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This paper is based on research undertaken for the Origins of Doha Project. It is a unique attemp... more This paper is based on research undertaken for the Origins of Doha Project. It is a unique attempt to interrogate the construct of the Arab city against rigorously collected evidence and meticulous analysis of historical urban geography. We have found that Doha in its urban layout, physical development, architecture, and pre-oil demograph-ics, combined its disparate cosmopolitan elements into a blend that probably typified the historic Gulf town, simultaneously encapsulating aspects of the generalised " Arab and Islamic town. " We have found strong structural principles at work in both the traditional and the early modern town, many of which correlate strongly with tribal social organisation, although the historic population of Doha was neither overwhelmingly tribal in character nor entirely Arab in origin. Rather, these constituted prevailing ideologies, social structures, and identities in a diverse and cosmopolitan population

Seminar for Arabian Studies, 2018

A valuable archaeological and historical resource is contained within recently declassified aeria... more A valuable archaeological and historical resource is contained within recently declassified aerial imagery from the UK's Joint Aerial Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre (JARIC), now held at the National Collection of Aerial Photography in Edinburgh (NCAP). A project at UCL-Qatar has begun to exploit this to acquire and research the historical aerial photography of Qatar and the wider Gulf region. The JARIC collection, comprising perhaps as many as 25 million photographs from British intelligence sources in the twentieth century, mainly from Royal Air Force reconnaissance missions, is known to include large quantities of aerial photography from the Gulf that have never been seen outside intelligence circles, dating from 1939 to 1989. This paper will demonstrate how others may gain access to this valuable resource, not only for the Gulf but for the entire MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. We will explore the research value of these resources and demonstrate how they enrich our understanding of the area. The archive is likely to be of equal value to archaeologists and historians of other regions.

Papers by Richard Fletcher

Academia Letters, 2022

The Transformation of Qatar One of the greatest transformations in history occurred in the 1950s ... more The Transformation of Qatar One of the greatest transformations in history occurred in the 1950s in Qatar. In 1949 Doha was a pearling town of no great significance. Many such towns dotted the coast of the Arabian Gulf. While Kuwait and Manama were sizeable and important trading hubs, most towns were small and insignificant. Towns such as Doha and Abu Dhabi had populations of fewer than 15,000, much the same level as they had been at the turn of the century. These towns were almost wholly dependent upon the trades practised upon the sea: local commerce, fishing and particularly pearling (Carter 2012: 164). However, by the 1940s income from pearling was meagre. Life in Gulf towns was hard, and Doha was no exception. There were no roads, no sewerage, no electricity, little lighting, no hospital, no modern schools apart from "Koranic schools", no telegram, no radios. Even shipping could not stop at Doha, except for the local dhows, since the approaches to Doha were too shallow. Doha was as it had always been and had not appreciably changed since its foundation at the beginning of the 19th century. All this changed with the discovery of oil. The first shipment left Qatar on the last day of 1949: thus began the urban transformation driven by oil revenue (Othman, 1984; Graham, 1978: 255). In just a few years Doha had doubled in size and had become a modern city. No greater and more rapid transformation in economy, society and lifestyle has ever taken place. The reduced dependency on the sea, rapid transformation of the economy and lifestyle, and

The first season of the Crowded Desert Project has been made possible thanks to the generous fund... more The first season of the Crowded Desert Project has been made possible thanks to the generous funding of UCL Qatar and the Qatar Foundation and the enthusiastic support of Qatar Museums. Future work proposed in this paper will be carried out with the support of the Qatar National Research Fund, which has awarded the undersigning team with a National Priorities Research Program grant (NPRP8-1582-6-056). Many UCL Qatar students and other volunteers supported the Project with their work during the 2015 season and our thanks go to them. Equally, the good disposition of shepherds, hunters, and passers-by in the desert was instrumental in achieving the exciting results of this season.

ArcheoMedia, 2022

Traduzione di Richard Fletcher

Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference Proceedings Volume 2014 Issue 1

Poster regarding the Origins of Doha archaeological project created for the Qatar Foundation Annu... more Poster regarding the Origins of Doha archaeological project created for the Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference.

Introduction and first results of the Crowded Desert project in Qatar

The Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant shows a marked increase in evidence of human behav... more The Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant shows a marked increase in evidence of human behaviour that was not present either before or after. In the northern Negev desert very few remains have been found of Neolithic or Bronze Age date, but more than 400 Chalcolithic sites have been identified. The widely accepted explanation for this phenomenon has been the so-called Mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum, a sub-interval of more humid conditions roughly 7000-5000 years ago. Mixed farming, primarily based upon the cultivation of grain on alluvial flats in the wadis of the Negev, is thought to have supported this Chalcolithic population during a period of wetter winters than are presently the case. The aim of our study is to use differing scales of physical and environmental analysis to test the validity of the theory of alluvial farming in the Negev desert. Cost-distance analyses of sites showing evidence of human behaviour in the Negev within this landscape of farming/grazing have shown how sites relate to the environment. These results and a series of autocorrelation test show that large scale analyses support the thesis of site clustering around resources, while small scale shows a random patterning of settlement suggesting short-term settlement by groups separated within the landscape.

This paper is a brief investigation of one of the outstanding problems in Chalcolithic archaeolog... more This paper is a brief investigation of one of the outstanding problems in Chalcolithic archaeology in the Negev desert of Israel: that of the spatial distribution of sites and the possible relationships between these sites that may be inferred. Although the region is rich in archaeological data for the Chalcolithic period, very little work has thus far been undertaken in terms of the quantification of the archaeological data -a necessary prerequisite for complex spatial analysis.

Journal of Archaeological Science, 2008

... Such a result is hardly surprising. It has already been demonstrated that settlement patterns... more ... Such a result is hardly surprising. It has already been demonstrated that settlement patterns in the Northern Negev during the Chalcolithic were predicated upon access to resources, such that sites were located along the wadi slopes and beds (Fletcher et al., in press). ...

BASOR, 2008

This paper is a brief investigation of the problems and possibilities for GIS analysis in Chalcol... more This paper is a brief investigation of the problems and possibilities for GIS analysis in Chalcolithic archaeology in the Negev desert of Israel. Although the region is rich in archaeological data for the Chalcolithic period, very little work has thus far been undertaken in terms of spatial analysis, the quantification of data, and the use of GIS. We shall show that the main problem with Chalcolithic studies in the Negev is a simple lack of quantified data, but that the prospects for GIS in terms of spatial analysis, the reconstruction of past landscapes, and the simulation of ancient environments are enormous. A simple analysis of settlement patterns using the data presently available for 403 Chalcolithic sites in the Negev is given as an example and shows that while access to farming land, water, grazing and Mediterranean maquis were very important, settlement patterns were also predicated upon factors of separation (in terms of both distance and visibility).

Informazione geografica a supporto della ricerca archeologica, 2010

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are now a necessity in modern archaeological survey, and spe... more Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are now a necessity in modern archaeological survey, and specialists in such applications have become sought-after additions to every survey project. Those unfamiliar with the mysterious ways of computer applications may often find themselves overwhelmed by the seeming complexities of this new discipline. Enthusiasm for the new technology, however, ought to be tempered by a note of caution: we must discover whether the progress offered by computer applications merely serves to mask archaeological problems by dressing them up in the most expensive and alluring products and approaches. It is important to keep our focus upon our fundamental research goals 'so that the new techniques for seeing do not cancel out our capacity to look'. 1 According to C. Beebe: Entering the digital data realm raises issues of standardization and accuracy that are far more problematic than in their paper counterparts. Digital data must be precisely accurate, in order to be shared, and the digital data process creates an effect of truth that is dealt with more softly than in paper record keeping … Most of these problems become solved once the archaeologist has joined the digital club and gone through the initiation and learning process. In reality, that takes several persevering years. 2

Seminar for Arabian Studies, 2018

Academia Letters, 2022

ArcheoMedia, 2022

Traduzione di Richard Fletcher

Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference Proceedings Volume 2014 Issue 1

Introduction and first results of the Crowded Desert project in Qatar

Journal of Archaeological Science, 2008

BASOR, 2008

Informazione geografica a supporto della ricerca archeologica, 2010

A This paper deals with the question of trade in the Early Iron Age Mediterranean and a po... more A This paper deals with the question of trade in the Early Iron Age Mediterranean and a possible relationship between Phoenicians and Greeks. It is based upon a catalogue of Egyptian and Egyptianising artefacts and shows that distribution patterns of amulets support the idea that there were two major groups of Phoenician traders operating: a Northern (Sidonian) group and a Southern (Tyrian) group. It contends that these groups not only distributed objects differently, but used different methods and that a Sidonian-Greek era of cooperation before the destruction of Sidon in the 7th century was decisive in both the impetus to trade and the directionality of trade.

This book will be an attempt to inform the reader about the archaeology of an area of South Italy... more This book will be an attempt to inform the reader about the archaeology of an area of South Italy of great historical importance. Although there are many areas that might be described as being understudied or undervalued in terms of their archaeological interest, even in such a well-studied country as Italy, the Vulture really was of great importance. Despite this, little archaeological work has been done in the Vulture. A few tombs were excavated by Hungarian soldiers in the 1860s, clandestine digging in the 20 th century robbed Italy of yet more of its patrimony, a Canadian excavation at Atella in the 1970s collapsed after just one season (and a preliminary exploration) and a few rescue excavations since then that have been lost to people's memory. Thanks almost entirely to the comune of Rionero and PIT-Alto Bradano, the current Vultur Archaeological Project is attempting to right some of these wrongs. However, it remains a great pity that so little research has been done in an area of such archaeological wealth. In her recent book on the Melfese, Pasqualina Iosca (a native of Rionero) repeatedly stresses the significance of the Melfese and the Vulture as a cultural crossroads, but even she has difficulty relaying just how strategically important the region was.

FOLD&R Fasti On Line Documents & Research, Archaeological Survey, 11, 2020

This project considered one of the most understudied phenomena in the North African landscape: th... more This project considered one of the most understudied phenomena in the North African landscape: that of the transformations that occurred due to the coming of Islam to the Maghreb. We explore this question by applying archaeological techniques to the landscape of northern coastal Morocco. This was a zone known to have a long history of occupation from the Stone Age to the present. Surveys were conducted in the area between Tangiers and Asilah, both to identify sites of particular importance and to supply data for an analysis of settlement and land-use during various prehistoric and historic periods, with particular emphasis on the Islamic periods. Methods included detailed and controlled landscape survey (fieldwalking), remote sensing, sounding of selected sites, scientific dating of selected finds, and studies of the local ancient environment. Surface collections of materials helped in the dating and assessment of the settlement types. Soundings were conducted at two sites with important presence of material from the Islamic period, to more precisely date their occupation. More than 250 new sites were identified in the approximately 1000 square kilometer’s area covered by the project, although only a fraction of this region could be intensively surveyed. The main results showed an important presence of Lower Paleolithic sites and a much more intensive rural occupation during the Early and Middle Islamic periods.