Dr Khady Niang (Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar) will be giving the fourth Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Lecture. 'Regional trajectories in the West African Stone Age: perspectives from Sahelian and Forest landscapes' 📅 Tuesday 5 May ⏰ 17:00-18:00 bit.ly/JWO2026 @maeasamproject.bsky.social

#GroundingHeritage takes us to Ethiopia’s mountains. The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela and fortified sites like Fasil Ghebbi reflect how defence, faith, and landscape intertwine in resilient heritage systems. #DefenceSystems #AfricanArchaeology #Ethiopia

It's Friday...time for #HeritageFromAbove Do you know where we are today? Remember to answer in the comments and as always good luck!! 📸 Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism. #HeritageFromAbove #Googleearth #BotswanaHeritage #Satelliteimagery #Quiz

Digitising legacy records involves several steps: assessing record condition and volume; scanning at 300–400+ DPI with 48-bit colour and TIFF format; applying consistent file naming; performing quality checks; adding metadata during post-processing; and protecting data using the 3-2-1 backup rule.

It is Friday, which means it’s time for #HeritageFromAbove! Can you guess where are we? Clue: Once nicknamed the “Palais Faidherbe” Drop your answer in the comments below, and as usual, good luck! #Heritagefromabove #UNESCO #Satelliteimagery #Archaeology #Senegal #Africanheritage #Quiz

Across Africa, communities built defensive systems such as walls, moats, and watchtowers. In Senegal, the tata of Yang-Yang, a double fortified enclosure built c.1875, protected the Djolof heartland. Similar structures exist across Africa under different local names. #Defencesystems #Senegambia

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for #HeritageFromAbove! Can you guess the name of this site? Clue: Here is a clue: this ruins were built by the terrace builders Drop your answer in the comments below, and as usual, good luck! #Heritagefromabove #UNESCO #Quiz #Africanheritage #Archaeology

Today begins the same way it does for many of us, with an early morning coffee, It may look like an ordinary routine. But within those ordinary hours, something extraordinary is happening: documenting and protecting of Africa’s endangered archaeological sites. Can you Guess our Partner Country?

🎤Coming soon on Monday, 9 March - featuring #GroundingHeritage Join us on a journey through hundreds of archaeological features in Africa from the ground up. Stay tuned for more😉 #GroundingHeritage #AfricanHeritage #Archaeology #Didyouknow #Featurethis

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for #HeritageFromAbove! Can you guess the name of this site? Clue: This contains over 1,000 stone circles and tumuli. Drop your answer in the comments below, and as usual, good luck! #Heritagefromabove #UNESCO #Quiz

🗺️ Record-breaking GIS workshop! MAHSA & MAEASaM welcomed 280 participants from 30+ countries to explore GIS in archaeology, from theory and case studies to hands-on QGIS training. Thank you to our speakers, organisers, and global community. This is just the beginning! #archaeology #GIS #QGIS

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

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

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

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

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

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 #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!

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, 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

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

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

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]

Want to learn more about Arches? Attend a workshop at #CAAUK2025 in Cambridge on Dec 9 at 11:30 GMT! The workshop will include a presentation on Arches Lingo by Phil Carlisle of Historic England, along with demos of two Arches implementations: @mahsa-project.bsky.social & @maeasamproject.bsky.social

The MAESaM team has arrived in beautiful Zanzibar! Grateful to Hon. Aboud Juma, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Heritage, for the warm welcome. We also had a productive meeting with him and Bibi Kei Abdalla, Acting Director of Antiquities and Museum. #collaborations #zanzibar

We welcomed Omar Madime from Eduardo Mondlane University to the Southern African Hub at UP. He explored our resource models, Arches database, and remote sensing work, and shared valuable insights on Mozambique’s heritage system. Great to have him on board! #SouthernAfrica #Training #Mozambique

Another Friday, another mystery destination! Think you can guess where we’re heading this week? Watch the video closely — the clue is hidden inside! Hint: The site characterised by extensive dry stone terraces Drop your answers in the comments below and as always Good luck! #Heritagefromabove

Celebrating GIS Day and the power of geospatial tech in protecting shared heritage. Next week, the MAEASaM Project hands over a GIS database prototype to Zanzibar’s Department of Museums—an exciting step for local heritage management and long-term preservation. #GISDay #MAEASaM #Zanzibar

Once a quiet desert, El Kurru was the royal burial ground of Kushite kings and queens whose power later reached Egypt, forming the 25th Dynasty. From here came rulers who revived traditions, restored temples, and shaped Nile Valley history — a story of identity, memory, and enduring legacy. #Sudan

New article from the MAEASaM Team! The Perils of Endangerment explores threats to Africa’s archaeological heritage—including sites with no visible remains—and what this means for preservation and mapping. Read free: doi.org/10.32028/978... #archaeology #openaccess #MAEASaMproject #Africanheritage

It is Friday, another #heritagefromabove quiz. Think you can guess where we’re heading this week? Drop your answers in the comments below and as always good luck! #unesco #archaeology #áfrica #icomos

Le caractère stratégique de l’île de Gorée lui valut une vocation défensive. Les Néerlandais y construisirent deux forts, une batterie principale, des remparts modestes, une redoute, la « batterie de l’Ouest » et plusieurs petits bastions. #Africanheritage #Archaeology #AfricanArchaeology #Geography

Another Friday, another mystery destination! Think you can guess where we’re heading this week? Watch the video closely — the clue is hidden inside! Drop your answers in the comments below and as always Good luck! #heritagefromabove #googleearth #africanheritage #quiz

In collaboration with IFAN Ch. A. Diop, the Museum of African Civilizations has been presenting an exhibition dedicated to William Ponty's notebooks since October 16. These notebooks, meticulously handwritten by students between 1933 and 1949, address a wide variety of sociocultural themes. #Senegal

It’s Friday! It’s time for Heritage Above! Do you know where we are? Clue: Oral tradition connects this fortified palace on Pemba island to a Prince nicknamed Mkama Ndume. Any idea? Share your answers in the comments! #NationalMuseumofTanzania #Heritagefromabove #Africanheritage

In Kondoa, Tanzania, over 150 rock art sites across 2,300 km² depict hunting, music, animals, and daily life, tracing over 2,000 years of change from hunter-gatherers to agro-pastoralists. Many shelters still hold ritual meaning for local communities. #Nationalmuseumoftanzania #Archaeology #Rockart

Another Friday, another quiz. Our destination today is at high altitude. Hint: It is the final resting place of an Italian Duke. Do you know the answer? please write it in the comments below. Good Luck! #Heritage #GeneralKnowledge #MuseumsofKenya #Quiz

600-year-old Yongle Tongbao coin found on Manda Island Minted in China under Emperor Yongle (1403–1425), made of copper + silver. Proof of Chinese trade in Africa long before Europeans arrived. Yongle built Beijing’s Forbidden City and sent Zheng He’s fleets to explore the seas. #Archaeology #Kenya