Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency release, dated 2012-06-01, contains an English translation of a 1948 Soviet article by S. P. Tolstov and M. A. Orlov on archaeological aerial surveys in Khwarazm, Uzbekistan, during 1945 and 1946. It describes flight altitudes, lighting and camera methods for photographing ruins. The authors report flights of more than 9,000 kilometers that doubled the number of known monuments, located medieval cities and irrigation networks, and produced an archaeological map. It contains no UFO material.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
creased in 1945 when the Expedition completed its first task, which was the exploration of a zone 50-100 miles away from inhabited regions. Then the problem arose of the relationship of Khwarazm with the Syr-Larya region, with the basin of the Zgravshan and with Eastern Europe.
The method employed in aerial surveying was to locate a monument, photograph it and the surrounding territory extending the area by rings so as to be able to map the distribution of ruins, irrigation systems and roads. Landings were made near the large monuments and an aerial party joined by an auto-group which established bases along the way; the Kizil-Kum route established bases on Chirik-Nabata, Kum-Kala, and Dzhan-Kala (Lzhenda). Two methods were employed:
1. Aero-visual research from $ \mathrm{P O_{2}} $ planes for topographical surveying of the Turtkuft and Shabbaz regions of the Kara-Kalpak ASKR, as a result of which a map of ancient Khwarazm covering 2,000 sq. km. was made. Desert conditions with so-called "sand-smoke," brilliant light and very turbulent atmosphere made reconnaissance difficult.
2. Photographic work was based on the nature of the monuments: (a) those with poorly demarcated relief, partly covered by sand and vegetation; and (b) those with walls and towers. In order to photograph (a) the best conditions are immediately after sunrise and before sunset, when details stand out very clearly. This is also the best time for visual observation. The best results are also obtained when the Not linked to a story yet.
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 6 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.