Saturday 11 January 2014

Gamechanging Technology in Protection of Archaeological Sites?


Larry Rothfield draws attention on his blog to measures reported being adopted in Iraq to prevent the pilfering of sites for collectables (Friday, January 10, 2014, 'Potentially Very Important News from Iraq about Archaeological Site Protection'):
Another project aimed at protecting archaeological sites involves installing ground sensors around each site to detect and monitor movement and transmit it to specialised offices and security services via satellite, Saleh said. "This project, which we hope to launch this year, is among the most important to help curtail random excavation by antiquities thieves at archaeological sites that do not have sufficient protection," he said. "This in turn protects the human and cultural heritage of Iraq against theft and smuggling," he added.
It is ironic that it is places like war-torn Iraq that are investing in such technology involving remote monitoring technology involves ground sensors and real-time transmission of information, rather than countyries like the USA and the UK which have similar problems with remote and sensitive sites being pilfered by artefact hunters looking for collectables. There are many places in the UK that face this threat, the Staffordshire Hoard field for example, also places next to important finds which are also being targeted ('Focus on UK Metal Detecting: Illegal Artefact Hunting Damages Little Asby Common ' Thursday, 12 December 2013). When is Britain going to ask Iraq to share this technology with them, so they too can learn to deal with illicit activity damaging the archaeological heritage?

 

No comments:

 
Creative Commons License
Ten utwór jest dostępny na licencji Creative Commons Uznanie autorstwa-Bez utworów zależnych 3.0 Unported.