In recent years, airborne laser scanning technology lidar, which can penetrate thick foliage and vegetation, has led to the dramatic discovery of a vast, 2,000-year-old Mayan settlement hidden beneath a Central American rainforest, as well as medieval cities beneath Cambodian jungles, for example.

After more than three decades of application, ancient DNA has helped rewrite human history and unlocked secrets of the evolution of language, migration, and even the origins of the Black Death.

Rather than physically dismantling mummified remains, Egyptologists use close X-ray scanning to digitally unwrap artefacts, leaving them intact. Techniques such as mass spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence allow them to look at the composition without disturbing ancient objects. And to identify mysterious bones from digital evidence, investigators have printed 3D replicas from digital scans – and succeeded in identifying mummified crocodiles from ancient Egypt among other...