The current political instability in the Near East is at the heart of complex issues of management and protection
of local archaeological heritage. In the last century, many archaeological sites have been victim of conflicts,
which caused huge damages. Although it constitutes a well-known problem inside the international community,
a consistent and reliable report on damage is still missing.
The Crisis Areas Archaeological Database (CAAD) aims to create an online open source database, a WebGIS
platform, for collecting data relating archaeological heritage in Near Eastern crisis areas, monitoring their status
in real time and documenting the extent of the damage suffered by them with photos, maps and, where possible,
a comparison with existing archaeological documentation.
The data collected will be accessible through a dynamic, searchable and interactive on-line maps, which, will allow
access to several data such as name, geographical references, date of survey, presence of regular excavations/
restorations, type of damage, date of damage and eventual multimedia contents of the site.
At present, a demonstration version of CAAD WebGIS regarding southern Levant is under construction. The
goal of the project is the creation of a WebGIS available and updatable by all the scholars who, in their work,
encounter damage to archaeological heritage in crisis areas and in all the Near East.The current political instability in the Near East is at the heart of complex issues of management and protection
of local archaeological heritage. In the last century, many archaeological sites have been victim of conflicts,
which caused huge damages. Although it constitutes a well-known problem inside the international community,
a consistent and reliable report on damage is still missing.
The Crisis Areas Archaeological Database (CAAD) aims to create an online open source database, a WebGIS
platform, for collecting data relating archaeological heritage in Near Eastern crisis areas, monitoring their status
in real time and documenting the extent of the damage suffered by them with photos, maps and, where possible,
a comparison with existing archaeological documentation.
The data collected will be accessible through a dynamic, searchable and interactive on-line maps, which, will allow
access to several data such as name, geographical references, date of survey, presence of regular excavations/
restorations, type of damage, date of damage and eventual multimedia contents of the site.
At present, a demonstration version of CAAD WebGIS regarding southern Levant is under construction. The
goal of the project is the creation of a WebGIS available and updatable by all the scholars who, in their work,
encounter damage to archaeological heritage in crisis areas and in all the Near East.
