AbstractUsing GIS: A Chain of Equidistant Milestones DiscoveredTrack: Surveying Author In an intermittent field survey for almost 5 years, and along the western area of the Arabian Peninsula, a chain of equidistant milestones is discovered using GIS and GPS techniques. This discovery is multi-productive. The most impressive is the almost exact distance between successive milestones; a distance which fixes and definitely defines the Arabic Mile used by the Abbasids. And because successive distances are fixed, the route along them should be the famous merchant and pilgrimage road between Makkah and Medina. The outcome of this discovery is important in many respects: archeological, geographical and most importantly the one deciphering the Arabic Mile on site; a result which is far-reaching when compared with the current definition of the mile that dates back to the 13th century, and was confirmed by statute in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Abdullah Hussain Alkadi King Faisal University P.O. Box 5543 Dammam, Saudi Arabia 31432 Saudi Arabia Phone: 966 504805130 E-mail: al_kadi@yahoo.com |