Google earth and the archaeology of Saudi Arabia. A case study from the Jeddah area

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.01.003

Journal of Archaeological Science

Volume 38, Issue 6, June 2011, Pages 1284-1293

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2011.01.003 Get rights and content

Abstract

Archaeologically, Saudi Arabia is one of the least explored parts of the Middle East. Now, thanks to Google Earth satellite imagery, a number of high-resolution ‘windows’ have been opened onto the landscape. Initial investigations already suggest large parts of the country are immensely rich in archaeological remains and most of those identified are certainly pre-Islamic and probably several thousand years old. Detailed interpretation of one ‘window’ east of Jeddah forms the basis for illustrating the richness of the heritage and how the satellite imagery can be exploited to shed important light on the character and development of the human landscape. Through this ‘window’ we set out a proposed methodology for future work and where it may lead.

Highlights

► Google Earth high-resolution images of Saudia Arabia. ► Provide access to archaeological monuments in basalt desert. ► Areas not previously covered by aerial photography. ► Complex funerary monuments exploit landscape. ► The Works of the Old Men in Arabia

Section snippets

The archaeology of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia covers 2.15 million sq km – twice the size of the UK, France and Germany together. On the other hand, it is one of the least explored countries archaeologically. In 1976, a Comprehensive Archaeological Survey Program (CASP) was initiated and from 1977 to 1982 the newly established journal Atlal carried a spate of large interim reports from fieldwork in the Saudi provinces (Adams et al., 1977, Gilmore et al., 1982, Ingraham et al., 1981, Parr et al., 1978, Potts et al., 1978, Whalen

Remote sensing in Saudi Arabia – from aerial photographs to satellite imagery

The CASP teams had virtually no access to aerial imagery; only one (Zarins et al., 1979: Plate 7) of the nine interim reports included a single aerial photograph. Even when aerial photos were available they were of a very small scale and virtually useless (Adams et al., 1977: 24, 32; cf. Parr et al., 1978: 29). Plainly this was a serious drawback and other teams stressed that aerial imagery was the essential key to large-scale mapping in the future (Adams et al., 1977: 25, 36; Ingraham et al.,

Methodology: Jeddah2 window

A number of areas within Saudi Arabia have been explored by the first author through high-resolution ‘windows’ on GE and Points of Interest (POIs) ‘pinned’. One of these windows, Jeddah2, was chosen for the purposes of the present evaluation and the second author undertook to examine the relevant POIs in more detail. The study area comprised a strip 17 km by 72.8 km, a total of c. 1240 km² (Fig. 1). This area was originally dictated by the then-available high-resolution imagery (which has

Interpretation

Measurement within GE is problematic as it is difficult to calibrate the built-in measuring tool in a remote region. Moreover, the results are presented with what might be viewed as a spurious and deceptive accuracy. Thus the displayed measurement of the east to west diameter of, say, Cairn 38 as 9.3497 m is misleading. Although the satellite images are of sub-metre resolution (with evident interpolation in the presentation of the image for the screen), they cannot support that level of

Analysis

Although the number and variety of site types in this single Jeddah2 window is impressive, a general familiarity with other areas of Arabia immediately raises a question: What is absent? The lava terrain of Jeddah2 is similar to that elsewhere from the Syro-Jordanian Harrat ash-Sham to the Harrat al-Brk in the south-west and the stone structures in each are recognizably of the same character. Yet important types are missing or only present in quite different forms. The most obvious missing

Conclusion … and future

The ‘Jeddah window’ has provided an opportunity to explore one area in far greater detail than ever previously possible. More importantly it has been a test-bed for methodology. Even for this single window the range of types of ancient stone structures is considerable and presented challenges in cataloguing. That has been made sharper by the knowledge – albeit less detailed – of variant site types in other windows and even further types which will ultimately require an Arabia-wide typology to

Acknowledgements

XWe are grateful to The Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) for funding the second author to assist with this pilot project. However, PHI played no part in the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, nor in the decision to submit the paper for publication. Grant Scroggie was kind enough to allow us to publish two of his photographs. Thanks are also due to Karen Henderson and Stafford Smith, and to Abdullah Al-Saeed who pioneered work on these

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View full text

Google earth and the archaeology of Saudi Arabia. A case study from the Jeddah area

Abstract

Highlights

Section snippets

The archaeology of Saudi Arabia

Remote sensing in Saudi Arabia – from aerial photographs to satellite imagery

Methodology: Jeddah2 window

Interpretation

Analysis

Conclusion … and future

Acknowledgements

Saudi Arabian archaeological reconnaissance 1976. Preliminary report on the first phase of the comprehensive archaeological survey program

Atlal

The Qatar National Historic Environment Record: a bespoke cultural resource management tool and the wider implications for heritage management within the region

Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies

The Harra and the Hamad: Excavations and Surveys in Eastern Jordan

Out of the blue

Minerva

Prehistoric small scale monument types in Hadramawt (southern Arabia): convergences in ethnography, linguistics and archaeology

Antiquity

Les pièges de chasse antiques au Yémen

Chroniques Yemenites

Arabia Felix. An Exploration of the Archaeological History of Yemen

Nature et functions des ‘Desert Kites’: données et hypothèses nouvelles

Paléorient

The Prehistory of Jordan. The State of Research in 1986

A survey of prehistoric sites in the Azraq Basin, Eastern Jordan

Paléorient

Preliminary report on the Northwestern and northern region survey 1981(1401)

Atlal

Google earth, satellite maps boost armchair archaeology

National Geographic News

Jawa. Lost City of the Black Desert

Where does Google get their terrain data?

Preliminary report on a reconnaissance survey of the Northwestern Province (with a note on a brief survey of the Northern Province)

Atlal