Satellite imagery-based monitoring of archaeological site damage in the Syrian civil war.

Jesse Casana,Elise Jakoby Laugier,Peter F Biehl

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0188589

Abstract

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the rich archaeological heritage of Syria and northern Iraq has faced severe threats, including looting, combat-related damage, and intentional demolition of monuments. However, the inaccessibility of the conflict zone to archaeologists or cultural heritage specialists has made it difficult to produce accurate damage assessments, impeding efforts to develop mitigation strategies and policies. This paper presents results of a project, undertaken in collaboration with the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) and the US Department of State, to monitor damage to archaeological sites in Syria, northern Iraq, and southern Turkey using recent, high-resolution satellite imagery. Leveraging a large database of archaeological and heritage sites throughout the region, as well as access to continually updated satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe, this project has developed a flexible and efficient methodology to log observations of damage in a manner that facilitates spatial and temporal queries. With nearly 5000 sites carefully evaluated, analysis reveals unexpected patterns in the timing, severity, and location of damage, helping us to better understand the evolving cultural heritage crisis in Syria and Iraq. Results also offer a model for future remote sensing-based archaeological and heritage monitoring efforts in the Middle East and beyond.

Highlights

With the outbreak of civil war in Syria during 2011, and the spread of military conflict and political upheaval throughout surrounding regions of the Middle East, the region’s rich cultural heritage faced unprecedented threats from looting, direct conflict-related damage, and ideologically-driven destruction of sites and monuments [1,2,3,4,5]
This paper presents results of a two-year effort undertaken by the authors, in collaboration with the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) Cultural Heritage Initiatives (CHI)
The research project we report undertaken as a component of the larger ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives, emerged out of an initial urgent need to evaluate the extent and severity of damage to archaeological sites in the context of the Syrian war, and many of the decisions we made in the design and implementation of the project was driven by this exigency

Summary

Introduction

With the outbreak of civil war in Syria during 2011, and the spread of military conflict and political upheaval throughout surrounding regions of the Middle East, the region’s rich cultural heritage faced unprecedented threats from looting, direct conflict-related damage, and ideologically-driven destruction of sites and monuments [1,2,3,4,5]. Because it offers the ability to monitor damage across large regions from space, satellite imagery-based analysis of cultural heritage has become increasingly popular and numerous research teams around the world have begun to devote significant resources to remote. Through analysis of 1900 sites, the project revealed patterns in the types of sites that were most likely to be targeted and the timing of looting, as well as illustrating the potential of such an approach more broadly This project required commercial imagery to be purchased at high cost, limiting the ability of other researchers to replicate the approach elsewhere or for research to continue after grant funding was expended [17]. Google Earth and similar services do not update imagery very frequently, and are of limited use in contemporary conflict zone cultural heritage monitoring [8]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion