At the beginning of October, I started my role as one of four new Part-Time Image Interpreters for the EAMENA project. One of the challenges of the project is to map heritage sites and identify potential threats to these in the vast EAMENA region
The EAMENA project documents endangered heritage in 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. In all but Iran, Arabic is the main language spoken in these countries. Therefore, in order to enhance the value of the EAMENA database as a heritage mapping and management tool for researchers and institutions based in the MENA region, the team has prioritised translating the platform into this language.
As part of our Protecting the Past intiative, from October 27th–28th, several members of the EAMENA team (Robert Bewley, Jennie Bradbury, Emma Cunliffe, Andrea Zerbini) were able to run a training workshop in Iraqi Kurdistan for staff and students from the American University in Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) and the University of Sulaimani.
Since its beginning, one of the priorities for the EAMENA team has been to design an online platform (database) to record cultural heritage sites in the Middle East and North Africa and monitor their state of preservation.