What's our threshold for a "civilization" here? Are stone tools or potsherds made in a previously unknown style sufficient here, or do we need to find evidence of monumental architecture or something?

This is a great series of markets. For me, this one calls back to "Use of Weapons" by Iain M Banks where a similar technique is used to locate lost poems of a venerated poet.

@StrayClimb I just finished consider Phlebas, haven't reached this book yet, but looking forward to it!

@firstuserhere It's such a memorable and great part of it. I've got to re-read!

I actually think about this a lot. At the very least AI should be used to decide where to start digging. The future of archaeology is going to be dominated by amateurs IMO.