An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

Grove 1997; Tolstoy 1989). Landscapes can be viewed from the perspective of the
human presence on the land along with accompanying memories and meanings (Ingold
1993), or associated wholly with the physical topography (Ucko and Layton 1999), or it
can be viewed as a combination of social organization, cosmological order, and ideology
blended into the natural environment and reflective of the culturally constructed
settlement (Ashmore 2004; Barrett 1999; Joyce and Hendon 2000; Smith 2003).
Intertwined in this perspective is the archaeology of place. Through consideration
of features on the present landscape that also existed in the past, it may be possible to
better understand the ancients’ relationship to the land around them (see Ashmore and
Knapp 1999b; Basso 1996). Finally, the landscape evolves over time, through natural and
anthropic activities. Thus, by it very nature, it is dynamic and should be recognized as a
continual series of transformative events across the landscape (Van de Noort 2004;
Waters and Kuehn 1996).
Survey and Prospection Techniques
The recovery of data in contemporary landscape archaeology makes use of a
range of methods and techniques including ground-based surface and sub-surface
surveys, satellite and aerial imagery, topographic modeling, stratigraphic excavations,
assessments of the geomorphology, macro and microbotanical studies, and other types of
prospection techniques. New techniques were integrated with more traditional methods to
expand the capabilities and improve the proficiency of researchers to observe and
envisage the landscape. Remote sensing techniques, Global Positioning System (GPS)
technologies, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in combination with material
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