Extending digital database for threatened archaeological sites

Recently, there have been several initiatives to revive threatened archaeological sites and to compensate for lost antiquities in war zones. Our precious historical sites face damage from looting (mostly tied to wartime conflicts), mining, and construction projects and to a certain degree from agriculture and natural erosion.

[Clik here to open the EAMENA map]

In an earlier blog, Will a Digital Library of the Middle East compensate for the war losses I highlighted the joint efforts of the CLIR (Council on Library and Information Resources) and the DLME (Digital Library of the Middle East) to create an online inventory of artifacts from our cultural heritage, including otherwise undocumented or uncatalogued items. A separate blog, A Way to Revive the Museum of Raqqa in Syria underscored the initiative of the DGAM (Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museum) together with that of the Section Archaeology of the Near East from the University of Leiden, Netherlands. They may be a mere drop in the ocean but every single effort to preserve our heritage is most welcome, hence worth mentioning.

This means that the latest database created by the EAMENA (Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa) is no luxury. The search can be filtered in several ways and is very user-friendly. Since 2015, they have cataloged over 20,000 archaeological sites at severe risk and the information is constantly being updated. Initially, the team created a wide aerial photographic collection to document the archaeological sites especially in the Middle East (APAAME, Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East) that is also accessible.

The easiest way to start your search is by clicking on the EAMENA map and follow the instructions.