British inter-war aerial photogrammetric mapping in the MENA region: archives, access and research potential

Abstract

The use of aerial photography in the Middle East and North Africa region stretches back to the First World War. While historic aerial photography has continued to be utilized in research in the region, there has been only limited consideration of different photographic sources. This paper will focus on the use of aerial photography by British forces in the MENA region for photogrammetric mapping missions in the period from the First World War through to the start of the Second World War, when large areas were surveyed via the capture of overlapping vertical photographs. The discussion will cover the survival and archiving of these collections, as well as current issues of access, as well as their overall archaeological potential, particularly as an early source of earth-observation data, comparable to more recent satellite imagery archives.