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The landscapes of Islamic Merv, Turkmenistan: Where to draw the line?

Tim Williams

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
- 1.1 Location and geographic context
- 1.2 Project background
2. Aims of this article
- 2.1 Introduction
- 2.2 Aims
- 2.3 Structure of the article
3. A short introduction to the city of Sultan Kala
4. Approaches to mapping the cities: issues and assumptions
- 4.1 Introduction: the nature of the contemporary landscape
- 4.2 Data sets
  - 4.2.1 Aerial photographs
  - 4.2.2 Satellite imagery
  - 4.2.3 Rectification of the vertical aerial photographs
  - 4.2.4 Image processing
  - 4.2.5 Digital Terrain modelling
  - 4.2.6 A surface scatter survey
- 4.3 Understanding the aerial and satellite images
  - 4.3.1 What are we seeing in the aerial pictures?
  - 4.3.2 Formation processes
- 4.4 From identification to interpretation: assumptions
  - 4.4.1 The impact of research questions
  - 4.4.2 The aims of the Atlas of Islamic Merv project
  - 4.4.3 Identifying building forms: recognisable cohesions
  - 4.4.4 Houses
  - 4.4.5 Mosques
  - 4.4.6 Minarets
  - 4.4.7 Madrasas
  - 4.4.8 Suqs and bazaars
  - 4.4.9 Caravanserais, khāns, funduqs and ribats
  - 4.4.10 Other public building complexes
  - 4.4.11 Gardens, orchards and fields
  - 4.4.12 Streets and alleys
  - 4.4.13 Courtyards
  - 4.4.14 Two-storey structures
  - 4.4.15 Chronology and contemporaneous landscapes
5. Electronic dissemination and ontology
6. The approaches adopted: capturing, managing and explaining interpretation
- 6.1 Introduction
- 6.2 Tiered levels of transcription
- 6.3 The digitisation process
  - 6.3.1 Assumptions and confidence levels
  - 6.3.2 Using different images and contrasts
  - 6.3.3 Field checking (handheld GPS)
- 6.4 The broad brush: creativity and drawing
- 6.5 Interpretative narratives
- 6.6 Weblog: an ongoing debate
7. Studying the landscapes of Ancient Merv
8. The urban landscape: a city of light and shadows
9. The suburban landscape: the smell of markets, traders, pasture, industry – mixed with the gardens of paradise
- 9.1 Chronology
- 9.2 Standing buildings
  - 9.2.1 Köshks
    - 9.2.1.1 The Greater Kyz Kala
    - 9.2.1.2 The Lesser Kyz Kala
  - 9.2.2 Kyz Bibi complex
- 9.3 Buildings identifiable on the aerial images
  - 9.3.1 Caravanserais
  - 9.3.2 Other buildings and enclosures
- 9.4 The city walls
- 9.5 Gardens and horticulture
  - 9.5.1 Horticulture, pasture and the areas around the caravanserais
  - 9.5.2 Elite gardens
- 9.6 Reconstructing the suburban landscape
10.0 Information and interpretation: changing the way the site is managed
11.0 Conclusions
- 11.1 The Atlas project
- 11.2 The way forward
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Appendix 1: The digital archive (by Sjoerd van der Linde and Tim Williams)
- Appendix 1.1: Copyright
- Appendix 1.2: Monuments of Merv photographic database
- Appendix 1.3: Maps and drawings
- Appendix 1.4: Merv movies incl. Technical approach and Copyright issues
- Appendix 1.5: Oral interviews incl. Technical approach and Copyright issues
- Appendix 1.6: Rotating images incl. Technical approach
- Appendix 1.7: Slideshow narratives incl. Technical approach and Copyright issues
- Appendix 1.8: Teachers handbook and resource/activity sheets
- Appendix 1.9: Related documents
Appendix 2: Weblogs - developing critical debate (by Sjoerd van der Linde)

Appendix 2.1: How the blog will function
Appendix 2.2: Archiving the Blog
Appendix 2.3: Copyright issues incl. copyright statement
Appendix 2.4: Editorial issues
Appendix 2.5: Citation issues

Related Digital Archive: http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/merv_ahrc_2008/

Related Blog: Ancient Merv blog

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© Internet Archaeology/Author(s) URL: http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue25/1/toc.html
Last updated: Mon Sept 29 2008