From Journal Nature: Satellites expose 8,000 years of civilization

http://www.nature.com/news/satellites-expose-8-000-years-of-civilization-1.10257

I started in the hard sciences, and I still have a lot of passion for Astronomy & Physics, though my degree is in Anthropology.

So stories like this, that combine Satellites, Technology, and Anthropology always draw my attention, I have been waiting in anticipation for advancements like this to bring new types of data to light.

This Nature article quotes Jason Ur, as saying, “Traditional archaeology goes straight to the biggest features — the palaces or cities.

I am not sure if that is really true in the first place, reality is you go were something has been found, or that you believe something can be found, and you have the funding to pursue.

Additionally, in Archaeology, you need a significant sample of data, in order to draw many conclusions, and working in a large site is more time and resource efficient.

Part of the reason I am excited by this article, it actually provides a large amount of data in itself, and it also points to additional areas to study, on the ground, with traditional techniques.

Paleolithic technology

Check out PaleoPlanet.  They have have information on Flintknapping and other "primitive" skills.  In my opinion they are not low level skills.  I suspect most people that study so called "primitive" skills quickly learn that, buy then my BA is in Anthropology.

I think learning "primitive" skills is very rewarding, it is something anyone can learn how to do, though it takes time and effort.  It is an extremely rewarding hobby, activity, or even avocation for adults or children. 

It is an educational activity, part of "experimental anthropology" or term I'm more used to "reconstructive archaeology," were you attempt to learn more about how things were done in the past by using techniques and tools from certain people & time period.

This often leads to new information, you gain knowledge by doing that can not be learned from simply studying the artifacts past people left behind.