Petra, Jordan: Huge monument found 'hiding in plain sight'

[Imperial Dave]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-36498234

couldnt see the wood for the trees apparently or should that be the sandstone for the sand? 

[Patrick Waterson]

'Remote sensing' or taking pics by aircraft and satellite is a good way of finding the outlines of otherwise hard-to-discern structures.

The trick is to make any survey systematic, and Sarah Parcak appears to be doing just that.

[rodge]

More in Cambodia from lidar:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/11/lost-city-medieval-discovered-hidden-beneath-cambodian-jungle

[Patrick Waterson]

That particular article includes an intriguing temple fight scene.  The paired participants differ in hairstyle, shield size and loincloth decoration, in addition to left-and right-handedness.  Yet both pairs use blunt weapons, round objects on the end of spearshafts; these do not appear to be weights, judging by the point at which the spear is held.  Presumably this is a ritual combat in which bloodshed is not the intention: in any event, the heavily-lipped individual crouched or seated on the right of the picture seems to be watching with never a care in the world.

[Andreas Johansson]

Presumably this is a ritual combat in which bloodshed is not the intention

If it's even combat - the athletic poses give me an impression of dance.

[Erpingham]

Presumably this is a ritual combat in which bloodshed is not the intention

If it's even combat - the athletic poses give me an impression of dance.

That was also my thought when I saw it.  A dramatic performance is also possible, depicting religious themes perhaps?

[Patrick Waterson]

Quite conceivable: perhaps even more likely if musicians were depicted in the same scene.  I am not sure how far Cambodians blended the understood with the explicit.

In any event, probably not much use for army lists.