Fieldwork on aerial discoveries in Attica and Rhodes. Part I. The Town plan of Classical Rhodes

Abstract

This report gives a brief account of a field reconnaissance in the Levant during August and September 1955. Seven weeks were spent in ground-checking archaeological sites noticed on air photographs taken by the Royal Air Force over Greece and Rhodes during the Second World War, and later in Cyprus. Assisted by my wife, I was able in these few weeks to locate and to examine in detail a large number of archaeological features, as the consequence of having these photographs as a guide. I shall reserve for a future occasion the description of the results and discoveries from our work in Cyprus, which was based on (i) my study of some thousands of photographs which the Department of Lands and Surveys in Nicosia kindly made available, and (ii) ground-checks on foot in various parts of the island. A very helpful grant of £50 given by the Craven Committee in the University of Oxford contributed towards the cost of this short campaign in 1955. The work was in direct continuation of my field research in Mediterranean lands since 1945, with the emphasis extended for the moment to the eastern end. This was a planned sequel to discoveries which I had made years ago, and an opportunity to complete them with fieldwork on the ground had been long awaited.