Emily Hammer

Pastoral Nomads of the 2nd and 3rd Millennia A.D. on the Upper Tigris River, Turkey: The Hirbemerdon Tepe Survey

Abstract The importance of non-sedentary pastoralist groups in the social and political history of Mesopotamia has long been appreciated from the perspective of ancient texts and ethnohistorical sources, but empirical evidence from archaeology has been lacking. In two field seasons, the Hirbemerdon Tepe Survey (HMTS) in Diyarbakir province, southeastern Turkey, has recovered a variety of sites and landscape features associated with pastoral nomadic occupation during the last two millennia and possibly earlier. In doing so, we targeted non-alluvial areas where feature preservation was likely, and employed pedestrian survey methods more typical of Mediterranean fieldwork. If Mesopotamian archaeology is to investigate the landscapes of pastoral nomads, it must incorporate intensive survey methods and expand coverage beyond alluvial environments.

Semi-automated detection of looting in Afghanistan using multispectral imagery and principal component analysis

Abstract High-resolution satellite imagery has proved to be a powerful tool for calculating the extent of looting at heritage sites in conflict zones around the world. Monitoring damage over time, however, has been largely dependent upon laborious and error-prone manual comparisons of satellite imagery taken at different dates. The semi-automated detection process presented here offers a more expedient and accurate method for monitoring looting activities over time, as evidenced at the site of Ai Khanoum in Afghanistan. It is hoped that this method, which relies upon multispectral imagery and principal component analysis, may be adapted to great effect for use in other areas where heritage loss is of significant concern.

Highland fortress-polities and their settlement systems in the southern Caucasus

Recent survey work in western Azerbaijan has revealed that hilltop fortresses of the Bronze Age and Iron Age may have been parts of larger walled complexes and could have functioned as the urban centres of small independent polities. On the Şərur Plain long lengths of stone wall link the major fortress Oğlanqala it to its smaller neighbour Qızqala 1, with evidence of a substantial settlement on the lower ground between the two. The southern Caucasus lies beyond the core area of Near Eastern states but these new discoveries suggest that major centres of power arose here, controlling both the fertile plains and strategic trade routes through mountainous terrain.

Untangling Palimpsest Landscapes in Conflict Zones: A “Remote Survey” in Spin Boldak, Southeast Afghanistan

ABSTRACT Remote survey using high-resolution satellite images allows archaeologists to study ancient landscapes in regions made inaccessible by ongoing conflict as well as in regions located between zones of better archaeological knowledge. Such studies frequently suffer from a lack of chronological information. This paper presents the results of remote landscape survey in the territory of Spin Boldak (“white desert”) in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, and methodological efforts to detangle the chronology of a landscape made inaccessible by conflict. The studied region crosscuts several environmental zones (desert, alluvial plain, river, and hills) and lies within an important corridor of movement toward mountain passes on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border. Morphological comparisons of surveyed sites to better-documented examples and synthesis of data from a variety of sources allow us to draw chronological and taphonomic conclusions about three types of documented sites: fortified enclosures, caravanserai, and mobile pastoral camps. These methods provide time depth to our understanding of the remotely-mapped landscape and allow us to consider Spin Boldak as a place shaped by local and regional historical processes rather than merely as a timeless thoroughfare between more intensively inhabited locales.

Progress, problems, and possibilities of GIS in the South Caucasus: an international workshop summary

In response to increased international collaboration in archaeological research of the South Caucases, a recent workshop has addressed important issues in applying GIS to the study of heavily modified landscapes in the former Soviet republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Historical Imagery of Desert Kites in Eastern Jordan

Large mass-kill hunting traps known as desert kites are the badias most visually striking and long-studied archaeological features. Kites are best understood from a vertical perspective with help from aerial and satellite imagery, most commonly modern Google Earth imagery. The declassification of historical U2 spyplane imagery from 1958–1960 provides a new dataset with which to reexamine kites and their spatial distribution. The distribution of desert kites as it appeared over fifty years ago has been mapped, allowing us to draw conclusions about the longterm preservation of kites and the relationship of kites to each other and to their environment.