Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States of America.
Center for Human Evolutionary Studies (CHES), Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2022 Jun 15;17(6):e0269796. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269796. eCollection 2022.
Today, the satellite-based monitoring of archaeological sites and site damage is a widespread practice, especially in conflict-affected regions. However, the vast majority of these remote sensing cultural heritage monitoring efforts have been led and conducted by remote researchers, and there remains an urgent need to embed this work within existing, in-country institutions at local and regional levels. Here, we present the archaeological site monitoring approach and results from the project Archaeological Practice and Heritage Protection in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a collaborative project between the Sirwan Regional Project and Kurdish Iraqi archaeologists aimed at generating a fully functional and sustainable programme of archaeological site management co-created with, and managed by, Kurdish Iraqi archaeologists and antiquities officials. Between August 2018 and February 2020, 376 archaeological sites in the Sirwan/Upper Diyala River Valley region, located in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, were assessed for damage by Kurdish Iraqi archaeologists in collaboration with the Sirwan Regional Project. This work represents the first large-scale, systematic dataset of archaeological site conditions and longer-term damage in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Our results show that 86.7% of the assessed archaeological sites and 38.6% of the site surface area in this region were affected by damage between 1951-2018, and demonstrate the great urgency with which action must be taken to develop appropriate safeguarding measures for the KRI's archaeological heritage. On the basis of these results, we outline relevant recommendations for the immediate protection of archaeological sites in Garmian and the greater Kurdistan Region.
如今，基于卫星的考古遗址和遗址损坏监测已经是一种广泛应用的做法，特别是在受冲突影响的地区。然而，绝大多数这些遥感文化遗产监测工作都是由远程研究人员领导和进行的，因此迫切需要将这项工作嵌入到地方和地区现有的国家机构中。在这里，我们介绍了来自伊拉克库尔德地区考古实践和遗产保护项目的考古遗址监测方法和结果，这是 Sirwan 区域项目与库尔德伊拉克考古学家之间的合作项目，旨在与库尔德伊拉克考古学家和文物官员共同创建一个完全可行和可持续的考古遗址管理计划，并由他们来管理。2018 年 8 月至 2020 年 2 月，位于伊拉克库尔德地区的 Sirwan/上迪亚拉河谷地区的 376 个考古遗址由库尔德伊拉克考古学家与 Sirwan 区域项目合作进行了损坏评估。这是库尔德地区伊拉克（KRI）首次对考古遗址状况和长期损坏进行的大规模、系统的数据集。我们的研究结果表明，在这一地区，86.7%的评估考古遗址和 38.6%的遗址表面受到了 1951 年至 2018 年间的损坏，这表明必须紧急采取行动，为 KRI 的考古遗产制定适当的保护措施。在此基础上，我们为保护加姆尔和更大的库尔德地区的考古遗址提出了相关建议。
