Project Anqa: Digitally Documenting At-Risk Heritage Sites in Syria and Iraq

Akhtar, Saima, Goze Akoglu, Kiraz, Simon, Stefan and Rushmeier, Holly (2018) Project Anqa: Digitally Documenting At-Risk Heritage Sites in Syria and Iraq. In: ICOMOS 19th General Assembly and Scientific Symposium "Heritage and Democracy", 13-14th December 2017, New Delhi, India. [Conference or Workshop Item]

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Abstract (in English)

The practice of recording and digitizing cultural heritage sites is gaining ground among conservation scientists and scholars in architecture, computer science, and related fields. Recently, the location of sites in areas of conflict has highlighted the urgent need for documenting heritage sites for preservation and posterity. This process is not limited to digitization, however, but also includes the meaningful interpretation of sites with respect to their intangible values. This practice necessitates new tools, which goes a step beyond simple digitization. Project Anqa counters the devastating loss of cultural heritage throughout the Middle East, most notably in Syria and Iraq. The project is funded by the Arcadia Fund (London. UK), and works through the partnership of CyArk, ICOMOS, and the Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage to train local professionals in documenting at-risk sites in 3D before they are destroyed or altered. Through an interdisciplinary process, Anqa aims to assemble the recorded documentation, historically contextualize it, and make data accessible and useful for scholars, peers, and the public with state-of-the-art tools. A primary goal of Project Anqa is to work through a process that includes capacity building on the ground so that local partners are included in the data collection, ownership, preservation, and the storytelling process. Our partnership with CyArk, who are specialized in photogrammetric and laser scanning technologies, helps to train professionals to collect RAW and ethnographic data. Together, we emphasize the importance of documentation using what we call the “subjective eye,” which is based not only on tangible but also on a list of intangible categories in accordance with CIDOC-CRM and ICOMOS CIPA standards. It is our hope that Project Anqa will serve as an example of ‘people-centred’ cultural heritage documentation in a digital age through an open-access web platform hosted by Yale University. The site will make graphic and textual information available to scholars crossing a variety of departmental borders and the general public. Through this effort, we offer a foundational, democratic and participatory platform for the study and documentation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, not only for at-risk regions in the Middle East, but more generally around the world.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Authors:	Authors Email Akhtar, Saima UNSPECIFIED Goze Akoglu, Kiraz UNSPECIFIED Simon, Stefan UNSPECIFIED Rushmeier, Holly UNSPECIFIED
Languages:	English
Keywords:	project anqa; heritage at risk; world heritage; open access; middle east; conservation; digital; 3D; database
Subjects:	E.CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION > 05. Sites E.CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION > 09. Social and economic aspects of conservation L.PRESENTATION AND TRANSMISSION OF HERITAGE > 04. Public awareness L.PRESENTATION AND TRANSMISSION OF HERITAGE > 05. Dissemination O.INTANGIBLE HERITAGE > 05. Traditional craftsmanship
National Committee:	ICOMOS International
ICOMOS Special Collection:	Scientific Symposium (ICOMOS General Assemblies)
ICOMOS Special Collection Volume:	19th General Assembly, New Delhi, 2017
Depositing User:	intern icomos
Date Deposited:	11 Jan 2019 14:13
Last Modified:	11 Jan 2019 14:13
References:	Pierre Alliez, Laurent Bergerot, Jean-François Bernard, Clotilde Boust, George Bruseker, et al., 2017.Digital 3D Objects in Art and Humanities: Challenges of Creation, Interoperability and Preservation. White paper: PARTHENOS Workshop held in Bordeaux at Maison des Sciences de l’Homme d’Aquitaine and at Archeovision Lab. (France), November 30th - December 2nd, 2016,. pp. 71. Baca, M., Harpring, P., 2014. CDWA List of Categories and Definitions. J. Paul Getty Trust. www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/cdwa/index.html CIDOC, 2017 Definition of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, ICOM/CIDOC Documentation Standards Group, continued by the CIDOC CRM Special Interest Group, Version 6.2.2, September 2017 http://www.cidoc-crm.org/sites/default/files2/2017-09-30%23CIDOC%20CRM_v6.2.2_esIP.pdf, 314 pp. ICOMOS, 1996. PRINCIPLES FOR THE RECORDING OF MONUMENTS, GROUPS OF BUILDINGS AND SITES (1996), Ratified by the 11th ICOMOS General Assembly in Sofia, October 1996, http://www.icomos.org/charters/archives-e.pdf Eleni Kotoula, Kiraz Goze Akoglu, Weiqi Shi, Ying Yang, Stefan Simon, and Holly Rushmeier, 2017.CHER-Ob for Cultural Heritage research: Unsleben Jewish cemetery case study, Journal of Archaeological Science, (under review) Shi, Weiqi, Eleni Kotoula, Kiraz Goze Akoglu, Ying Yang, Holly Rushmeier, 2016. CHER-Ob: A Tool for Shared Analysis in Cultural Heritage. EUROGRAPHICS Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage, 10/2016. DOI = {10.2312/gch.20161404} Silver, M., F. Rinaudo, E. Morezzi, F. Quenda, M.L. Moretti, 2016.The CIPA Database for Saving the Heritage of Syria. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLI-B5, 2016 XXIII ISPRS Congress, 12-19 July 2016, Prague, Czech Republic.
URI:	https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2014

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