Dr Bewley’s lecture will briefly cover the origins of aerial survey for archaeology in the Middle East, highlighting his work in Jordan since 1998. It will then cover the recent (2018 and 2019) short aerial forays into Oman, and discuss the potential of the technique in Arabia and the plans (post-COVID) for future years. One expectation is to produce a book on Ancient Oman from the Air, but much more work will be needed before that hope is realised. His talk will also explore the opportunities provided by remote sensing for archaeology in the Middle East, through his work as the Director of the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East project (EAMENA) from 2015 to 2020. This will examine the location, discovery, recording and monitoring of archaeological sites, using all available resources (satellite imagery, aerial photographs, maps, as well as fieldwork) so that past human settlement can be better understood, and also, protected. The lecture will also include a short summary of very recent work in Arabia (November 2020). The threats to archaeological sites, worldwide, has never been greater and his conclusion is that we are now at the last chance saloon, to record these sites before they disappear completely.
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Dr Robert Bewley is the former Director of the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project (from 2015-2020) at the University of Oxford, funded by the Arcadia Fund and the Cultural Protection Fund http://eamena.arch.ox.ac.uk.
He has been the Co-Director of the Aerial Archaeology in Jordan project since 1998, and very recently was able to set up the Aerial Archaeology in Oman project.
At English Heritage (now Historic England) he was an Inspector of Ancient Monuments, then Air Survey Officer in the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and Head of Aerial Survey (by now in English Heritage), and Head of Survey; he was English Heritage’s Regional Director for the South-West from 2004-2007,and Director of Operations for the Heritage Lottery Fund until 2014.
He is Vice-Chairman of the Mary Rose Museum, a Trustee for the International Association for the Study of Arabia and the Anglo-Jordanian Society. He has been a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries since 1984. He is affiliated with St Cross, St Peter’s, and Wolfson Colleges in Oxford. He is an Honorary Visiting Professor at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, London. He is the author of six books including Prehistoric Settlements (1994 and 2003), Aerial Archeology – Developing Future Practice (2002 with W. Raçzkowski) and Ancient Jordan from the Air (2004 with David Kennedy). He has worked in Britain, Europe and the Middle East and North Africa on aerial and field surveys, excavations and aerial archaeology training workshops.
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