MAEASaM

Screenshot from Thimlich Ohinga Archaeological Site, displaying metadata elements.

Screenshot from Thimlich Ohinga Archaeological Site, displaying “Copyright & Access” group metadata elements.

Screenshot from the “Accessing Responsibly” article from 9th Issue

Accessibility and reuse underpin FAIR, but applying them varies across contexts. We clean, validate, and structure data with clear metadata and rights frameworks. Public data is shared under Creative Commons, with limits where needed.
maeasam.org/accessing-re... #Digitalheritage #Datapolicy #Fair

It's Friday and time to play our favorite game: #HeritageFromAbove ! Can you guess the name of this site?

Clue:This site is part of the Bassari-Bedik cultural landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage site. #Heritagefromabove #Unesco #Quiz #Landscape

The answer is: Koobi Fora in the Lake Turkana Basin,
One of the world’s most vital archaeological landscapes, central to understanding human origins. This Valentine’s, we celebrate love at humanity’s birthplace—reminding us that beyond borders and differences, we share one story worth protecting.

Image 1: Cover of one of the Raymomd Many Notebooks

Image 2: Map of the Cap-Vert Peninsula showing shell middens.

Raymond Mauny's "Field Notebooks" (1942-1962) document the prehistorian's surveys and excavations in French West Africa. As director of the archaeology section at IFAN in Dakar, he recorded essential data on West African archaeological heritage. #AfricanHeritage #Digitisation #WestAfrica #Senegal

The answer is: Discovered in 1969 in Senegal’s Senegal River Delta (Saint-Louis region), Khant was a major Neolithic site with vast shell middens and a refined bone industry (4221–3584 BC) producing axes, fishhooks, adzes, and needles. It was later destroyed by quarrying for construction.

Happy Friday & Happy Valentine’s season ❤️ #HeritageFromAbove
Can you guess where we are?
Hint: This remote landscape reveals some of the world’s most important early human discoveries—ancient lake shores, dramatic badlands, and a story millions of years old.
Share your guesses below! #Kenya #Origins

Image 1: shows different representations and datasets collected at the site of Seoke, Botswana.

Image 2: a collage that shows data collection at the site of Ranaka, Botswana, in analogue and digital form

Data diversity brings opportunity, and challenge. Archaeology generates fragmented, global datasets that are hard to manage. The MAEASaM Project explores this responsibility. Dr. Stefania Merlo reflects in two podcasts for International Love Data Week: tinyurl.com/55hc3jj3 tinyurl.com/57kdcu72

Historic Kipande House in central Nairobi, a stone colonial-era building with a clock tower, surrounded by modern high-rise offices, pedestrians crossing the street, cars and motorcycles passing by, and a Shell petrol station nearby under a bright blue sky. Photo credits: Daily Nation, May 16, 2019

Kipande House (1912) is one of Nairobi’s most powerful heritage landmarks. Once the centre of the colonial kipande pass system, it stands today as a reminder of Kenya’s struggle for dignity and freedom and the importance of preserving spaces that carry our collective memory. #AfricanHeritage #Kenya

It is time for #HeritageFromAbove. Can you guess this #Heritage site?
Clue: Discovered in 1969, this Neolithic site is famous for its Neolithic bone industry, including axes, fishhooks, adzes, and needles.
Drop your answers in the comments, and as usual good luck! #GoogleEarth #Quiz #Africanheritage

The answer is Aksum, in northern Ethiopia. Capital of the Aksumite Kingdom (1st–8th c. AD), it dominated Red Sea and inland trade via Adulis, linking Africa, Arabia, and Rome. Ruins on the Tigray Plateau include giant obelisks, royal tombs, and palaces.

Commuting is a routine we repeat without a second thought, but every journey tells a story. Here’s a glimpse into a day in the life of a MAEASaM team member 👀 Can you guess who? More clues at the end… Team Profile (maeasam.org/team/) #MAEASaMproject #DayInTheLife #GuessWho #MAEASaMTeam

Fieldwork update! The MAEASaM Senegal team spent Dec 18-23 ground-truthing heritage sites across northern and central Senegal. Using ODK, we documented tumuli and shell middens identified via remote sensing. This data is vital for updating Senegal’s archaeological map.

Fieldwork update! The MAEASaM Senegal team spent Dec 18-23 ground-truthing heritage sites across northern and central Senegal. Using ODK, we documented tumuli and shell middens identified via remote sensing. This data is vital for updating Senegal’s archaeological map.

Fieldwork update! The MAEASaM Senegal team spent Dec 18-23 ground-truthing heritage sites across northern and central Senegal. Using ODK, we documented tumuli and shell middens identified via remote sensing. This data is vital for updating Senegal’s archaeological map.

Fieldwork update! The MAEASaM Senegal team spent Dec 18-23 ground-truthing heritage sites across northern and central Senegal. Using ODK, we documented tumuli and shell middens identified via remote sensing. This data is vital for updating Senegal’s archaeological map. #Fieldwork #ODK #Senegal

It is time for #HeritageFromAbove As usual, Friday brings another quiz featuring a heritage location. Hint: The kingdom was at the crossroads of the three continents: Africa, Arabia and the Greco-Roman World. Can you guess where we are? Share your answers in the comments below, and good luck!

Congratulations @stonefishweirs.bsky.social your answer is correct: Mbaraki Pillar, Mombasa. A 13th–15th c. Swahili pillar tomb in Mbaraki, built of coral rag and lime mortar. About 9–10 m tall, solid and cylindrical, it marked an elite grave and symbolised authority in Swahili coastal society.

View Lamu old town. Credit: Stefania Merlo

View of a house in Lamu. Credit: Stefania Merlo

New content alert! 📢 Angela Kabiru reflects on BIEA & NMK fieldwork on Lamu Island, Kenya, where landscapes of the living and the dead intertwine. How does this compare with burial or ancestral practices you know? 👉(maeasam.org/lamu/) #Museumsofkenya #Culturalheritage #Lamu #Kenyaheritage

Karimjee Hall, National Archives UK reference CO 1069-157-91

Ceremony of the donation of Karimjee hall to the legislative assembly ©Karimjee Group

Abdulkareem Y.A. Karimjee presiding over Tanganyika’s independence ceremony ©Karimjee Group

Karimjee Hall today ©Dar es Salaam City Council

Karimjee Hall, built in 1916, began as the mainland mansion of the Gujarati-Zanzibari Karimjee family, traders between East Africa and India. Donated to Dar es Salaam, it became Tanganyika’s first parliament and Nyerere’s swearing-in site. #NationalmuseumofTanzania #Zanzibar #Historicalbuildings

As usual, Friday brings another quiz featuring an exciting heritage location. Hint: A solitary pillar from the earliest days of the town that surrounds it.

Can you guess where we are?

Share your answers in the comments section below, and good luck! #Museumsofkenya #Swahiliworld #Africaheritage

Congratulations @stonefishweirs.bsky.social your answer is correct. The Mut Temple at Jebel Barkal in Sudan is a significant Nubian archaeological site, partly carved into the rock at the foot of the sacred mountain. Built by Pharaoh Taharqa around 680 BCE, it was dedicated to the goddess Mut.

Shows 2 images: the one on the left shows the fort while it was a prison, the one on the right is what it looks like now. Undated, A Kabiru, 2025

Lamu Fort, built c. 1813–1820 of coral rag and lime mortar, later served as a prison (1910–1984) under colonial and early post-independence rule, before transfer to the National Museums of Kenya—an emblem of layered Swahili coastal history.#LamuFort #SwahiliArchitecture #UNESCOWorldHeritage

We’re back again! #HeritageFromAbove. Can you guess this #Heritage site?

Clue: It’s thought to have been a place of Mother Goddess worship.

Drop your answers in the comments, and as usual good luck! #heritagefromabove #archaeology #googleearth #quiz

View of an inside part of the Enclosure. Credit: Rebecca Bradshaw

View of an inside part of the Enclosure. Credit: Rebecca Bradshaw

Hidden in Sudan’s desert, the Great Enclosure at Musawwarat es-Sufra is a vast, maze-like Meroitic monument. Graffiti-filled walls, linked to the Lion Temple of Apedemak and its hafir, reveal a ritual landscape still shrouded in mystery. #Ancienthistory #Kingdomofkush #Archaeology #Sudan #Meroe

Explore the project’s Arches Demo Database in our latest newsletter (Issue 9), available on our website (also downloadable as a pdf).
maeasam.org/latest-issue/

In the 16th and 17th centuries, this fortress city was the residence of Emperor Fasilides and his successors. Surrounded by a 900-metre defensive wall, it holds palaces, churches, monasteries, and remarkable buildings that blend Hindu and Arab influences.
Do you know where we are?

📣 MAHSA & MAEASaM host CAA-UK 25!

Last week we welcomed a record number of delegates to Cambridge for the CAA-UK conference on computer applications and quantitative methods in archaeology.

A huge thank you to our conference contributors, delegates, and organising team!

The MAEASaM Senegal team
This mission focuses on sand tumuli located in northwestern Senegal (Saint-Louis Region), central Senegal (Diourbel Region), and the central-southern area (Kaffrine Region). Here are some images of the team in the field.

Nestled in the Shashe-Limpopo area, Mmamagwa was a significant satellite site of the ancient Mapungubwe Kingdom. Today, Mmamagwa is part of UNESCO Tentative List site of Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape spanning Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
#UNESCO #BotswanaSouthAfricaZimbabwe #Mapungubwe

Happy Friday, it’s time for #HeritageFromAbove Do you know where we are today? Wait until the end of the clip for more clues and as always good luck! Answer in the comments below. #HeritageQuiz #Archaeology #GoogleEarth #wherearewe

The answer is: Fortress of São Sebastião in Mozambique, the oldest intact fort in sub-Saharan Africa, begun in 1558 and finished after 62 years. It survived Dutch, British and Omani attacks. Though unkempt and sparsely explained, its scale, atmosphere and battlement views are striking.

**Image 1 (front view):** Stone façade of Lord Egerton Castle in Nakuru, Kenya, showing its large windows, sloping dark roof, and lush green lawn with palm trees in the foreground under a partly cloudy sky.

**Image 2 (aerial view):** Aerial view of Lord Egerton Castle in Nakuru, Kenya, revealing its 52-room stone structure, red-brown tiled roofs, surrounding gardens with neatly trimmed hedges, and wide grassy grounds.

In Nakuru, Kenya, heartbreak built a fortress. Lord Egerton Castle, 52 rooms of marble and oak, finished in 1954 but never lived in by the princess it was built for. A national monument since 1996, open to all since 2005, just 14 km from Nakuru. #Kenyaheritage #LordEgertonCastle

It is Friday, another new destination!
Think you can guess where we’re heading this week?
Hint: Regarded as the oldest complete fort in sub-Saharan Africa
Drop your answers in the comments, and Good luck! #Heritagefromabove
Credit: Erik Cleves Kristensen
Licence: [Creative Commons Attribution 2.0]