International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XXXIX-B4, 2012
XXII ISPRS Congress, 25 August — 01 September 2012, Melbourne, Australia
SATELLITE PERSPECTIVES ON
HIGHLAND - LOWLAND HUMAN INTERACTION IN ANCIENT SYRIA
M. Lännqvist, M. Tôrmä, K. Lônnqvist, M. Nuñez
Contact person: Minna Lônnqvist, minna.lonnqvist@aalto.fi
KEY WORDS: Landscape, Archaeology, Remote Sensing, Modelling, Vision, Environment, Geomorphology
ABSTRACT:
Nowadays we can travel by GoogleEarth 3D to Syria (http://www.worldcountries.info/GoogleEarth/GoogleEarth-Syria.php) and
zoom in on the desert landscape of the mountainous region of Jebel Bishri between the Euphrates river and the Syrian Desert. This is
the area, where the Finnish archaeological survey and mapping project SYGIS worked in 2000-2010 studying the relationship of
humans with their environment from ancient times to the present. What kind of landscape views and visions did the ancients have
and how did they utilize them? The present paper focuses on seeking answers for these questions by combining satellite data sources,
such as imagery and radar data, with location information of archaeological remains collected on the ground. Landsat as well as
QuickBird imagery have been fused with SRTM mission and ASTER DEM data in creating 3D landscape models and fly-over
simulations. The oasis of El Kowm on the western piedmont of the mountain seems to have served as a base camp for early hunter-
gatherers and pastoral nomads dwelling seasonally in the region of Jebel Bishri. According to the archaeological finds, the inter-
action between the lowland and the mountain people already started during the Palaeolithic era but was continued by pastoral nomads
of the region from the Neolithic period onwards. The Upper Palaeolithic period meant a clear change in cognitive thinking and
obviously in understanding the properties of landscape, visibility and perceiving sceneries in 3D. Mobility of hunter-gatherers and
pastoral nomads is based on subsistence economy, but mobility also enhances visions and prospects of phenomena appearing in the
horizon.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Approaching Jebel Bishri
in Syria from a 3D Perspective
According to the structuralist F. Braudel (1972), in the
Mediterranean landscape mountains come first. The mountains
resist the pace of history, but the lowland and highland people
have always held contact with each other. After Braudel P.
Horden and N. Purcell (2000) have reinterpreted the
Mediterranean landscape as consisting of micro-regions
comprising variety in different scales.
Mountains form relief patters for the surface of earth; their
geomorphology is ultimately the result of tectonic movements
causing uplifts and subsidence, while climate, humans, flora and
fauna function as agents in erosion and sedimentation (Rendell,
2000, Butzer, 1982,). Mountains are areas which humans have
early on used for prospecting and studying visibility over far
away areas. Their forms evoke memory and myths in human
minds (cf. Clack, 2007), but they also provide prospects and
expectations for what appears from the horizon. For early
hunters such prospects were economically important.
Nowadays we can travel by GoogleEarth 3D to the mountainous
region of Jebel Bishri (Fig. 1.) in Central Syria
(http://www.worldcountries.info/GoogleEarth/GoogleEarth-
Syria.php) and zoom in on the desert - steppe landscape in the
Palmyride mountain belt. Jebel Bishri is the area where the
Finnish archaeological survey and mapping project SYGIS
worked in 2000-2010 studying the relationship of humans with
their environment from the past to the present by using satellite
data sources, Geographic Information Systems (GIS, see
Lónnqvist and Stefanakis, 2009) and archaeological field work.
The human mind and the ability to perceive by the eye and brain
the surrounding landscape are central issues in studying ancient
landscapes and the development of human understanding of the
3D qualities of surroundings. The perception has an impact on
exploitation and modification of the environment. In this paper
our aim is to reconstruct, present and study present landscapes
in 3D from the Jebel Bishri region in order to understand what
kind of landscape views and visions the ancients had and how
they perceived and utilized them. The present paper tries to seek
answers for these questions by 1) using satellite data sources in
3D landscape reconstructions, 2) consulting related
archaeological data and 3) utilizing landscape theory. Cultures
change landscapes and in a reciprocal way are affected by them
in their own evolution (cf. Nassauer, 1995). The reconstruction
of past landscapes initially concerns geomorphology (Butzer,
1982) after which possible flora and fauna are studied.
In our further studies and analyses of landscapes of Jebel Bishri,
the theories and methodologies of M. Llobera (2001)
concerning ancient landscape perception by using GIS have
become relevant. In the case of Jebel Bishri the understanding
of such features as topographic prominence, which Llobera has
also discussed, has become important in the mountain
landscape. The mountain edges, peaks and generally undulating
character of topography provide an arena for such studies.
Figure 1. The location of Jebel Bishri, a mountain in Central
Syria along the Euphrates, on a satellite image. Mapping by M.
Lónnqvist 2009.
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