Worth preserving (Image: Robert Preston Photography/Alamy)

The ancient city of Palmyra is a Syrian archaeological treasure and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some 2000 years ago, it was one of the most important cultural centres in the world. Now it’s controlled by ISIS fighters, who have threatened to destroy it as part of their campaign against religious idolatry.

This is the worst in a string of threats to the site. Even before this engagement, Palmyra and hundreds of other historically important places in Syria have been plagued by illegal excavations that have seen the looting of many thousands of objects, destroying sites in the process.

Before its retreat, the Syrian army evacuated as much of Palmyra’s population as possible, together with the museum collections, but the ancient city was left and is at the mercy of the invaders. Dedicated Syrians are focused on rescuing collections and buildings if possible. But too often the beautiful buildings and ruins cannot be saved from those determined to damage them, as happened at the ancient city of Nimrud in Iraq in March.


Palmyra now stands as a mute demonstration of the dilemma afflicting heritage specialists today. Although the ISIS attacks are highly destructive, many other sites have been damaged in this and other conflicts – and even more are harmed by activities such as development and agriculture. Some were destroyed before they were even surveyed and are now only known through historic satellite imagery, such as the 1960s images provided by the Corona Atlas of the Ancient Near East. We will never know what has been lost, leaving us to ask what can we do?

A number of initiatives are now looking at exactly this question. A charitably funded team at the universities of Oxford and Leicester has started a project called Endangered Archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa. By examining satellite imagery and historic aerial photography, the team looks for and records sites, monitoring the extensive landscape changes of the past 70 years. The project is recording damage to understand the key threats, working with local heritage agencies to better protect the sites in the future.

Technology aids

Others are looking to new technologies to help, such as 3D scanning. The non-profit group CyArk, a leader in this field, is scanning as many heritage sites, objects, famous landmarks, and even rock-art sites, as possible. It is making them internationally accessible online but also creating records that could be used for reconstruction. Some of these sites are now in areas of great risk, such as Babylon and Mosul in Iraq. CyArk’s goals include scanning 500 heritage sites in the next five years.

Such technology is improving exponentially quickly: new 3D scanning devices are as small as mobile phones, and NGOs hope to deploy them in conflict areas including Syria. It is also possible to create 3D data even from tourist photographs, often using crowdsourced images.

Although technology can make it easier for those who can access and afford it, this is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to reconstruction. More than 85 per cent of Polish capital Warsaw was deliberately razed in the second world war: afterwards it was meticulously rebuilt, and then added to the World Heritage list, using photographs and drawings.

Some argue that such reconstructions lack “authenticity” or “feeling”, but heritage is about relationships with people. In rebuilding such structures, they can stand as an enduring testament to the past, but also as a sign of a more hopeful future.