Not elder law: Spy photos help locate ancient Syrian ruins
Australian archaeologists have uncovered the remains of ancient human settlements in Syria.
A team of researchers from the Australian National University have useddeclassified US spy satellite images from the 1960s to help them findthe location of the ruins.
Archaeologist Mandy Mottram says the remains of pottery factories, tombs and even an ancient basilica were found.
“You can pinpoint the sites using the satellite images quite simply because you see anomalies in the landscape,” she said.
“You can’t go, ‘Oh yes looking at the photograph, I know what this isgoing to be’, you don’t know that until you go there, but you can get apretty fair idea that there’s a site of some kind there.”
Ms Mottram says the remains of an ancient basilica were among the finds.
“It quite possibly tumbled at some stage during an earthquake becausethere were a couple of large earthquakes that hit that region back inmedieval times, but it’s still got walls preserved and it quitepossibly was part of a monastic community which existed on the top ofthis mountain,” she said.
