MYSTERY 8,000-YEAR-OLD ABANDONED STRUCTURE DISCOVERED WITH DECLASSIFIED IMAGES FROM COLD WAR SPY PLA

[Judi Lynn]

MYSTERY 8,000-YEAR-OLD ABANDONED STRUCTURE DISCOVERED WITH DECLASSIFIED IMAGES FROM COLD WAR SPY PLANE
BY CALLUM PATON ON 4/9/19 AT 5:24 AM EDT

Archaeologists from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania have used an unlikely source to give fresh perspective on the ancient mysteries of the Middle East: declassified spy plane images from the Cold War.

Emily Hammer and Jason Ur from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University, respectively, have scoured through extensive archives of high- and low-resolution images taken by U2 spy planes from across Europe, the Middle East and central eastern Asia, uncovering a “gold mine” of archaeological evidence.

According to a press release from the University of Pennsylvania, the experts have uncovered stone wall structures that date back 5,000 to 8,000 years. They were used to trap gazelles and other animals.

In the declassified images, the pair spotted many historical and archeological features, including prehistoric hunting traps, 3,000-year-old irrigation canals and 60-year-old marsh villages no longer visible today.

More:
https://www.newsweek.com/mystery-8000-year-old-abandoned-structure-discovered-declassified-images-cold-1390064?piano_t=1

[Judi Lynn]

1. Declassified U2 spy plane images reveal bygone Middle Eastern archaeological features

8-APR-2019

Researchers from Penn and Harvard are the first to make archaeological use of U2 spy plane imagery, and have created a tool that allows other researchers to identify and access the Cold War-era photos

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

In the 1950s and early '60s, with the Cold War at its peak, the United States flew U2 spy planes across Europe, the Middle East, and central eastern Asia, taking images of interesting military targets. Though the missions typically connected Point A to Point B, say an air field and an important city, in many cases the camera kept recording between those spots, capturing thousands of photos of the desert, steppes, fields, and villages below.

Such a collection can represent a goldmine for landscape archaeologists like Emily Hammer of the University of Pennsylvania and Jason Ur of Harvard University. But for decades, all film and documents from these missions--code-named CHESS by the U.S. government--remained classified. And even when they became public in 1997, they weren't indexed or scanned.

Until now, the majority of this kind of historical aerial documentation came from the CORONA spy satellite program, which the U.S. ran between 1959 and 1972. But only the highest-resolution CORONA images, taken during the program's final five years, are useful for most archaeological purposes. The U2 photos are earlier and a higher resolution than even the best CORONA images, offering the chance to see historical features undecipherable by CORONA or already gone by the time of those missions.

Knowing the potential insight offered by the U2 images, Hammer and Ur began sifting through the materials. By analyzing thousands of high- and low-resolution frames, they discovered many historical and archeological features, including prehistoric hunting traps, 3,000-year-old irrigation canals, and 60-year-old marsh villages no longer visible today. The work, which they published in the journal Advances in Archaeological Practice, represents the first archaeological use of U2 spy plane imagery--and a new and exciting window into history.

More:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-04/uop-dus040819.php

[KY_EnviroGuy]

2. Thanks, Judi Lynn.

I found that clicking on the link embedded in that article led me to a PDF project document that is very interesting and informative.

See: https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/A16A04FB4990B74B9FF750DCCF31A141/S2326376818000384a.pdf

I hope they can continue this work because these aerial photos contain highly valuable archeological information that may be lost if these films are not preserved. I feel our government should scan all these U2 photos and make the scans widely available to researchers.

.........

[Judi Lynn]

4. Amazing. Taken in 1958 and 1959, so long ago, too. It would require a lot of time to understand.

The images are fascinating.

Thanks for following the link, and posting it.

They've been focusing on that area a long time. Overwhelming.

So glad the new information is available.

Glad you shared this.

[Blues Heron]

3. Hammer and Ur - great names for a pair of intrepid archeologists