Beyond the Fertile Crescent: Late Prehistoric People of the Black Desert
Yorke Rowan, ISAC

At first glance, the Black Desert of eastern Jordan might appear to be a landscape that only archaeologists and film crews could love, but recent research demonstrates that prehistoric people occupied the region in far greater concentrations than previously thought. Aerial archaeology, including satellite imagery, piloted flyovers, and unpiloted aircraft (drones) dramatically changed our perspective on how many people lived and worked in the region. In this lecture with Yorke Rowan, ISAC research professor, we will explore these new perspectives by critically examining the evidence for the built environment on the landscape, including the buildings, wheels, and the animal traps known as “desert kites.” This data suggests that the Black Desert was intensively used by people who hunted wild animals with the desert kites as well as tended flocks of domesticated sheep and goats. We will look at how aerial views dramatically shifted our ability to document anthropogenic features on the ground, and have begun to establish new understandings of how prehistoric people moved through and occupied the region.

This lecture is presented in connection with the ISAC Museum special exhibition, Pioneers of the Sky: Aerial Archaeology and the Black Desert (April 25–August 18, 2024).