Landscapes of Mobility and Movement in North-West Arabia: A Remote Sensing Study of the Neom Impact Zone

The historic environment of north-west Saudi Arabia is likely to be severely impacted by the construction of the Neom mega-city complex and the development of the city’s hinterland. This region, located east of the Gulf of Aqaba, has only been subject to limited archaeological survey in the past, li...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Land (Basel) 2022-11, Vol.11 (11), p.1941
Main Authors: Fradley, Michael, Gyngell, Sarah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
City planning
Design
GIS
Historic sites
Historical structures
History
Investigations
Landscape
landscape archaeology
Megacities
mobility
Neom
Polls & surveys
Protection and preservation
Remote sensing
Saudi Arabia
Social aspects
Surveys
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Summary:The historic environment of north-west Saudi Arabia is likely to be severely impacted by the construction of the Neom mega-city complex and the development of the city’s hinterland. This region, located east of the Gulf of Aqaba, has only been subject to limited archaeological survey in the past, limiting any assessment of this negative impact. This paper presents data collected through a remote sensing survey of the region undertaken by the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project, independent of the Neom project. It is argued that this data reflects a landscape of movement between north and south, with evidence of structures and monuments from at least the Bronze Age through to the pre-Islamic period, but little evidence of permanent settlement or agriculture. This should not be dismissed as a peripheral landscape, but one that contains rich archaeological evidence of concentrated activity, suggesting that some areas have held long-term significance to the people inhabiting and moving through this region.
ISSN:2073-445X
2073-445X
DOI:10.3390/land11111941