Third Millennium BC Settlement and Land Use, Northeast Syria:

Investigators:

Harvey Weiss, PI: Department of Anthropology

Description:

The Yale University Tell Leilan Project, directed by Professor Weiss, has acquired Landsat and SPOT images of the Tell Leilan region in northeastern Syria for the purpose of generating maps of modern soils, settlement and land use which contrast with ancient settlements and land use. The satellite imagery will be manipulated to generate maps of modern village distributions, ancient site distributions, roadways and tracks linking these, and to observe the relationships between the ancient and modern distributions. Field work during the fall of 1995 was aided with maps of the area generated from these images. These maps helped to pinpoint ancient sites, and guide surface surveys and excavations. Data from this field season will be used to test hypothesis about alterations in 3rd millennium BC site distributions, regional politico-economic alterations and changing climate.