Kristen Hopper

This article assesses the impact of the Syrian conflict on archaeological sites in Al-Hasakah Governorate through a detailed analysis of satellite images. In total, the condition of 340 archaeological sites were examined on satellite images taken between 2004 and 2020. This has allowed us to assess when damage is likely to have occurred; in particular, which damage types have increased in frequency during the current conflict. We have compared these results to previously published information from satellite imagery assessments and field visits by local authorities. The results are consistent with the previous information in terms of damaged sites and types of damage. However, the current study presents a more comprehensive assessment of the timing of damage specific to Al-Hasakah region. It can be downloaded from the following link: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1f4Di,rVDBbx1L

"The contemporary ‘high-end’ remote sensing technologies, such as LiDAR, UAV photogrammetry, and three-dimensional laser scanners (for on-the-ground measurement), are able to map the surface of archaeological features in a millimeter-level resolution. However, they are still unaffordable for use by most archaeological expeditions outside their home countries in terms of the cost of purchase, transportation, and/or outsourcing. In contrast, the price of satellite imageries, GPS devices, and other electronic measurement instruments (such as Total Stations) has been decreasing and therefore provide much more affordable alternative technologies. Thus, there is still room to develop a low-cost but effective methodology for digital documentation of ground features. Based on this objective, we will present a case study focussing on the multi-scalar topographic survey of tells, or mounds of abandoned built structures in Southwest Asia. The topographic survey was carried out at the site of Ad-Dariz South (56.600°E, 23.293°N), located in the interior of Oman, between 2009 and 2012. The survey consisted of satellite remote sensing, handy-GPS-based mapping, Total Station survey, and close-range photogrammetry. Firstly, free or low-cost but high-resolution satellite images, such as Google Earth (where GeoEye-1 and IKONOS are available) and the ALOS AVNIR-2 panchromatic image for creating NDVI, were studied to understand the environmental settings of the site. Secondly, the boundary of artefact scatters and features were defined by on site surface observation and recorded by a differential GPS receiver (Hemisphere XF101) attached to Archer Field PC, in which a GIS data (shapefile) of the boundary was concurrently created by ArcPad, a field GIS. Thirdly, the topographic nature of the mounds was surveyed in detail by means of Total Station. The point cloud collected by Total Station was interpolated to make a digital elevation model (DEM) and polygon shapefiles of built structures. The Total Station was also used to shoot ground control points (GCPs) that were carefully laid out for photogrammetry. Fourthly, overhead photographs of the surface were taken by using an 8-m-long rod and a remote shutter controller. The pictures were then georeferenced with GCPs and stitched to create an orthoimage by means of ArcGIS in the field laboratory. All the resultant data were managed in a GIS-based database to create an integrative map as a final product that has enabled us to identify and begin to interpret the surface features of a Bronze Age tower and an Islamic settlement in high resolution."

New Agendas in Remote Sensing and Landscape Archaeology in the Near East is a collection of papers produced in honour of Tony James Wilkinson, who was Professor of Archaeology at Durham University from 2006 until his death in 2014. Though commemorative in concept, the volume is an assemblage of new research representing emerging agendas and innovative methods in remote sensing. The intention is to explore the opportunities and challenges faced by researchers in the field today, and the tools, techniques, and theoretical approaches available to resolve them within the framework of landscape archaeology. The papers build on the traditional strengths of landscape archaeology, such as geoarchaeology and settlement pattern analysis, as well as integrating data sources to address major research questions, such as the ancient economy, urbanism, water management and the treatment of the dead. The authors demonstrate the importance of an interdisciplinary approach for understanding the impac...

The Huns, invading through Dariali Gorge on the modern-day border between Russia and Georgia in AD 395 and 515, spread terror across the late antique world. Was this the prelude to the apocalypse? Prophecies foresaw a future Hunnic onslaught, via the same mountain pass, bringing about the end of the world. Humanity’s fate depended on a gated barrier deep in Europe’s highest and most forbidding mountain chain. Centuries before the emergence of such apocalyptic beliefs, the gorge had reached world fame. It was the target of a planned military expedition by the Emperor Nero. Chained to the dramatic sheer cliffs, framing the narrow passage, the mythical fire-thief Prometheus suffered severe punishment, his liver devoured by an eagle. It was known under multiple names, most commonly the Caspian or Alan Gates. Featuring in the works of literary giants, no other mountain pass in the ancient and medieval world matches Dariali’s fame. Yet little was known about the materiality of this mythic...

Recent years have witnessed an explosion of research projects in Southern Caucasia that apply the methodologies and approaches of landscape archaeology. Focused on understanding the interaction between humans and their environments at multiple temporal and geographic scales, these projects have made use of intensive and extensive surveys, remote sensing and GIS-based analysis, very often taking a diachronic view. Landscape Archaeology in Southern Caucasia presents and reflects on projects currently employing these fresh perspectives and techniques in the lands between the Black and Caspian Seas, including and adjacent to the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mountain ranges; this takes in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of eastern Turkey and northwestern Iran. Through the centuries, this region has been a vital zone of contact between the Near East, Anatolia and Central Asia, but has also – in large part due to its remarkable and often difficult terrain of mountains, river valleys and plains – maintained a unique and fascinating local trajectory of development. Landscape Archaeology in Southern Caucasia is the product of a workshop held at the 10th ICAANE in Vienna in April 2016, which brought together scholars from around the world engaged in archaeological survey and landscape analysis in Southern Caucasia. The contributions in the volume cover a broad timescale, from the Neolithic through the medieval period and into the modern day, and deal with such themes as the relationship between past and present landscapes, heritage management, the use of remote sensing, the value of integrating historical texts and legacy data into new projects, survey methodologies, and patterns of movement. The volume also includes discussion of avenues for further research, particularly in the fields of information sharing and deeper engagement with legacy data. Finally, Landscape Archaeology in Southern Caucasia reflects and celebrates the spirit of collaboration between scholars within and beyond Southern Caucasia that is both apparent in the diversity of current projects and crucial to achieving the aims of future work in the region.

The Gorgan Plain (NE Iran) is characterized by fertile soils formed on a loess plateau and is at present primarily exploited for intensive agriculture. However, the timing and intensity of the human impact on the landscape in the past are still unclear. A sediment core, taken from the centre of the eastern Gorgan Plain in the Kongor Lake covering the major part of the Holocene from 6.1 to 0.8 ka (all ages are calibrated before present), has been studied for pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, botanical macroremains, insects, charcoal, geochemistry, biomarkers and magnetism in order to provide new insights into the evolution of the landscape and to estimate the intensity of human activities. The data obtained suggest a dry period between 5.9 and 3.9 ka and an increase in regional humidity afterwards with a maximum between 2.7 and 0.7 ka, during the period of the Persian empires (Achaemenid through Sasanian) and the Islamic era. The eastern part of the Gorgan Plain was characterized by o...

The Kalat region is located in north-eastern Iran between the Kopetdagh and Hezarmasjid mountain ranges, which act as natural defensive features. Overlooking the main routes passing through these ranges, the strategic town and fortifications near Kalat have played an important role in both the mythology and history of Khorasan. At least one middle Persian manuscript and several Islamic period historians and travellers testify to the defensive significance of Kalat throughout history. Archaeological surveys carried out in April 2012 and October 2016 in the Kalat region have succeeded in identifying abundant evidence to support the textual accounts, confirming the important role of this region in the defensive landscape of north-eastern Iran. Monuments explored include linear walls following the crest of steep mountain ridges, guarded by chains of watchtowers, a large hilltop fortress (the Arg-e Forud), and gorge-blocking barriers that likely controlled movement into and out of the region. These features were recorded through a pedestrian survey and remote sensing (drone photography and analysis of satellite imagery). This methodology proved a useful way of navigating the steep and sometimes difficult terrain of the region. Moreover, test trenching in two areas of Kalat’s fortifications have provided us with interesting information about the dating of the occupation of some of these features. Using the historical documents and archaeological findings, this paper will introduce the fortification system of Kalat and place it within the defensive landscape of greater northeastern Iran.

Using examples from several different regions of the Sasanian Empire, this chapter will look at the archaeological evidence for connectivity in frontier zones. Though a number of geographically diverse cases will be considered, I will focus on the evidence for local, regional and interregional networks in the Gorgan Plain of northeast Iran. We currently know very little about Sasanian period routes through this landscape. Itineraries exist in antique through Islamic period textual sources, but the routes that they describe are often difficult to identify in the archaeological record. European travellers of the nineteenth century provide more detailed accounts, but the routes they describe reflect the political and economic landscape of a much later period. However, this information, combined with archaeological evidence for both earlier and later period routes, can be compared to archaeological settlement data for the Sasanian period to suggest potential pathways of movement. This a...

The Gorgan Plain (NE Iran) is characterized by fertile soils formed on a loess plateau and is at present primarily exploited for intensive agriculture. However, the timing and intensity of the human impact on the landscape in the past are still unclear. A sediment core, taken from the centre of the eastern Gorgan Plain in the Kongor Lake covering the major part of the Holocene from 6.1 to 0.8 ka (all ages are calibrated before present), has been studied for pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, botanical macroremains, insects, charcoal, geochemistry, biomarkers and magnetism in order to provide new insights into the evolution of the landscape and to estimate the intensity of human activities. The data obtained suggest a dry period between 5.9 and 3.9 ka and an increase in regional humidity afterwards with a maximum between 2.7 and 0.7 ka, during the period of the Persian empires (Achaemenid through Sasanian) and the Islamic era. The eastern part of the Gorgan Plain was characterized by o...

On 2 August 2019, the eve of the 5th anniversary of the attacks on Sinjar by the Islamic State (IS), RASHID International, Yazda and the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa Project (EAMENA) released the results of their investigation into cultural heritage destruction during the genocide against the Yazidis, in a report entitled <strong>'Destroying the Soul of the Yazidis: Cultural Heritage Destruction during the Islamic State's Genocide against the Yazidis'</strong>. Out of the total of 68 sites reported destroyed we consider 16 sites in the Bahzani/Bashiqa area and 8 in the Sinjar area to which access was possible and which could be documented. Discussions of the genocide committed against the Yazidi people by IS from 2014 onwards have generally focused on murder, slavery and sexual exploitation. In this report we analyze the destruction of Yazidi tangible and intangible cultural heritage as a significant facet of the Islamic State&#3...

Citation for published item: Hopper, K. and Lawrence, D. and Pitskhelauri, K. and Philip, G. (2020) 'Appendix III. Investigations of ancient canal systems in central and eastern Georgia.', in Dariali: the Caspian Gates' in the Caucasus from Antiquity to the Age of the Huns and the Middle Ages. The joint Georgian-British Dariali Gorge excavations surveys 2013-2016. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 937-954. The British Institute of Persian Studies archaeological monograph series., II

The Kalat region is located in north-eastern Iran between the Kopetdagh and Hezarmasjid mountain ranges, which act as natural defensive features. Overlooking the main routes passing through these ranges, the strategic town and fortifications near Kalat have played an important role in both the mythology and history of Khorasan. At least one middle Persian manuscript and several Islamic period historians and travellers testify to the defensive significance of Kalat throughout history. Archaeological surveys carried out in April 2012 and October 2016 in the Kalat region have succeeded in identifying abundant evidence to support the textual accounts, confirming the important role of this region in the defensive landscape of north-eastern Iran. Monuments explored include linear walls following the crest of steep mountain ridges, guarded by chains of watchtowers, a large hilltop fortress (the Arg-e Forud), and gorge-blocking barriers that likely controlled movement into and out of the re...

Archaeological survey and remote sensing of satellite imagery has been undertaken in several regions that were once part of the frontiers of the Sasanian Empire (AD 224-650).  At points in its history this empire encompassed landscapes as divergent as the Caucasus Mountains in the west, to the edge of the steppes of Central Asia in the east.  While geographically diverse, the investigation of these landscapes have presented similar challenges; foremost, untangling the complex palimpsest of archaeological features (representing both agricultural and pastoral practices) that characterise the settlement and land use strategies occurring in these regions over thousands of years.
However, sometimes we can identify features representing the dominant settlement and land use strategies of a particular time frame.  These packages of features define what Wilkinson (2003) called ‘signature landscapes’.  Utilising examples from the Gorgan Plain of NE Iran (Gorgan Wall Survey - ICHHTO, Edinburgh and Durham Universities) and the Dariali Gorge in the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia (Dariali Pass Survey - Tbilisi State University, Edinburgh and Durham Universities), I will highlight several landscape signatures related to agricultural and pastoral practices.  Combined with appropriate historical, ethnographic and environmental data, we can begin to develop a picture of the long term human-environment interaction in these regions.  I will also discuss the differential survival of features in both ‘landscapes of destruction’ (those that have seen repeated intensive land-use and settlement) and ‘landscapes of preservation’ (those where less intensive or short-lived land use strategies have dominated).

The Sasanian frontier of north east Iran is characterised by the Gorgān Wall, which would have controlled movement across the Gorgān Plain. While the location of the wall was not constricted by the natural environment, it was very much influenced by it, roughly following the course of the Gorgān River and the natural divide between the rain-fed foothills of the Alborz Mountains, and the semi-arid steppes to its north. The number of archaeological sites and irrigation features in the southern half of the plain, as compared to the north, indicates dense sedentary occupation in most periods from the Neolithic to the present day. However, historical and ethnographic sources also underline the importance of the steppe for mobile pastoral, and agro-pastoral groups which tend to leave fewer direct traces. Picturing this frontier as dividing the arid from the sown denies the multiplicity of subsistence strategies, economic activities and community interactions that utilised both these landscapes. As there is limited evidence for Sasanian period route systems in this region, nodes in the network (such as sites and resource exploitation areas) have been combined with data on topography, roads, and seasonal pathways of movement in order to better understand the connectivity of the region. As well as reviewing the evidence for these networks this paper will also discuss the sensitivity of these interpretations to shifts in chronology that occur when bringing together large amounts of data from multiple archaeological surveys and sources.

The site of Tamara’s Fort guards the entrance to one of the few viable passes across the Caucasus Mountains and likely represents what are referred to in antique sources as the ‘Caucasian Gates’ or 'Caspian Gates'.  This pass was of strategic importance and acted as one of the northern defences of the Sasanian Empire in the 3rd to 7th c. AD.  However, to date we have little evidence for late antique activities in the hinterland of the fort.
As part of the Caucasian Gates project, a joint undertaking by Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, the University of Edinburgh, and Durham University, a survey of the Darial Pass south of Tamara’s Fort was undertaken in June and July 2014.  The goals of the survey were to record sites and landscape features from all periods and to develop a better understanding of the long-term settlement and land use in the region. 
The extreme terrain of the Upper Caucasus Mountains had a profound impact on our survey methodology. Prior to conducting the field survey, we utilised high resolution satellite imagery to locate areas of interest through anomalies on the imagery that may have represented archaeological sites and features. We also instigated a topographically informed survey which investigated specific areas of more accessible landforms capable of supporting agriculture and pastoral practices. The combination of remote sensing and landform survey represents a novel and successful way of dealing with this highly challenging landscape.
Key results of the 2013 season were a better understanding of the modern and historic human ecology of the region including the identification of both agricultural and pastoral landscapes.  Clear fortification structures were discovered in the vicinity and further south of Tamara’s fort, along with ruined villages and other stone architectural features. In the wider landscape we located entire terrace and field systems as well as potential evidence for water management. Whilst dating these features has so far proved challenging, a picture of rural settlement in the region is beginning to emerge. With future fieldwork, we hope to be able to answer questions regarding periods of land-use intensification, and the provisioning of Tamara’s Fort.

The study of frontiers and how they functioned is integral to our understanding of how the Sasanian Empire interacted with its neighbours.  However, at present we know very little about the route systems that facilitated the movement of people, goods and ideas throughout and beyond the Empire.  This paper reviews the evidence for route systems associated with frontiers in Syria, Georgia, and, more specifically, in the Gorgan Plain of Northeastern Iran, placing them within an interregional framework.
Within the Gorgan Plain, the at least 200km long Gorgan Wall defines one of these frontiers, however, it is not an impermeable boundary.  Rather than stopping movement, it provided a way to constrain traffic into and out of the empire through very specific routes. Furthermore, Sasanian presence in Dehistan as demonstrated by Lecomete (2005), indicates that the Sasanian network extended beyond its frontiers.  However, as yet, direct archaeological evidence for crossing points of the wall have remained elusive. 
The remote sensing of archaeological features on satellite imagery, combined with field survey data, historical and ethnographic sources can help us to locate potential route systems within the Gorgan Plain.  Furthermore, by discussing both earlier and later route systems, we can map the ways in which the construction of the Gorgan Wall may have altered pre-existing routes associated with earlier settlements and the seasonal movement of mobile pastoral communities.