Louise Rayne
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louiserayne.bsky.social
Louise Rayne
@louiserayne.bsky.social
Newcastle University Academic Track (NUACT) Fellow. Archaeologist and remote sensing specialist. Working on ways to use Earth observation to model past sustainable landscapes (agriculture, water management).
Reposted by Louise Rayne
My piece in The Conversation @africa.theconversation.com based on our recent article in @antiquity.ac.uk

Read the original article here: doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
August 22, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Our Digitising Desertification summer school continues this week at Newcastle University. We've had a fascinating introduction to declassified cold war satellite imagery from PhD student Jen Makovics.
July 29, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Our Detecting Desertification summer school at Newcastle University continues with some training in writing machine learning algorithms using satellite images in Google Earth Engine
July 24, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Day 2 of our Detecting Desertification sumer school at @newcastleuni.bsky.social Students practised using Google Earth Pro for digiting archaeological sites of all types, including these ancient gold mines alongside the Nile in Sudan. Satellite Image from Google Earth Pro Airbus 2025.
July 22, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Day 1 of our Digitising Desertification summer school (Archaeology, Newcastle uni). PhD student Hope Irvine shows Newcastle students results of our new machine learning algorithms for detecting change to archaeology.
July 21, 2025 at 11:57 AM
the calm before the storm...
July 21, 2025 at 7:41 AM
June 4, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Louise Rayne
A slave revolt, Mongol invasion, spread of plague and climate change.

Find out how agricultural features in southern Iraq can teach us about all of these in this great thread, then check out the new Research Article in Antiquity 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Our new article published today in @antiquity.ac.uk focuses on interesting archaeological landscape features in southern Iraq. Groups of long linear earthen ridges sit on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab river in the Basra region, north of the shores of the Gulf… 🧵
June 2, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Louise Rayne
Our new article published today in @antiquity.ac.uk focuses on interesting archaeological landscape features in southern Iraq. Groups of long linear earthen ridges sit on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab river in the Basra region, north of the shores of the Gulf… 🧵
June 2, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Our latest article is out today. It describes results of remote sensing and OSL dating of archaeological earthworks near Basra in Iraq. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
June 2, 2025 at 8:30 AM
A new paper with Google Earth Engine code on remote sensing of vanishing archaeology in Iraq from me, my students and our collaborators www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14...
May 7, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Reposted by Louise Rayne
The waterways of the lower #Mesopotamian plains in today's modern #Iraq were one of the most important drivers of life, both urban and rural, in this environment for thousands of years. Water is the lifeblood of agriculture, urban development and trade. 1/6 #coastalhistory #maritimeheritage
March 24, 2025 at 12:24 PM
March 14, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Loads of news articles have just appeared on my recent research (that I co-direct) at Eridu, but none mention me... story of my career!
March 14, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Louise Rayne
If you're involved in REF2029 preparation for your university re Outputs: @ref2029.bsky.social has published answers to Frequently Asked Questions re Open Access requirements. My personal favourite (relevant to so many aspects of life):

'Appropriate use of exceptions will not be penalised.'
Open Access FAQs – REF 2029
2029.ref.ac.uk
March 12, 2025 at 11:04 AM
A new paper of mine on Early Islamic water management is just out here
March 12, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Cullercoats the other day
March 12, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Reposted by Louise Rayne
I might be biased but this is a fantastic #Science4Policy job opportunity for someone passionate about supporting evidence-informed policymaking and Europe's scientific community!

Apply now (deadline 19 March)👇!

www.egu.eu/news/1258/jo...

#SciPolJobs #SciComm #SciCommJobs #Jobs #Geoscience
March 6, 2025 at 9:51 AM
New paper from me and my colleagues on ancient irrigation at Eridu, Iraq www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Identifying the preserved network of irrigation canals in the Eridu region, southern Mesopotamia | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
Identifying the preserved network of irrigation canals in the Eridu region, southern Mesopotamia
www.cambridge.org
February 18, 2025 at 11:40 AM
In Riyadh attending #cop16, presenting my research on using remote sensing to detect desertification in heritage oases and hosting a table in the UK pavillion
December 9, 2024 at 5:58 PM
Tynemouth this morning
April 7, 2024 at 11:49 AM
A webinar I am giving tomorrow with Dr Jaafar Jotheri on past and traditional water management in Iraq

giap.icac.cat/seminars/
March 19, 2024 at 5:39 PM
rdcu.be/dzE1J

A recent paper from me, my team and collaborators on using remote sensing to detect desertification of traditional oases.
Detecting desertification in the ancient oases of southern Morocco
Scientific Reports - Detecting desertification in the ancient oases of southern Morocco
rdcu.be
February 26, 2024 at 2:49 PM
Bunny
February 10, 2024 at 2:49 PM