Classics and Ancient History - About_the

The AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE FOR ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE MIDDLE EAST (APAAME) was established in 1978 under the patronage of Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. Financial support has been provided by, amongst others, the Australian Research Council, British Academy, Packard Humanities Institute, Palestine Exploration Fund, Prehistoric Society (UK), Robert Kiln Fund, Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust, Society of Antiquaries (of London), University of Western Australia Research Grants Fund and from private donations. To date (2009) it consists of over 30,000 photographs and several hundred maps for several countries, mainly Jordan.

Although the archive includes aerial photographs of a number of Middle East countries, the vast majority are of Jordan. Hence the AERIAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN JORDAN project (AAJ) is the principal component of the archive.

The REMOTE SENSING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE MIDDLE EAST (RSAME) project was an early component of the former, funded in the early and mid-1990s by the Australian Research Council.

The core of the project was the examination of the c. 4000 frames of the Hunting Aerial Survey of Jordan taken in 1953. These were supplied as diapositive copies through the courtesy of the Royal Jordanian Geographic Centre in Amman. They covered the entire western half of Jordan at a scale of about 1:25,000. A map shows the area covered.

This was a long-term research project designed both to investigate a methodology and to illuminate settlement history in the Near East. Some 25,000 sites were identified on the photographs and the details transcribed on transparent overlays at 1:25,000. The third phase, archaeological interpretation, is now in progress. The material has been employed in several publications and in major interpretative essays (Kennedy 1997a, b and c).

Archive Home

Aerial Archaeology in Jordan

Flying and Photography

Satellite Imagery and Google Earth

Obtaining Photographs

Contacting Us

About the Aerial Photographic Archive

CONTENTS