MARTIAN HARBOURS

I am an archaeologist and an astronomer.  I have worked at several excavation sites in the American Southwest:  Comanche Springs, New Mexico and Calico Hills, California among the most prominent.  I treat the surface of Mars as I would an archaeological site on earth.  The clues that betray the existence of a habitation zone on Mars are similar to those on earth.  And, very importantly, when a site is being considered for excavation it is viewed from high altitude to determine what lay beneath the surface.  These are the types of photographs I rely on - from low orbiting craft - when studying the surface of Mars.  Trained archaeologists are likely to observe formations and abnormalities that most lay people would not.   I look at it from the standpoint of surveying for an archaeological excavation.

An example is better than words.  Below are two photographs.  One of them is of an Incan city on earth and the other is from a location on Mars.  Which is which?

Look very much alike, don't they?  The one on the right is an Incan city on the earth. When the image on the left was seen from above it drew an immediate comparison to the Incan city.  But the one on the left is on Mars.  Not the same, but very similar.

Now another example.  The same idea.  Two images.  One from earth.  The other on Mars.

These are the ancient remains of former harbors that had been buried under water.  The holes were used for mooring ships and were where structures once stood.  The image on the left is from ancient Athens.  On the right is an area on Mars.  Very few researchers pay much attention to the harbors on Mars.  I pay very close attention to them in my book.  They are just one of the many features that are easy to overlook if one doesn't know what one is seeing.