups - the Moon, Mars, and the other planets and their satellites.

Examples of sites of interest include the "bridge" sighted in the Mare Crisium in 1953, and the "Blair Cuspids" sighted in 1966. In 2006, Ian Crawford proposed that a search for alien artifacts be conducted on the Moon. [cite news| last=Groshong| first= Kimm| url=http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn9173-looking-for-aliens-on-the-moon.html| title= Looking for aliens on the Moon| date=16 May 2006 | publisher=New Scientist, retrieved October 7, 2006.]

Percival Lowell's mistaken identification of Martian canals was an early attempt to detect and study an alien culture from its supposed physical remains.

The Society for Planetary SETI Research is a loose organisation of researchers interested in this field. The organisation does not endorse any particular conclusions drawn by its members on particular sites. [cite web| title=Society for Planetary SETI Research| url= http://spsr.utsi.edu/, retrieved October 7, 2006.]

Probe SETI, or SETA

A great deal of research and writing has been done, and some searches conducted for extraterrestrial probes in the solar system. [cite web| last=Stride| first= S.| title= Probing for ETI's Probes in the Solar System| url= http://www.setileague.org/editor/stride2.htm, retrieved October 7, 2006.] This followed the work of Ronald N. Bracewell.

Robert Freitas [Freitas, R., Interstellar Probes:a New Approach to SETI, http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/InterstellarProbesJBIS1980.htm, retrieved October 7, 2006.] [Freitas, R., Debunking the Myths of Interstellar Probes, http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/ProbeMyths1983.htm, retrieved October 7, 2006.] [Freitas, R., The Case for Interstellar Probes, http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/TheCaseForInterstellarProbes1983.htm, retrieved October 7, 2006.] , Christopher Rose and Gregory Wright have argued that interstellar probes can be a more energy efficient means of communication than electromagnetic broadcasts [Rose, C. & Wright, G., Inscribed Matter as an Energy-Efficient Means of Communication with an Extraterrestrial Civilization, http://www.winlab.rutgers.edu/~crose/papers/nature.pdf, retrieved October 7, 2006.] .

If so, a solarcentric Search for Extraterrestrial Artifacts (SETA) [Freitas, R., The Search for Extraterrestrial Artifacts (SETA), http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/SETAJBISNov1983.htm, retrieved October 7, 2006.] would seem to befavored over the more traditional radio or optical searches.

On the basis that the Earth-Moon or Sun-Earth libration orbits might constitute convenient parking places for automated extraterrestrial probes, unsuccessful searches were conducted by Freitas and Valdes [Freitas, R. & Valdes, F., A Search for Natural or Artificial Objects Located at the Earth-Moon Libration Points, http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/SearchIcarus1980.htm, retrieved October 7, 2006.] [Valdes, F. & Freitas, R., A Search for Objects near the Earth-Moon Lagrangian Points, http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/SearchIcarus1983.htm, retrieved October 7, 2006.]

Dysonian SETI

In a 1960 paper, Freeman Dyson proposed the idea of a Dyson sphere, a type of extraterrestrial artefact able to be searched for and studied at interstellar distances. Following that paper, several searches have been conducted. [Carrigan, D., Other Dyson Sphere searches, http://home.fnal.gov/~carrigan/Infrared_Astronomy/Other_searches.htm, retrieved October 7, 2006.]

In a 2005 paper, Luc Arnold proposed a means of detecting smaller, though still megascale, artefacts from their distinctive light curve signature. [Arnold, L., Transit Lightcurve Signatures of Artificial Objects, http://arxiv.org/astro-ph/0503580, retrieved October 7, 2006.] (see Astroengineering).

Fringe theories

At the fringes of scientific respectability, there is a lively subculture of enthusiasts who study purported structures on the Moon or Mars. The controversial "structures" (such as the Face on Mars) are not accepted as more than natural features by most scientists.

The palaeocontact or ancient astronaut theories, espoused by Erich von Daniken and others, are further examples of fringe theories. These claim that the Earth was visited in prehistoric times by extraterrestrial visitors.

cience fiction

Xenoarchaeological themes are common in science fiction. Works about the exploration of enigmatic extraterrestrial artefacts have been satirically categorized as Big Dumb Object stories.

Some of the more prominent examples of xenoarchaeological fiction include Arthur C. Clarke's novel "Rendezvous With Rama", H. Beam Piper's short story "Omnilingual", and Charles Sheffield's Heritage Universe series.

Jack McDevitt's science fiction novels often revolve around human or alien historical and archaeological mysteries.

Novels

* "Gateway" by Fred Pohl
* "" by Arthur C. Clarke
* "Rendezvous With Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke
* "Wasteland Of Flint" by Thomas Harlan
* "House of Reeds" by Thomas Harlan
* "Broken Angels" by Richard Morgan
* "Strata" by Terry Pratchett
* "Revelation Space" by Alastair Reynolds
* "Grass" by Sheri S. Tepper
* "The Voyage of the Space Beagle" by A. E. van Vogt
* "The Engines of God" by Jack McDevitt
* "The Hercules Text" by Jack McDevitt
* The novels in the Heritage Universe by Charles Sheffield
* "The Past of Forever" (Children of the Stars, Book 4) by Juanita Coulson
* "Saga of Seven Suns" (Most notably Book 1: Hidden Empire) by Kevin J. Anderson
* "The Night's Dawn Trilogy" by Peter F. Hamilton

hort stories

* "Omnilingual" by H. Beam Piper
* "The Sentinel" by Arthur C. Clarke
* "At the Mountains of Madness"" by H. P. Lovecraft
* "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis" by Clark Ashton Smith

Computer and video games

* "Alien Legacy"
*""
* "RAMA" (based on Clarke's novel)
* "Freelancer"
* "The Dig"
* "Doom 3"
* "" (Although the Star Wars saga doesn't take place in our Galaxy or the human timeframe; the game's main concept is discovering traces of an of unknown aliens that existed before the )
*In the game "Mass Effect" uncovering mysteries related to an extinct race known as the Protheans figures prominently in the plot and one of the characters you get in your party is a xenoarchaeologist.

Movies

* "Alien"
* "Stargate"
* "Doom"
* "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"

Television

* "Babylon 5"
* "Star Trek"
* "Stargate"
* "Doctor Who"
* "Stargate SG-1" and its spinoff "Stargate Atlantis"

See also

* Astrobiology
* SETI
* Xenolinguistics

References

External links

* [http://www.spacearchaeology.org/ Space archaeology]
* [http://metaresearch.org/solar%20system/cydonia/asom/artifact_html/default.htm Martian "artificial structures"]