Landscapes of the Dead: Mapping, Survey, and Site Monitoring at Fifa, Jordan

Summary

Birds’ eye views of archaeological sites and landscapes provide excellent vantage points for our understanding of the past. Images from archives, balloons, drones, kites, poles, and satellites are changing the ways in which we carry out archaeological investigations. In cooperation with the Jordanian Department of Antiquities under the umbrella project of Follow the Pots, the Landscapes of the Dead Research Project is using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, ‘drones’) to monitor archaeological site looting at the Early Bronze Age site of Fifa in Jordan. Drones, both fixed and rotary wing, are being deployed as part of a 5-year study of the scale and pace of looting at the site. By constructing high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) across multiple years, we are able to both map the site and identify new looting events from year to year. This change-over-time data, in conjunction with pedestrian surveys and ethnographic interviews, is particularly valuable for identifying looting events in an already heavily disturbed site. Unfortunately findings from the first two years of the project document significant, on-going damage. These early outcomes are currently being used to develop site protection strategies and local community outreach programs to protect the cultural heritage of this landscape.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Archaeological Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage