Archaeological Geomatics
Anthropology 328

Dr. Scott Madry
Research Associate Professor of Anthropology, UNC-CH
Madrys@email.unc.edu
http://www.informatics.org/anthromadry.html

http://www.informatics.org/anth328
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Lab 4

404 Alumni!!

Introduction:

This lab will be a hands on introduction to archaeological air photo interpretation. The lab will be conducted using the 1944 US Army Air Corps aerial reconaissance photos of the Burgundy region of France where I have worked for some time. I located these photos through a freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Defence Intelligence Agency.

Air photo interpretation is a powerful tool for regional archaeological analysis, and the older the photos the better. Various vestiges of ancient landscapes such as roads, field boundaries, structures, and fortifications can be located using stereo pairs and photographic analysis.

In this lab we will be conducting stereo pair analysis of the photographs to search for possible cultural features in the French landscape. It is an excellent location for such analysis as there are many fields in pasture, and an aboundance of buried cultural features.

 

Lab Part 1

You will be given stereo pairs of aerial photos of the Burgundy, France region and a mirror stereoscope. You task, should you choose to accept, is to line up the photos so that you can see the central portion of the area in stereo. These overlaping photo pairs and the stereoscopes allow you to see the middle portion of each photo pair in 3-D and magnified.

There will be maps available to see where you are.

Look for potential archaeological sites that are visible as positive, negative, and crop marks (circles, squares, lines, etc.)

If you see anything interesting let me know. I wil have forms to fill out.

See http://informatics.org/france/archivair.html for information on our use of these data in the context of our ongoing research in the region.

 

Lab Part 2
 

NASA Large Format Camera (LFC) imagery of coastal Peru.

Flown on the Space Shuttle in October 1984, the 1000-pound Large Format Camera provided more than 2000 black-and-white, color, and infrared photographs of the Earth's surface. From an altitude of 240 kilometers (about 150 miles) a single Large Format frame will cover more than 60,000 square kilometers (23,400 square miles) with enough resolution to distinguish buildings and roads.

LFC specs: Film Format: 9 x 18 inches (23 x 46 cm), Aperture: F/6.0, Focal Length: 12 inches (30.5 cm), Exposure Interval: 7.5 sec., Ground Resolution: 20 meters at 160 nautical miles.

When I worked for NASA in the 1980's I did a small proof of concept project using the NASA Large Format Camera with Prof. Mike Mosley of the University of Florida. I have two LFC images of the Peruvian coast, and a very large scale enlargement. we will review these aerial photographs from space.

NASA Johnson Space Center Space Shuttle Imagery
URL: http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

Sources of archival aerial photos

 

U.S. WWII-era aerial reconnaissance photographs are primarily located in the The US National Archives and Records Administration. Most aerial mapping photographs of the United States taken for Federal agencies before 1941 have been assembled at the Cartographic and Architectural Branch (CAB) of the National Archives and Records Administration. These photographs date from the mid-1930's and cover approximately 80 percent of the land area of the conterminous 48 United States.

The CAB also maintains a collection of American military photographs of the United States from the 1940's-1960's and over 1.2 million German military photographs of Eastern Europe and Russia flown during World War II. Over 37,000 WWII Japanese aerial photos are also in the archive.

The following note is from U. S. National Archives and Records Administration:

'Our foreign aerial photography is.... confined to World War II vintage coverages of those foreign areas where U. S. military forces were involved - particularly the South Pacffic and parts of the European theater. We also hold a significant collection of German-flown aerial prints covering large parts of Europe, the Soviet Union, North Africa and the Middle East during World War II.'

To inquire or order these aerial photos write to:

Telephone Numbers

General NARA Reference (College Park: 301-837-3200
National Archives Fax-on-Demand: 301-837-0990
Cartographic and Architectural Reference:
Reference Inquiries: 301-837-3200
Fax Numbe:r 301-837-3622

E-Mail Address:

carto@nara.gov

also see:

Taylor, Charles E. and Richard E. Spurr, 1973. Aerial Photographs in the National Archives, National Archives and Records Service (Special List No. 25).

This is a listing of the aerial photography held at the National Archives in Washington D.C. The photography is from before 1950, and is organized by state.

There are at least four collections in Britain which together contain approximately 15 million uncatalogued and mainly inaccessible aerial photographs (Keele University, Imperial War Museum, RAF (JARIC) and the former Directorate of Overseas Survey). :

The Archivist, Air Photo Library, Department of Geography, University of Keele, ST5 5BG.

See this report by the British Academy.

Go here for a listing of North Carolina air photo sources.

Fench archival aerials (and maps) are available from the Institut National Geographique (IGN) in Paris

The AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE FOR ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE MIDDLE EAST was established in 1978 under the patronage of Crown Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. Financial support has been provided by, amongst others, the British Academy, the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Australian Research Council. To date it consists of over 8,000 photographs and several hundred maps for several countries, mainly Jordan.


Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
 

 

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