Landscapes of mobility and movement in north-west Arabia: a remote sensing study of the Neom impact zone

The historic environment of north-west Saudi Arabia is likely to be severely impacted by the construction of the Neom mega-city complex and the development of the city’s hinterland. This region, located east of the Gulf of Aqaba, has only been subject to limited archaeological survey in the past, li...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fradley, M, Gyngell, S
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: MDPI 2022
_version_ 1797108729627279360
author Fradley, M
Gyngell, S
author_facet Fradley, M
Gyngell, S
author_sort Fradley, M
collection OXFORD
description The historic environment of north-west Saudi Arabia is likely to be severely impacted by the construction of the Neom mega-city complex and the development of the city’s hinterland. This region, located east of the Gulf of Aqaba, has only been subject to limited archaeological survey in the past, limiting any assessment of this negative impact. This paper presents data collected through a remote sensing survey of the region undertaken by the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project, independent of the Neom project. It is argued that this data reflects a landscape of movement between north and south, with evidence of structures and monuments from at least the Bronze Age through to the pre-Islamic period, but little evidence of permanent settlement or agriculture. This should not be dismissed as a peripheral landscape, but one that contains rich archaeological evidence of concentrated activity, suggesting that some areas have held long-term significance to the people inhabiting and moving through this region.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T07:32:43Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:f93dad3b-3a6f-4ef6-aab3-b9ebd34f6345
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T07:32:43Z
publishDate 2022
publisher MDPI
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:f93dad3b-3a6f-4ef6-aab3-b9ebd34f63452023-01-30T07:15:20ZLandscapes of mobility and movement in north-west Arabia: a remote sensing study of the Neom impact zoneJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:f93dad3b-3a6f-4ef6-aab3-b9ebd34f6345EnglishSymplectic ElementsMDPI2022Fradley, MGyngell, SThe historic environment of north-west Saudi Arabia is likely to be severely impacted by the construction of the Neom mega-city complex and the development of the city’s hinterland. This region, located east of the Gulf of Aqaba, has only been subject to limited archaeological survey in the past, limiting any assessment of this negative impact. This paper presents data collected through a remote sensing survey of the region undertaken by the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project, independent of the Neom project. It is argued that this data reflects a landscape of movement between north and south, with evidence of structures and monuments from at least the Bronze Age through to the pre-Islamic period, but little evidence of permanent settlement or agriculture. This should not be dismissed as a peripheral landscape, but one that contains rich archaeological evidence of concentrated activity, suggesting that some areas have held long-term significance to the people inhabiting and moving through this region.
spellingShingle Fradley, M
Gyngell, S
Landscapes of mobility and movement in north-west Arabia: a remote sensing study of the Neom impact zone
title Landscapes of mobility and movement in north-west Arabia: a remote sensing study of the Neom impact zone
title_full Landscapes of mobility and movement in north-west Arabia: a remote sensing study of the Neom impact zone
title_fullStr Landscapes of mobility and movement in north-west Arabia: a remote sensing study of the Neom impact zone
title_full_unstemmed Landscapes of mobility and movement in north-west Arabia: a remote sensing study of the Neom impact zone
title_short Landscapes of mobility and movement in north-west Arabia: a remote sensing study of the Neom impact zone
title_sort landscapes of mobility and movement in north west arabia a remote sensing study of the neom impact zone
work_keys_str_mv AT fradleym landscapesofmobilityandmovementinnorthwestarabiaaremotesensingstudyoftheneomimpactzone
AT gyngells landscapesofmobilityandmovementinnorthwestarabiaaremotesensingstudyoftheneomimpactzone