Flygspaning efter Historia

 €43.00

This book ‘Flygspaning efter Historia’ [Looking at History from the Air] is based on the work of airforce major and archaeologist, Esse Ericsson (1921-1996). Ericsson, who was renowned for being unconventional, introduced systematic aerial photography to Scandinavia in the 1950s and 1960s, 'flying archaeology'; it was during this period that he documented the known, and hitherto unknown, cultural aspects of the countryside of Skåne province in southernmost Sweden.

One chapter is a brief biography of Esaias (Esse) Ericsson; it has been written by the archaeologist P U Hörberg. Much of the book has been devoted to an illustrated catalogue, topographically arranged, of Ericsson's 2121 photographs. The photographs show thousands of objects related to culture, nature and the environment. All have been carefully documented; the information has been compiled and edited by Lars Hansen. Other chapters include a Scandinavian view of the history of 'archaeology from the air', by the industrialist and archaeologist Gad Rausing. This chapter begins with a photograph from a hot air balloon taken on 7 April 1894 and ends with a description of a digital database. A presentation of 'archaeology and aerial photography' by Esse Ericsson includes a discussion about climate, a topic that few non Scandinavian aerial archaeologists had looked at in the 1960s, and a presentation of aerial photography projects related to tides and coasts. The archaeologist Jan Norrman writes about past and present work in Sweden, including the problems and achievements with aerial photography.