Challenges, Strategies and High-Tech Applications for Saving the Cultural Heritage of Syria, pp. 57-82, 2022/03/24
Proceedings of the Workshop held at the 10th ICAANE in Vienna, April 2016
The Finnish archaeological survey and mapping project SYGIS worked under the present author in themountainous region of Jebel Bishri in Syria in 2000–2010 executing remote-sensing methods, fieldwork and GISin mapping as well as producing 3D landscape models The aim was to document and study a vulnerable spatialboundary zone between the Syrian Desert and irrigated agricultural fields of the Euphrates Valley. Using the collecteddata, the purpose was to study nomadic and sedentary cultures, their interaction and how they were affected bythose environments The project was an early initiative regarding use of GIS in Syria, also providing a GIS courseto the members of the Syrian antiquities authority In addition, a research training course and seminar were arrangedby SYGIS for Nordic PhD students in Syria In the 1980s and 1990s new methods, largely based on ethnoarchaeologicalobservations, were developed to study the archaeological remains of the nomads, from which the project wasable to benefit by applying these approaches afresh. Satellite imagery was used in studying environmental changesand prospecting ancient sites that were checked and documented in situ Materials such as Landsat and QuickBirdimages were used, fusing them with radar data from the X-SAR mission and ASTER-DEM in order to create landscapemodels The project highlights the importance of documenting and preserving mobile cultures, such as thoseof hunter-gatherers and pastoral nomads. Bedouins are part of the Syrian culture and they are the followers of pastpastoral nomads in the region
Keywords: remote sensing; archaeology; surveying; mapping; GIS
