Posted on 08/03/2006 5:49:23 PM PDT by blam
Spy pics reveal ancient settlements
August 03, 2006 06:51pm
AUSTRALIAN researchers studying declassified spy satellite images have found widespread remains of ancient human settlements dating back 130,000 years in Syria.
The photographs were taken by United States military surveillance satellites operating under the CIA and defence-led Corona program in the late 1960s. The team of researchers travelled to the Euphrates River Valley in April and June and searched sites they had painstakingly identified using the images, which were only declassified in the late 1990s.
Group leader Mandy Mottram, a PhD student at the Australian National University's School of Archaeology and Anthropology, said the evidence of human life found in the area included a hilltop Byzantine basilica, a 24 hectare fortified town dating to the Early Bronze Age, Early Islamic pottery factories and a hilltop complex of megalithic tombs.
Ms Mottram said the researchers' trained eyes could spot small changes in the landscape, such as a different soil colour, that could indicate a former human settlement.
The images are particularly valuable because they show the landscape prior to its present rapid agricultural development.
"It's the guide for us to go out and have a look in that specific area," she said.
"It's been actually really brilliantly helpful for us. We've had a really, really high strike rate, I would say about 95 per cent."
Some of the artefacts found could dramatically change the way historians think of the area's early inhabitants, Ms Mottram said.
For example, contrary to a common belief that rural civilisations were experiencing economic and social decline from the mid-6th century, the team found evidence of widespread prosperity including many settlements and large quantities of pottery.
The researchers hope to establish the first complete record of human occupation in the area, beginning with the arrival from Africa of early human groups up to one million years ago.
They have already found tools from the Middle Palaeolithic period that are between 130,000 and 40,000 years old, and could have been made by either Neanderthals or early modern humans, as well as a few Acheulian tools that could date back several hundred thousand years.
Ms Mottram said the group was still analysing images of the items and structures they found and hoped to return to Syria next April if they secured funding.
The beginning of the worldwide Dark Ages.
GGG Ping.
>>>>"The beginning of the worldwide Dark Ages"<<<<
I'll see your Dark Ages and raise you a Global Cooling...
TT
PS
Pet your Dogs and say "Hey" for me.
TT
Here in timber country, sometimes the only clues are slight changes in the way the timber grows on old, disturbed soil... Infrared images are particularly helpful in that respect.
130,000 YA? WTF.
'ancient human settlements dating back 130,000 years in Syria'
And they still haven't advanced.
YA = Years Ago.
Satellites Uncover Ancient Mideast Road NetworksAn analysis of some photographs reveals tracks of roads leading from known ruins of ancient cities far out into the hinterlands. The tracks, radiating like spokes of a wheel, define the extent of a city's reach to distant farmlands and neighboring settlements. Other pictures show the roads linking city to city over a vast network extending from ancient Aleppo in western Syria to Nineveh, near modern Mosul in northern Iraq.
by John Noble WilfordSatellite Photographs Reveal Ancient Road SystemPreviously, archaeologists had drawn straight lines between major settlements, supposing a road system connected them, but not knowing its exact location. Now, rather than connecting the dots in an abstract way, they are able to see where the roads were and how they meandered between settlements. The information also shows that the most important towns were those with the most roadways leading to them. The recent Oriental Institute work in northeastern Syria is based on two sites, Tell Brak and Tell Hamoukar, both of which emerge as communities of some importance in the third millennium B.C. The satellite images show that Tell Hamoukar–the site of a continuing Oriental Institute expedition -- was a more important site than scholars had previously thought.
Feb 17, 2003Nile River Tombs ExposedUsing satellite data, researchers from Tokai University located 38 points where the remains of the lost pyramids of three Egyptian kings -- Menkauhor, Neferkare and Ity -- could be buried. "It was impossible to verify all 38 points, because most of them were under military control or within the concession areas of other archaeological teams. Anyway, I think it is possible to find unknown pyramids, though they must be collapsed or unfinished," says Masahiro Etaya of Tokai University. "The eyes in the sky promise more discoveries. I think microwave remote sensing data could be a powerful tool in the future," says Etaya.
by Rossella Lorenzi
Discovery News BriefSpace Shuttle Helps Unearth Scotland's PastUsing radar images acquired by the Space Shuttle Endeavour, a team of University of Edinburgh researchers reports it has pinpointed a network of medieval roads crisscrossing the Scottish island of Islay. The roads, which may link castles, mines and ports on the island, could provide further insight into its early medieval past, when Viking invaders known as the Lords of the Isles controlled much of the Irish Sea.
by Andrew BridgesDiscovering ArchaeologyIt is reasonable to suppose that, despite some 200 years of archaeological explorations, some pyramids remain to be discovered in the area, since the tombs of at least three kings — Menkauhor (of the fifth dynasty), Neferkare (seventh to eighth dynasty), and Ity (ninth to tenth dynasty) — have never been found. If we can find these pyramids in their original state, the purpose and manner of construction and other lingering questions might be answered.
by Toshibumi Sakata, Masahiro Etaya,
Sakuji Yoshimura, Jiro Kondo,
and So Hasegawa
page 2
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I remember several years ago having some time to kill and found myself in the public library looking at a book of photos of the English countryside taken from 1000'. The detail that came out of those photos was remarkable; old roads, villages, walls, buildings, etc.
"could have been made by either Neanderthals"
I think Syria is still inhabited by Neanderthals.
Sounds like real interesting work.
possibly one of the two books titled 'prehistoric britain from the air.' the best on is B&W and has amazing examples of crop-marks, soil marks, etc.
the other is color and mainly deals with visible monuments.
Modern "Overhead imagery" is usually at mid-day, and you have to rely on color and albedo differences to reveal old sites.
I know that but settlements 130,000 YA? Habitations I might buy but settlements imply a permanence that implies agriculture.
It is, indeed. OTOH, I am basically a prehistoric archeologist, (Texas spelling) with special interest in experimental lithic technology (flintknapping). But, since I have gotten involved in this historic stuff, I haven't had time to explore any of the local Caddoan sites or, even, to pick up a billet (except when lecturing or doing demos...)
The other problem is that now I spend too much time with my bottom in the chair in front of the computer (even when not FReeping) and too little time out in the field.
Via analysis of old maps and overhead imagery, I locate where the old roads should cross public roads, Then I drive to that point, locate the actual old roadbed, and log the crossing with the GPS. Then I come back and dump the GPS waypoint data into the computer, which plots it atop composites of USGS topo maps and aerial photos.
This historical work is certainly rewarding, but I can't honestly say that it is more exciting than the "ching" of the trowel when it hits flint or the "chung" when it hits pottery...
They're not that advanced.
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