Satellites Expose 8,000 Years of Civilization

ananyo writes "By combining spy-satellite photos obtained in the 1960s with modern multispectral images and digital maps of Earth's surface, researchers have created a new method for mapping large-scale patterns of human settlement. The approach was used to map some 14,000 settlement sites spanning eight millennia in 23,000 square kilometres of northeastern Syria — part of the fertile crescent of the Middle East. Traditional archaeology has focused on the big features such as cities or palaces but the new technique uncovers networks of small settlements, revealing migration patterns and sparking renewed speculation about the importance of water to city development."

Wilkinson & Ur

[Anonymous Coward]

Wilkinson & Ur, the ones behind the project, have been doing this for at least 10 years. Check out the CAMEL project on the Oriental institute of the university of Chicago

Only 8000?

[Wyatt Earp]

The Barada river area has been settled for at least 11,000, Jericho for at least 11,000, Byblos for at least 9,000.

Re:Or just a few decades

[Anonymous Coward]

There were probably ownership issues with the former track land.

Re:Did you know

[Psion]

Julia Pongratz is the only citation in your listed sources for Gengis Khan's impact on climate. She arrived at this conclusion not through examination of empirical data, but through computer modeling of Khan's actions. It's an interesting hypothesis, but hardly one that can be stated as a certainty.

Re:Did you know

[ElectricTurtle]

The Mayans were probably not having a significant impact on their own weather (I smell some green cultist with an agenda). Bad weather/seasons can happen to anybody anywhere and have been a common cause of famine and social disruption in antiquity worldwide.

The reality of the Mayan collapse was based on the confluence of population growth and soil depletion. The Mayans never developed crop rotation, so while their society grew their crop yields shrank, and everything collapsed.

Re:Or just a few decades

[dwillden]

Are you sure it's a former trackline? Looking at how clear-cut the trail is through some of the wooded areas, makes me wonder if there isn't an oil or natural gas pipeline of some type running there. Thus the reason for not building over it, and keeping the land clear of trees. I also find it odd that there is no elevated trackway present anywhere along the several miles I looked at. Also indicative of a pipeline rather than a railroad.

In fact go north to the subdivision where they haven't built over the trail. And use street view on E Bemis Road right where the trail crosses into the subdivision. If you look to the north you can plainly see the Pipeline warning poles, placed next to the road on to either side of the trail. There are also such poles on the south side of the road but they don't stand out quite as clearly. It's a pipeline not a railroad track.