Old Maps, Expeditions and Explorations: How we unravelled Maya secrets from the air

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

How we unravelled Maya secrets from the air

How we unravelled Maya secrets from the air
Inaccessible or easily missed on the ground, ancient Maya ruins are increasingly spotted with the help of satellite imagery - but the process isn't always fool-proof

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Abkhazia

My favourite is the story of 19th century 'negotiations' between an up-coming Russia and a declining Ottoman Turkey in which Russia demanded the cession by Ottoman -Turkey of the province of Abkhazia. The Turkish delegates who had been summoned to the Czar's palace had little idea of their empire, where Abkhazia was or how big a loss it would represent to Ottoman Turkey. It's actually 8,600 sq kilometers, or 40% of a Wales for those who prefer more traditional area measurements. However there was a map of Abkhazia hanging on the Czar's palace walls, alongside a similarly-sized map of the palace gardens - no scale to either map, although the latter was probably at a somewhat larger scale. Based on these 2 maps the Ottoman delegation concluded they were ceding an insignificant piece of territory.- Dr Hillary Shaw