Aerial Archaeology

Technological advancements such as aerial photography and Google Earth are making finding sites a lot easier for archaeologists these days. From the sky, one has an overview of the landscape and can better view topographical features which might indicate a site. In addition, archaeologists are gaining access to previously restricted locations. For instance, aerial archaeology would bode well for archaeology of the Ancient Near East because tells (mounds created by repetitive occupation) would be distinct in the landscape. Shown in the picture above are some of the Nazca lines. This also reminded me of the intaglios I saw out at field school made by the Colorado River tribes, but I'll discuss this later.

Stated in the following article are the new discoveries made by Dr. David Kennedy at the University of Western Australia due to aerial photography: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/5675744/Aussie-makes-discoveries-from-his-office. Kennedy discovered stone structures that span across the Arabian peninsula from northern Syria to Yemen. These types of findings are called geoglyphs and vary in depiction - animals, humans, etc. What's really exciting is that these geoglyphs are prehistoric and from around 9000 years ago, whereas the Nazca lines are only about 1000 years old. The area was fruitful in regard to dwellings as well, which led to tomb discoveries.

As I said, these findings reminded me of the intaglios at Blythe, Arizona (man, was it hot there!). The intaglios were created by the Colorado River tribes. These intaglios, as well as the Topac Maze in Needles, Arizona, were formed by desert pavements, which are gravel terraces formed by wind and deflated by water. The Topac Maze (above right) was a series of parallel routes and aboriginal trails, whereas the Blythe intaglios depicted mainly anthropomorphic figures (pictured left). The process entails removing the surface pavements to show earlier and lighter stones/sand. Interestingly, anthropomorphic figures like this are rare and there are several different styles of depiction.