ORIGINAL PAPER Application of remote sensing technologies in detecting prehistoric canals of the Hohokam Period (A.D. 450–1450) in the Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona Stephanie Rost 1,4 & David K. Wright 2 & M. Kyle Woodson 3 Received: 25 September 2014 /Accepted: 29 April 2015 /Published online: 12 July 2015 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 Abstract This paper summarizes research on the potential of high-resolution imagery downloaded from Google Earth Pro to detect prehistoric canals from the Hohokam Period in the Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona. The potential of the imag- ery to identify obscured features was evaluated by means of ground truthing reconnaissance as well as a comparative anal- ysis of the Google Earth imagery with the more traditionally employed CORONA and Landsat ETM+ imagery used in analogous studies. This research is presented as a method- based solution to utilize remote sensing in exploratory archae- ological research projects facing budget constraints. The con- clusion of the research was that Google Earth imagery provid- ed the best spatial resolution for detecting obscured irrigation features compared to the other imagery used. The results of the investigation are summarized as a potential research model applicable in other dryland settings. Keywords Paleohydrology . Remote sensing application in archaeology . Google Earth imagery . Hohokam . US Southwest archaeology Introduction Over the last two decades, satellite remote sensing has become an increasingly important tool in archaeological research. Remote sensing has the advantage of providing the researcher with a regional view and access to land cover information contained in wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum be- yond the range of the human eye. The computerized manipu- lation of remote sensing data, such as spectral filtering and stretching methods, allows detection of archaeological fea- tures that are not visible from the ground or in aerial photo- graphs (Kouchoukos 2001; Showalter 1993). The use of remote sensing data has proven particularly useful in the investigation of buried or obfuscated linear fea- tures since the Bbird’ s eye^ perspective provided by satellite imagery improves the scope for their detection. In this study, we define Bobscured^ features as those which have been sub- ject to postdepositional burial by alluvium or slopewash, im- pacted by plowing or driving over the ground surface and/or afforested with new vegetation growth. Such forces inhibit the identification of features through pedestrian reconnaissance but may still be visible through remote sensing. CORONA imagery has proven to be a valuable remote sensing dataset to detect large, ancient river courses, irrigation networks, and road systems, particularly in arid regions of southwestern Asia (Alizadeh and Ur 2007; Hritz 2010; Pournelle 2007; Ur 2003, 2005). CORONA imagery provides high-resolution panchro- matic images taken on 50-mm film from the 1960s to 1980s at low cost and provides a record of landscapes that have now been disturbed by human activities. Despite the many * Stephanie Rost stephanie.rost@gmail.com David K. Wright msafiri@snu.ac.kr M. Kyle Woodson Kyle.Woodson@gric.nsn.us 1 The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1155 E 58th St., Chicago, IL 60637, USA 2 Department of Archaeology and Art History, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea 3 Cultural Resource Management Program, Gila River Indian Community, Sacaton, AZ, USA 4 Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA Archaeol Anthropol Sci (2017) 9:295–315 DOI 10.1007/s12520-015-0244-5