The (W)Hole Picture: Responses to a Looted Landscape (original) (raw)
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International response to the problem of looting of archaeological sites has been hampered by the difficulty of quantifying the damage done. The scarcity of reliable information negatively impacts professional and public policy making, rendering consensus about the scale of the problem and the effectiveness of policy responses difficult to achieve. We report here on the use of publicly-available satellite imagery for quantifying the damage caused by looting of archaeological sites in Jordan. The ease of use and affordability of imagery such as that provided by Google Earth make the identification, quantification, and monitoring of archaeological site looting possible at a level previously unimagined. Our findings about looting at archaeological sites in Jordan shed light on the potential for a broader application of the method.
Geosciences, 2020
The increasing availability and sinking costs of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, has resulted in these devices becoming relatively commonplace on archaeological sites. The advantages of being able to rapidly obtain bespoke high-resolution images from the air are conspicuous to anyone familiar with archaeological fieldwork; meanwhile the possibilities of subsequently processing such images together with their metadata to obtain digital elevation models (DEMs) and three-dimensional (3-D) models provide additional bonuses to analysis and interpretation. The recent use of a rotary-wing drone by the Western Harra Survey (WHS), an archaeological project co-directed by the author in the "Black Desert", or Harra, of northeastern Jordan, showcases these advantages in the context of a landscape that (a) is subject to negligible transformation processes and (b) is difficult to access, both by vehicle and on foot. By using processed drone imagery to record in detail prehistoric basalt structures visible on the surface and their surroundings, morphological site typologies hypothesised from satellite imagery were confirmed, relative dating within sites ascertained, structural features and damage documented, spatial relationships to natural resources established, offsite features traced, modern threats to heritage catalogued, and practically inaccessible sites investigated. Together, these results, most of which were only obtainable and all of which were obtained more rapidly by using a drone, represent significant insights into this underrepresented region, and provide a case-study for the benefits of these devices in other landscapes of a similar nature.
In 2012 the ancient city of Petra celebrated the 200th anniversary of its Western re-identification. The Brown University Petra Archaeological Project (BUPAP) has sought to document the northern hinterland of Petra through a multi-component methodology that includes intensive field survey, feature documentation, and limited test excavations. The iconic site of Petra has a long and storied history, and it is a site that presents many challenges to archaeologists and cultural heritage managers. During a series of test excavations, meant to ground truth locations earmarked by the overlapping intensive field survey and feature documentation, several patterns of looting were identified. These instances of looting were often paralleled by observed vandalism that defaced archaeological heritage, within and outside the Petra Archaeological Park, with archaeological artifacts being sold to tourists at nearby shops. This study provides crucial documentation of these processes of vandalism and looting recorded over the last three years. We propose that only through continued monitoring can local authorities be provided with ample evidence calling for additional cultural heritage protection.
Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 2013
Palestine's archaeological heritage is facing a serious crisis due to the prevalence of illicit digging. Antiquities looting is a widespread and flourishing phenomenon throughout the Palestinian National Territories (PNT) and has resulted in a large number of primary and secondary archaeological sites and features being damaged, disfigured, or completely destroyed, and in the extraction of at least hundreds of thousands of heritage items. The main aim of this research project is to explore the physical hazards encountered by the Palestinian antiquities looters. To this end I interviewed 53 antiquities looters residing in 41 different villages in the West Bank. The physical hazards which they encountered are classified by type as follows: cave-ins; the use of equipment, including heavy machinery (back-hoes, front-end loaders, bulldozers, etc.), other power implements, and traditional excavation tools; falling stones or tools; contact with insects, snakes, scorpions, and spiders; work during inclement weather; and attack by the jinn. Owing to its growing impact, antiquities looting has become the focus of a growing number of scholars, especially anthropologists and archaeologists. 1 Most cultural heritage researchers are aware that the cooperation and engagement of the local communities is essential for the success of their projects (Kersel ; Marshall, Roseneil, and Armstrong ; Mullins ; Al-Houdalieh a, b). They have therefore incorporated ethnographic and ethnoarch-aeological fieldwork into their research, in order to gain a better understanding of a particular phenomenon within its cultural and natural context (Hamilakis and Anagnostopoulos ; Hamilakis ; Mullins ; Al-Houdalieh a, b). The two main values of such fieldwork are: () it provides the researcher with firsthand information which can be of enormous importance for the disciplines of anthropology, archaeology, and cultural heritage studies, and () it can help in transferring the experience and values of the researcher to the interviewees, and likewise to their communities (Zimmerman, Singleton, and Welch ). To this end, the researcher should interview a suitable number of informants of different social classes, ages, and educational levels, in order to build a bridge of trust between the researcher on the one hand and the interviewees and their community on the other (Al-Houdalieh a, a). Archaeological excavation activities, when proper safety precautions are not observed, can be relatively dangerous pursuits. The degree of hazard involved in such activities depends on numerous and varied factors: the number of individuals and groups involved in the digging, the workers' level of personal experience, the degree of caution vs. carelessness practiced during the work, and the duration of working hours/days, among others. Physical hazards can arise from the use of both heavy machinery and traditional excavation hand-tools;
ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives (ASOR CHI) uses a wide range of ground-based observations to report on the cultural heritage situation in Syria and north- ern Iraq. Coupled with analyses of high-resolution satellite imagery, these sources of information pro- vide a powerful method for quickly and accurately assessing the ongoing crisis for the US Department of State and alerting the public to the woeful loss of Near Eastern cultural heritage. Looting, combat damage, deliberate destructions of heritage places, vandalism, and uncontrolled development are all taking terrible tolls on heritage throughout the region. While all ma- jor combatants and populations are linked to the de- struction, non-state Jihadi-Salafi groups such as ISIL, Al Qaeda-affiliates such as Jabhat al-Nusra, and other Islamist extremists are by far the most brazen and egregious offenders with overt policies of destroying and liquidating cultural assets to support terrorism and to conduct cultural cleansing on a scale and in- tensity tantamount to a global war on culture.