Thursday 11th April 2019, 5.45pm
MBI Al Jaber Building, London Middle East Institute, SOAS

Endangered Cultural Heritage of the Middle East: Yemen and Oman

Presented by Robert Bewley, Director of EAMENA & Michael Fradley, Research Associate at EAMENA

The Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East project (EAMENA) began in 2015 as a response to conflict in the region, funded by the Arcadia Fund. Its aim is to rapidly record archaeological sites that are in danger of damage and destruction from a multiplicity of agents. With the Yemen conflict starting in 2015, working there became a priority. This talk will highlight the background to the EAMENA project, explain its methodology, describe the main causes of damage and destruction with a focus on Yemen. The EAMENA project has developed its own open-access database, now containing over 250,000 records. These records can be used in a variety of ways: for academic research, for the development planning process and in the dissemination knowledge about the significance of the region’s archaeology. The project has also developed a training programme (funded by the Cultural Protection Fund) in eight countries, including Yemen.

We will also discuss the next steps and the long-term plans for aiming to improve the preservation of archaeological sites in the region, with specific reference to Yemen and Oman.

It will also highlight recent work on Yemen and the newly created Aerial Archaeology in Oman project.

Robert Bewley is the Director of the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project at the University of Oxford, funded by the Arcadia Fund and the Cultural Protection Fund  http://eamena.arch.ox.ac.uk. He has been the Co-Director of the Aerial Archaeology in Jordan project since 1998, and very recently was able to set up the Aerial Archaeology in Oman project. Formerly he was Head of Aerial Survey at English Heritage and Director of Operations for the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Michael Fradley is a researcher on the EAMENA project, focusing on Yemen, Palestine and use of historic aerial photographs, and leads the implementation of the Yemen Heritage Management Platform.

You can download a pdf flyer for this lecture.

A full schedule of forthcoming lectures is available here.

In order to reserve a seat for the lecture, please email [email protected] as seating is limited.

Please note that the views expressed by the speakers in this lecture series should not be interpreted as views held by the MBI Al Jaber Foundation.