CIPA 2003 XIX th International Symposium, 30 September - 04 October, 2003, Antalya, Turkey 
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Therefore after a general survey by LANDSAT 
images one needs to choose a specific small lot for 
a QuickBird image surveying. According to our 
experience, it is advisable to make a preliminary 
visit to the region before choosing a specific area. 
This is how we chose an optimal number of visible 
ancient remains in the area of 8 km x 8 km. 
2.2. Archaeological Field Survey on the 
Ground: a Case Study at Tar al-Sbai 
The first field survey in 2000 concentrated on the 
area of Tar al-Sbai on the southwestern edge of 
Jebel Bishri (Figure 1.). The semi-circular 
escarpment of Tar al-Sbai (i.e., Circle of the Sbai 
tribe) is remote and most difficult to reach over 
the desert-steppe, and therefore the area is largely 
unaffected by interference of modem humans. The 
escarpment is ca. 4 km long. The area is a border 
zone between the Fida'an and Sbai Bedouin 
tribes. Graves at the edge function as territorial 
markers for the Fida'an tribe governing the 
mountain. The territory of the Sbai tribe covers 
the western piedmont area where the village of 
Shanhas is situated. The second field survey in 
2003 is aimed to focus on the northeastern edge 
of Jebel Bishri that faces the plain of the 
Euphrates River with agricultural fields. The case 
studies of these two environmentally different 
areas are used for comparing the types of remains 
and the cycle of the sedentarizing nomads in the 
area. 
The afore-mentioned British military aviation 
maps and the LANDSAT image -based field maps 
have been used with different technical 
equipments in the digital recording and 
documenting of the sites and structures on the 
ground. Sites were defined as detectable locations 
of human activity. The transsect for surveying was 
defined by natural features such as the space 
between the edge and the road following the edge. 
Field walking in 15 m intervals was carried out 
inside the transsect. 
First GPS was applied to acquire the UTM 
coordinates for the recognized sites. Altitude was 
recorded with a digital altimeter that was 
calibrated with the detailed information of the 
Syrian Petroleum drillings in the area, because 
. Bedouins dismantle the national datum points for 
superstitious reasons. Each site was photographed 
with a digital camera. An EDM (Electro-optical 
distance measuring equipment) was used for 
detailed mapping of the site locations and 
measuring the extent as well as the shape of the 
sites. A US military digital compass was used for 
the accurate direction searching on the ground. 
Traditional tape measures and cameras were used, 
and some important sites were also drawn by 
hand. Apart from a few pottery sherds the surface 
finds chiefly consisted of flints the distribution of 
which was recorded in situ with the EDM. All the 
documentation, both the digital and traditional, 
was recorded on special field forms which were 
filled in situ at each site. 
The edge of Tar al-Sbai is crowded with structural 
remains extending from Upper Palaeolithic rock 
shelters (e.g., UTM 0517906, 3907065) offering 
evidence of the early activities of Homo sapiens to 
present-day Bedouin tent-bases and hunters' 
blinds (e.g., UTM 0518052, 3904927). The area 
represents a kind of a prehistoric thematic park in 
which visibility, landscape and a view must have 
played a decisive role. Beside the Palaeolithic rock 
shelters of the apri type the ancient structural 
remains consist of caims/tumuli and stone circles 
that date from the Epipalaeolithic to the Early 
Bronze Age. The circles with inserted caims are 
typical of the Chalcolithic cultures of this Greater 
Southwest Asian Arid Zone, including Sinai, the 
Negev as well as southern and eastern Jordan. 
The distribution of the sites according to the 
UTM coordinates are produced as GIS maps 
using the MapSheets Express and ArcView 
programs. With the UTM coordinate information 
obtained by GPS and EDM on the ground the 
visualisation of the locations for the