Final flight of the season online!

The last flight of the 2011 season (and one of our largest ever with 3282 photographs) is now online at our Flickr site. This flight took us out into the beautiful desert mesa landscapes beyond Azraq, and then into a previously unvisited area of the basalt country. We revisited some old friends (Maitland's fort and Tell A - impressive sites originally named by RAF pilots on the Cairo-Baghdad airmail route in the 1920s) and photographed hundreds more sites for the first time, including some unexpected kites not visible in Google Earth. Here's a sample:


Nukheila Kite 1, Nukheila Kite 2. APAAME_20111027_MND-0447 Photographed by Mat Dalton


Azraq Shishan Pools. APAAME_20111027_MND-0447 Photographed by Mat Dalton


'Maitland's Fort'. APAAME_20111027_DDB-0611 Photographed by Don Boyer

Homeward bound

Tomorrow will see our last day in Amman for this year's season of flying. It has been a spectacular six weeks with over 30 hours of flying undertaken and over 10 000 photographs taken. We would like to thank the British Institute, Amman (BI) and the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) for once again accomodating us in Jordan and for their continual enthusiasm for our project. We would also like to thank the many individuals that make this project a success, both on the ground and in the air, and the colleagues who have approached us and taken our flying in new directions.

Invisible kites

On our last flight, 20111027, we found something we never knew we had lost, a series of kites across the desert of Jordan that had almost been completely swallowed by the desert sands. These kites were not visible on satellite imagery available through Google Earth and Bing Maps which we use for a preliminary survey of the area before we fly. It was only through low level aerial reconnaisance that we were made aware of their presence. The state of preservation of these kites is so poor that they again disappeared when viewed at low oblique levels and would be completely invisible to anyone driving or walking past.

APAAME_20111027_REB-0360.

APAAME_20111027_REB-0362.

Mapping and aerial reconnaissance

Aerial imagery and mapping has had a strong relationship in the Middle East since the first ‘Pioneers’ started aerial reconnaissance in the early 20^th century. When sourcing maps for this large region for archaeological research, it is often these older maps that can be the most informative. This is partly because urban development at this early period was scant and often it was the ruins of ancient structures, some that have all but since disappeared from view, that provided necessary landmarks.

Often, supplementary publication notes printed on the maps can provide additional useful information. A large amount of aerial reconnaissance and map making was undertaken by British, French, German and Australian armed forces of the areas behind enemy lines with aircraft flying in parallel lines. The details of the squadron and date of the aerial imagery used to compile the map data can be useful for tracking down the original imagery now housed in national archives.

An observer of the Royal Flying Corps in a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c reconnaissance aircraft demonstrates a C type aerial reconnaissance camera fixed to the side of the fuselage, 1916. Image: IWM Q 33850. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

A softer side

When you are in the field with your team, certain characteristics begin to be revealed... like how our Director and fearless leader has the ability to attract small and cute animals.

The small and cute animal in question: a puppy that belonged to a Bedouin camp near by. Photo: Rebecca Banks

The animal in question tagging along on our archaeological investigations at 'Bir el-Buhai'. Photo: Rebecca Banks.

And that's a wrap!

A very successful last flight (20111027) yesterday for this visit to Jordan. The clouds from the past couple of days cleared and the pilots were magnificent, as usual, with a very smooth day of flying over the basalt had by all. Some areas were extremely dense in wheels, pendants, kites and cairns and this resulted in a huge 3500 pictures taken.

New Helicopter Spotted...

While at Ruwayshid Air Force Base the team spotted this recently developed North Korean helicopter. What it lacks in style it makes up for in range.

-DLK