Introducing this new archaeological project covering the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Indonesia and Vietnam. You can also follow them on Instagram and Twitter.
The Maritime Asia Heritage Survey (MAHS) builds upon the Maldives Heritage Survey pilot project that was based at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies to expand the work of digitally documenting historical and archaeological sites across the broader region of maritime Southern Asia, including new field survey work in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Brunei, and Vietnam.
The seasonal monsoon cycles of Maritime Southern Asia have for centuries facilitated the circulation of people, materials and ideas across this vast seascape and created a rich mosaic of diverse local cultures. Today, many of the important sites, monuments and objects associated with this rich history are increasingly under threat: exposed to environmental stress from cyclones, tsunami, coastal erosion, land subsidence and rising sea-levels; rapid and unplanned development and construction; and in some instances deliberate acts of vandalism.
To document this endangered heritage, the MAHS field teams use digital technologies including GPS/RTK (Real-Time Kinetic) mapping, digital photography, video, CAD drawings and IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) standard manuscript digitizations, as well as aerial and terrestrial LiDAR to produce robust records for the benefit of historians, local communities, and heritage management professionals. Our database also provides a platform for the standardization and integration of other data sets that have been generously shared with us by partner institutions and individuals across the region.
All records and other digital heritage assets produced by the MAHS are made open-access available online here and permanently archived in the library systems of Kyoto University and the University of Oxford.
Source: Maritime Asia Heritage Survey
