Dedication
Preface I remember my excitement during the last war when I thought I had found off the coast of Brittany an ancient settlement hitherto unknown to French archaeology, and my chagrin when I discovered I was looking at modern oyster beds. Dr. Den deals fairly and objectively with all the pioneers, British like Crawford and Beazeley, German like Wiegand, French like Rey and Poidebard. He is generous and accurate in his account of men like Allen, Bradford, and St. Joseph in Britain, Agache, Chombart de Lauwe, Baradez, and Chevallier in France, Adamesteanu in Italy, and Irwin Scollar, whom he describes as “an unusual American,� in Germany. It is difficult not to be enthusiastic as one reads the moving story of how in the last fifty years the buried past of our ancestors has been revealed by the technical skill of the air
camera and the expertise of observer and interpreter. But, of course, observer and interpreter must always remember that every curious mark they see is not necessarily evidence of the occupation of ancient man; and Den amusingly reminds us of the early troubles Crawford had with fairy rings and the circles made by tethered goats, of Major Allen’s problems with frost cracks and natural pipes, and Irwin Scollar’s difficulties with insecticide sprayed from a circling tractor. He describes the progress of air archaeology in the interwar years and brings to life the enormous advances made in the technique of air photography during the Second World War of 1939-45, when so many archaeologists, including the writer of these words, were interpreting air photographs as part of military intelligence. Dr. Den provides us with an excellent survey of the history, achievements, and pitfalls of air archaeology.
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