Endangered archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa: The development of a spatial database
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 08/07/2016

Archaeological sites across the Middle East and North Africa are under ever increasing risk from a range of threats such as growing population sizes, increased agricultural production, urban development, warfare and looting. The Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project (Eamena), which is based at the University of Oxford and the University of Leicester and is supported by the Arcadia Fund, is in the process of recording endangered sites, many of them unrecorded, from across this region using satellite imagery and aerial photography. The project collaborates with cultural heritage institutions in different countries as well as scientific researchers and all people with a strong interest in the preservation of its rich archaeological heritage.
In this presentation we discuss the development of the spatial database, which underpins the aims and objectives of the project. It is built using the Arches cultural heritage management system, a freely customisable open source software package that complies with to international recording standards. A number of key stages formed part of the database development, including setting out what types of data to record, what terms would make up the semantic vocabularies, ensuring that the structure conformed to CiDOC CRM standards, uploading of legacy datasets and the integration of satellite imagery. The aim is to produce a database that will be publically accessible and is designed to be used by a network of well trained staff in the region, with the skills to record and manage sensitive archaeological sites and landscapes, to ensure that the cultural heritage will be managed in the future.

Richard Jennings