Official launch of public database of ‘at risk’ archaeological sites

Tell Umeri is an ancient settlement mound in Jordan. As you can see from the Google Earth image, the western edge of the settlement mound has been bulldozed and a modern road now runs alongside this ancient tell. Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa , (EAMENA) an archaeological preservation project, will today launch public access to its online database of nearly 20,000 archaeological sites at severe risk due to conflict and other agents of destruction in the Middle East and North Africa. The announcement will be made during the first ever Public Archaeology Twitter Conference(#PATC) today. The conference will also have input from over 30 other leading archaeological academic institutions and projects. It is hoped that the database will drive awareness of the scale of the problem and help governments, NGOs, and other regional stakeholders preserve the heritage of the people of the Middle East and the wider world. EAMENA's spatial database will provide information for each site, including the level of risk and how each site relates to others. It will be accessible to all heritage professionals and institutions with an interest in the archaeological heritage of the Middle East and North Africa.