Photo : Mapping Consultants Ltd.
Fig. 2. Lower Grassfield at Nimba H.Q. Camp. The semicircular contour
indicates the remnants of an old ring-shaped town wall. The scale of the guiding
sketch is 1 : 12,000.
It may be emphasized that the interpretation study of the photo
graphs of 1957 did not verify the existence of the old Gbapa Town.
4. Discovery of Old Towns in Liberia
The intensive stereoscopical study of the aerial photographs during
the Lamco construction period have resulted in a contribution to the
archaeology of this part of the country.
It is a fact that ancient monuments and relics of the past have very
much to tell us about the material well-being and intellectual culture
of a country. Advanced cultures of ancient times have vanished, wars
have laid the country waste and destitution has followed in their traces.
The monuments and relics, however, do not vanish so fast, but the
ravages of time will hide them gradually. At last, the human eye
cannot discover their existence any longer. One reason for that is the
fact that the survey view of a terrain will be lost to an eye looking from
the ground. The logical bond, uniting different features on the ground,
cannot simply be grasped.
By the aerial photography the archaeologist has got an important
means of assistance. The photograph is synonymous with the survey
view that is lost from the ground. — »The aerial photo sees all and
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