Satellite and Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Ṭūr ’Abdīn, Turkey

Final Report of the Finnish Swedish Archaeological project in Mesopotamia (FSAPM), 2014-2016

Kenneth Silver, Minna Silver, Raffaella Pappalardo

• Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
• Year: 2024
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781803277134
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: History

In 2014-2016 the Finnish-Swedish Archaeological Project in Mesopotamia (FSAPM) initiated a pilot study of an unexplored area in the T?r Abdin region in Northern Mesopotamia (present-day Mardin Province in southeastern Turkey). FSAPM is reliant on satellite image data sources for prospecting, identifying, recording, and mapping largely unknown archaeological sites as well as studying their landscapes in the region. The purpose is to record and document sites in this endangered area for saving its cultural heritage. The sites in question consist of fortified architectural remains in an ancient border zone between the Graeco-Roman/Byzantine world and Parthia/Persia. The location of the archaeological sites in the terrain and the visible archaeological remains, as well as their dimensions and sizes were determined from the ortorectified satellite images, which also provided coordinates. In addition, field documentation was carried out in situ with photographs and notes. The prospecting of sites in the ??r 'Abd?n satellite imagery surpassed many of the expectations. In the first directory of archaeological sites identified, 40 % are new and previously unknown, which is a small token of the huge research potential still hidden in northern Mesopotamia. Some variation appeared in the number of sites in each of the arbitrarily defined regions, and their characters appear to be quite different, too. The project has located new, important archaeological remains of the Roman military presence on the eastern border against Persia in late antiquity, and had also been able to suggest new border arrangements.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures, Tables and Plates
• Figure and Plate Credits
• Preface and acknowledgements
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Previous scholarship
• 3. Archaeological reconnaissance work
• Plates
• 4. Discussion: Keferde, Ömerli
• 5. Discussion: Beşikkaya Fafe, Ömerli
• 6. Interpreting the tower tomb at Beşikkaya Fafe
• 7. The analysed pottery in context
• 8. The eastern frontier of the Roman Empire and the province of Mesopotamia
• 9. Ṭūr ‘Abdīn – A brief review of the archaeological sources and the limitations in interpretation
• 10. Mapping and satellite cartography in the Ṭūr ‘Abdīn and beyond
• 11. Concluding thoughts about peoples, ethnicity, and the eastern limes in context
• Appendix 1. The development of roads and communications in the Ṭūr ‘Abdīn
• Appendix 2. Beşikkaya, Fafe, Ömerli, the archaeological survey map
• Appendix 3. Keferde, Ömerli, the archaeological survey map
• Appendix 4. The Notitia Dignitatum
• Appendix 5. The Tabula Peutingeriana
• Bibliography
• Summary
• Index