Documenting, Protecting and Managing Endangered Maritime Cultural Heritage in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region

Abstract

For millennia, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been a culturally dynamic zone, bounded by maritime societies dependent on the sea for communication, trade and livelihoods. The archaeological evidence of these past societies represents an extraordinary physical legacy of human endeavour and presence across this region, contributing to senses of place, identity and belonging amongst contemporary coastal communities. However, the coastal landscapes and marine environment of the MENA region are undergoing a period of profound change, associated with large-scale human development and climate change. In order to assess this change and the level of impact on the resource, the Maritime Endangered Archaeology project (MarEA) was established in 2019 to document cultural heritage sites and landscapes across the coastal and near-shore zones of the survey region. This paper introduces the work of the project and outlines a series of case studies presented in this volume that are representative of the variety and depth of work being undertaken within the project.

The Role of Aerial Prospection for Monitoring and Preserving Cultural Heritage in Northeastern Africa

“…This initiative, hosted by the PERAIA project, not only promotes research transparency but also encourages widespread sharing and reutilisation of data. This approach is based on other projects in which research is eminently digital and involves extensive work on documentation, monitoring and protection strategies in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region [2,31,[36][37][38][39]. In this context, our work is intended to support wider efforts being made to document and protect North African cultural heritage.…”

“…Regions in this area are characterised by vast expanses of arid and semi-arid landscapes and have undergone rapid transformations due to increasing regional development activities, including urban expansion, road construction, intensified agricultural practices, and socio-political conflicts. Moreover, they are particularly vulnerable to the effects of environmental processes such as natural erosion or alterations in coastlines accelerated by climate change [1][2][3][4]. Therefore, the preservation of heritage sites in these areas faces unparalleled challenges, leading to the rapid disappearance of cultural heritage in regions that remain poorly understood.…”

Multidisciplinary digital methodologies for documentation and preservation of immovable Archaeological heritage in the Khovd River Valley, Western Mongolia

“…Increasingly, digital archaeology approaches are advancing the methodologies of adjacent disciplines such as cultural heritage preservation (Lukas et al 2018;MacFarland & Vokes 2016;Clarke 2015;Esteva et al 2010;Hadjimitsis et al 2009;Witcher 2008;Reichel 2005), expanding the potential for breadth of coverage and depth of recorded information. This is especially evident in the practices of remote survey (VanValkenburgh & Dufton 2020;Luo et al 2019;Bradley 2006), particularly for documenting archaeological sites and monitoring their threats and disturbances (e.g., Breen et al 2022;Tews et al 2022;Hammer et al 2018;Fradley & Sheldrick 2017;Casana & Laugier 2017;Parcak et al 2016;Casana & Panahipour 2014;Parcak 2007;Box 1999). This paper demonstrates an approach to integrating various digital-archaeology methods for cultural heritage preservation in Mongolia, focusing on archaeological sites affected by the planned flooding to result from the Erdeneburen Hydroelectric Dam Construction Project in the Khovd River Valley, Khovd aimag/province (Figure 1).…”