Inscribed landscapes in the Black Desert: Petroglyphs and kites at Wisad Pools, Jordan (original) (raw)

Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy

Abstract

A long tradition of landscape studies in the prehistory and history of the ancient Middle East has developed over the past century. From the early systematic surveys of Braidwood (1937) through the expansive approaches of Adams (1981) in southern Mesopotamia, Middle Eastern landscape studies frequently focused on the rise and fall of civilisations and associated features such as irrigation and soil salinisation. The easy availability of a range of satellite imagery products has vastly improved the ability of archaeologists to locate and map sites and features on the largest scale. Landscape studies became more interdisciplinary as the integration of satellite imagery and archaeological data with the historical records of ancient texts allowed more sophisticated modelling of phenomena such as agricultural potential (Wilkinson, 2003; Wilkinson et al., 2007). These landscape studies were particularly focused on the Mesopotamian sphere, while the different geography and ancient texts relevant to the southern Levant led to very different attitudes towards landscape analysis. Cultural landscapes, the networks of constructed and natural places, are thus treated quite differently based on a variety of factors dependent upon region, national research traditions and accessibility to field sites. The limited modern development and aridity of the badia (especially the Black Desert) region of eastern Jordan has left many built features, large and small, visible on the surface. The availability of satellite and photographic imagery, along with improved and powerful software to process it, has witnessed a virtual flood of studies of the region with impressive results, much of which has focused on the remarkable networks of mass-kill animal traps known as desert kites. Interpreting the landscape primarily based on the powerful tools of satellite imagery nevertheless limits those studies Abstract Petroglyphs are well known in the Negev, eastern and southern Jordan, and the Arabian Peninsula. Intensive documentation of hundreds of petroglyphs at the site of Wisad Pools in the Black Desert of eastern Jordan records animals, humans, hunting traps and geometric designs, connecting people and places to the larger landscape. These were recorded at the landscape scale with drones and photogrammetry, and the local scale through the construction of a database combined with GPS recording and terrestrial photogrammetry. Petroglyphs of animals and hunting traps are significant because the site is located within a landscape that includes enormous and enigmatic hunting traps (desert kites). Mapping these depictions highlights typological distribution , association of types, and relation to landscape features as well as the topography of the basalt boulders on which they were pecked. The depictions of animals and hunting traps provide clues about the use of desert kites, the social role of hunting, communal gatherings, and feasting in the region. K E Y W O R D S rock art, petroglyphs, desert kites, Jordan

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