Professor Jesse Casana and his research team have received a prestigious grant from Schmidt Sciences to advance AI applications in humanities research.
Schmidt Sciences has awarded $11 million to support up to 23 research teams worldwide in developing and applying artificial intelligence to archaeology, history, literature, and other humanities disciplines. The initiative aims to open new avenues for historical understanding and inquiry through projects spanning diverse disciplines and geographies—from analyzing how camera movement shapes film narratives to decoding centuries-old shorthand manuscripts.
Founded in 2024 by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, Schmidt Sciences works to accelerate scientific breakthroughs using advanced tools. The organization prioritizes research in AI and advanced computing, astrophysics, biosciences, climate, and space.
Casana, the W.J. Bryant 1925 Professor of Archaeology, will lead a project titled Discovering Global Archaeological Heritage using AI and Remote Sensing. The research aims to transform how archaeologists discover and document historic sites worldwide.
Casana’s team will create a suite of open-access tools for AI-powered archaeology, leveraging vast archives of satellite imagery and aerial photography to identify previously unknown archaeological sites. The technology will enable researchers to discover ancient settlements, roadways, field systems, burial grounds, and other features that are invisible to the naked eye but detectable through advanced computational analysis. By automating the analysis of massive remote sensing datasets, the tools will allow archaeologists to survey landscapes at unprecedented scales, potentially revealing patterns of human settlement and activity across entire regions.
“We are excited to see what we can find using these new computational tools and how they will perform compared to conventional, human-powered imagery analysis,” says Casana. “No matter the outcome, we are certain to discover a lot of new sites, and it will be a great learning opportunity for our students.”
Casana recently discussed the benefits of digital archaeology methods in Nautilus magazine. “With these new technologies we can learn about the human past without ever disturbing the soil,” he said. “We record it, we map it, we interpret it, we take only data, we leave only footprints, and we get out of there. That’s my preferred way to do archaeology today.”