Lecture Summaries: 9 November, 2005

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Aerial Archaeology in Jordan
by
Robert Bewley

Many claim that aerial archaeology was created in the Middle East and there is no doubt that its potential was developed here; this lecture will explore the origins of the subject and its early history, punctuated and then arrested for so many years – to be resurrected by pioneering work of David Kennedy using existing aerial photographs.  In 1997 a major breakthrough was achieved with a flight with the Royal Jordanian Air Force; since then there has been a continuous programme of aerial reconnaissance, discovering new sites, monitoring the condition of others and illustrating the famous sites from new angles. In 2004 we published Ancient Jordan from the Air and although the reconnaissance and photography has continued the next phase of the project is to develop better access to the archive; create an online access to the images and associated database, and begin to train Jordanian archaeologists in air-photo interpretation and the use of aerial survey in the management of their cultural heritage. 

Robert Bewley, BA (Manchester), M. Phil, PhD (Cambridge), MIFA, FSA, was Head of Survey for English Heritage and is now its Regional Director for the South West. He has published extensively including Prehistoric and Romano-British Settlement in the Solway Plain, Cumbria (1994), Lincolnshire’s Archaeology from the Air (1999); Aerial Archaeology: Developing  Future Practice (2002; with W. Rączkowski) and Prehistoric Settlements (2003).