What We Do
Our Work
Using five decades of satellite imagery — including declassified HEXAGON KH-9 and Copernicus Sentinel data — combined with on-the-ground drone surveys to document archaeological sites and ancient water systems threatened by climate change and intensive agriculture.
→ View IEEE publicationPioneering the first archaeological survey of the Iraqi Western Desert — a vast region long overlooked by local and international researchers. Over 500 lithic samples collected across ten field trips, now prompting new research projects and official heritage records.
→ Read the ASOR field reportDelivering accessible lectures and workshops to universities, heritage authorities, and local communities across the Middle East, North Africa, and internationally — helping stakeholders understand the scale of climate risk to their cultural environments and offering practical mitigation strategies.
Communicating research findings to broader audiences through international media, including the LA Times, Hurriyet Daily News, and New Lines Magazine, to raise global awareness of the crisis facing Iraq's ancient heritage and its living communities.
→ LA Times featureBuilding and sustaining partnerships between Iraqi institutions and leading international universities and organisations — including UCL, Durham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Sapienza Rome, Tokushima, the British Academy, and ASOR — to ensure Iraq's heritage research reaches the highest global standards.
→ Archaeology & Cultural Heritage in Iraq — University of GlasgowInvestigating how modern irrigation, water depletion, and desertification are creating an interlocking crisis between climate, water availability, agriculture, and cultural heritage — and working with stakeholders to document and respond to these threats before sites are lost forever.
By the Numbers