This is according to media reports (via t3n). It is about a total of three ancient Roman camps that were possibly built during a secret military mission in the second century AD. The University of Oxford had already reported their find at the end of April.
University of Oxford landscape archaeologist Michael Fradley is collaborating on a project called Endangered Archeology in the Middle East and North Africa, or EAMENA for short. The project deals with the analysis of satellite photos. Google Earth is one of the sources.
Classic “playing card” form of Roman camps
Fradley used Google Earth last year to examine photos of the desert near Jordan’s southern border with Saudi Arabia. In doing so, he came across a classic “playing card” form of a Roman camp in the desert sands. Less than 24 hours later, he spotted two more heading south-east into the desert from an oasis near Bayir.
Ancient Roman camps discovered by secret military mission
Secret Attack
There is no record of a Roman military operation in this region, but archaeologists suspect that the camps may have been part of a planned secret attack on the Nabatean city of Dumat al-Jandal. By the way, the remains in the desert are not entirely unknown. According to Fradley, parts of the wall of a camp were inscribed years ago in a Jordanian heritage register. “But it was not interpreted as a Roman camp,” he explained.
In contrast to the known Roman areas in Europe, where hundreds of camps are known, only a handful of Roman camps have been identified in the Middle East. Therefore, according to experts, this new discovery is an important archaeological advance.
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- Archologist Oxford uncovers three ancient Roman camps using satellite imagery.
- Researchers suspect that the camps were part of a secret military operation in the second century.
- Fradley discovered camp in “playing card” form in desert sand.
- One camp is in the Jordanian heritage register, but mistakenly interpreted as not being Roman.
- Experts: Discovery of important archaeological advance in the Middle East.
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