衛星データを用いたサウジアラビア紅海沿岸地域の碑文・岩絵の発見について

抄録

Prehistoric petroglyphs as well as inscriptions carved by nomads, travelers, and pilgrims in later periods can be found across the deserts and rocky mountains along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. These materials are useful for reconstructing inland networks and have provided important research evidence alongside other written sources and the archaeological remains of cities and settlements. However, due to the vastness of the survey area, more efficient survey methods are needed. During an archaeological survey of the early Islamic port city of al-Hawra’，Tabuk Province, Saudi Arabia, a joint Saudi–Japanese archaeological mission comprising the Saudi Heritage Commission, Waseda University, and Tokai University discovered more than 300 clusters of graffiti and petroglyphs, using Landsat OLI imagery. This is the first time that Landsat OLI imagery has been used to uncover previously unknown graffiti and petroglyph sites in Saudi Arabia, highlighting the usefulness of satellite remote sensing data as a powerful tool for identifying graffiti and petroglyph sites. This paper presents the successful discovery of graffiti and petroglyphs on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, using Landsat OLI imagery.