Seems a lot of circumstantial stuff to me. But hey... "A secret desert camp used by Lawrence of Arabia has been found intact almost 100 years after he left it. The hideout in modern-day Jordan was still littered with spent cartridges and broken gin bottles when a team of archaeologists found it - thanks to an RAF pilot's vaguely-sketched map. It was used as a vital base by Thomas Edward Lawrence, the British intelligence officer who would pass into legend for his guerilla raids against Turkish forces in the First World War.+8 But the camp would have gone unnoticed for many years more had it not been for a chance discovery in the National Archives. John Winterburn, an archaeologist at Bristol University, found a loosely-sketched map from 1918 by a pilot who recalled the camp from memory after a reconnaisance flight. He scoured through images on Google Earth to find a part of the desert which matched the drawing in a 10-year investigation called the Arab Revolt Project. Finally he found the small camp, which Lawrence said was 'behind the toothed hill facing Tell Shahm station', in November 2012 exactly where he predicted it would be. Accompanied by project directors Nicholas Saunders and Neil Faulkner, both based at Bristol, he found ashes still in a camp fire and broken biscuit boxes strewn across the 100-yard square. Mr Faulkner told MailOnline: 'When you're talking about the field of modern conflict archaeology, it's the closest we can get to finding Tutankhamun's tomb." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2587193/Secret-desert-camp-used-First-World-War-hero-Lawrence-Arabia-discovered-intact-rum-jars-campfire.html#ixzz2wnFMWS5w
A bit overstated don't you think ? - Mr Faulkner told MailOnline: 'When you're talking about the field of modern conflict archaeology, it's the closest we can get to finding Tutankhamun's tomb."
Ashes from the actual fire mentioned in Seven Pillars....did Lawrence autograph them ? ( no doubt swilling gin at the same time - despite being teetotal...). Of course, Larence may have used that camp - or maybe not......the relics found would seem to point to it being used by Allenby's regular troops, not by Arab guerillas. Nice story, but any 'Lawrence' connection must be tenuous, to say the least....................
And gin was prolifically used t disguise quinine and often thought to cleanse water in the field. A panacea of sorts. Those bottles could be re-utilized as well for storage and other tonics. I'm sure the conflict archaeologists look at it. Is Slow berry/juniper berry distillation against the Koran? Might be another reason that so many gin bottles are seen in a coalition camp. Only the fermentation of grape or wheat is in direct violation, I think. Neat to know that someone could exploit a so-called guerilla camp from Lawrence's time. --Ray
Actually, I may have to give the report more credit.....dug out my copy of Seven Pillars and the raid on Tell el Shahm in 1918 is described in fair detail, including the use of a couple of Rolls Royce armoured cars and also a battery of Talbot 10-pounders. So - I'll give it the benefit of the doubt .........
