Landscape as Archive: the Case of the Jordan River

The Jordan River runs from north to south along 251 km at the boundaries of Israel, southwest Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian West Bank. Flowing between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, the river has a long and celebrated history and holds great religious significance in both Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Within the course of the last 100 years the river was subject to major environmental, ideological, political and economic transformations, which radically reshaped the landscape and the environment.

The talk will present a research project that treats the landscape as a physical archive and applies spatial, ecological and historical analysis in order to trace a territory that underwent radical transformations. By tracing the spatial history of a river we reconstruct the lost landscapes, and the irreparable damage to environments, indigenous communities and long lasting cultural traditions.