Observing Changes and their Effects in Nomadic Environment Remote-Sensing and Archaeology for Sustainable Development on Jebel Bishri in Syria

摘要

Detecting environmental changes by remote sensing methods has been dependent on the development of technology during the past 50-150 years. Thus the remote-sensed data is relatively young to be used in detecting long-term changes in environment. However, in order to understand and make forecasts for sustainable development one needs complementing sources of evidence for understanding long-term changes and their effects, e.g., in desert and steppe regions. This needs surveying and sample collecting on the ground to build databases for spatial analyses and to study changes in datable periods. Archaeology with its new environmental approaches and data collecting of human traces opens evidence to detect long-term changes in human life connected with the environment. The Finnish project SYGIS (the Syrian GIS) has used remote sensing methods in its archaeological survey and mapping of Jebel Bishri region in Syria. The area is desert-steppe and has been nomadic grazing grounds for millennia. Remote sensing the changes in agricultural activities of village pastoralists and desertification process has been executed on the mountain from a short-term perspective. The complementing evidence from archaeological surveying and recording aiming to documentate and study the dispersion of nomadic remains on the ground with specific interests in the cyclic phenomena of occupation and reoccupation through millennia. The ancient sites open new vistas for understanding long-term changes and environmental effects on the fragile life of nomads.