One thing about old f**ts is that they have  been there, done that.  I too
was impatient with the apparent attempts of my elders to belittle new
technology and not see its potential.  As I progressed up the ladder of old
f**tdom, I realized that they were usually right to be cautious, and were not
luddites after all.  In 20 or 30 years many of you will understand what I
mean.
 
Just to set the record straight, I was using a computerized database (using
INFORM, perhaps the earliest strictly database language) to analyse material
in 1979.  Yes, even before micros.  I have always been excited about new
technology, and find GIS and GPS especially full of potential.  I helped
build up the obsidian hydration laboratory at my university in the early 70s.
 
However, remote sensing has generally proved to cost more than it is worth.
 Magnetometers won't work if there is metal (or perhaps work too well),
buried utilities, or grounded power lines, etc. (like on most every historic
site).  Metal detectors are perhaps the exception.  Resistivity has to be
done at very close intervals, with the proper soil and climatic conditions,
and GPR is more an art than a technology (do they have a way to gauge the
speed and position of those things when they drag them along the ground
yet?).   All of them need to be ground truthed anyway.  I am therefore very
leery of remote sensing, and probably will be until they can start saying
what it is that they are remotely sensing.
 
How about this one.  You get one of those infrared video cameras filled with
liguid nitrogen.  Soon after sunset you suspend yourself in a cherry picker
and record the hot spots on the ground.  Should be able to spot those
suckers, no sweat.  Attach the video camera to a GPS receiver, hooked to your
computer GIS system and laserprinter, and wow!
 
Tom W