Ground truthing + ground coffee, a recipe for success in the field ☕
Afifa, Waqar and Moazzam were back on the road again, in the Cholistan Desert. With some fancy beans and an AeroPress, any coffee snob will be happy in the field.
Not sponsored by AeroPress but we’re open to offers 👀
These hidden worlds are there to find in the satellite imagery (especially if they are handily titled, “old city”) but are much easier to find with reference to historic maps.
🔗 See the map for yourself!
cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-MAPS...
For the residents of Bahawalpur, as with most cities, everyday life is shaped by an unnoticed past: roads, routes, gateways and landmarks that chart a historic landscape in a modern urban environment.
Present-day Bahawalpur has grown significantly, but the Old City district is still clearly demarcated in the satellite imagery by the surrounding roads. It can be accessed via several historic gates along the perimeter.
The city was once the heart of the kingdom and princely state of Bahawalpur, ruled by a dynasty of Nawabs from 1748 until 1955. You can see the extent of the settlement and its outskirts in the Survey of India map from 1908.
The hidden histories of cities 🏙️
Heritage underpins our lives in so many ways, often unseen. But these hidden entanglements with the past can be revealed in historical maps. For today’s #MappingMonday we look at Bahawalpur, Pakistan, in 1908.
A big thank you to our wonderful visitors and team members. And an even bigger thanks to the Department of Archaeology and Lydia Clough for organising such a great day ✨
📸 Department of Archaeology
MAEASaM had kids assembling a giant jigsaw of Africa and writing their names in an ancient alphabet. And the MAHSA team set up an interactive sandbox projecting contours and wildlife, creating a living map before your eyes!
MAHSA & MAEASaM at the Cambridge Festival! 🏔️🧩
We brought mapping to the masses last weekend at the fantastic Cambridge Festival Family Weekend. Over 1,000 visitors joined us at the University Centre where our teams joined the department to share interactive archaeological experiences with families.
Spilling the tea on field surveys in India 🫖
Well-earned refreshments with Kuili & Anisha after a long day of surveying in Ludhiana district! A special thank you to the farmer who saved the team's car from an agricultural field with his tractor 😅🚜
This example was georeferenced in an afternoon by our Project Administrator, Dan, who had no prior mapping experience. Using our tutorials and resources, MAHSA can share knowledge and help to democratise GIS skills. And we’re doing just this for our partner institutions with our GIS clinic series!
From here, we’re able to identify features, such as mounds or old temples, that may or may not be visible on the satellite imagery today. This can help us find ideal locations for ground-truthing, enabling the project to document heritage sites even if they have since been lost to urban expansion.
Comparing satellite imagery with a map from 1912, we can see how the course of the Ganges has changed significantly, while the main roads and railway have remained consistent. This makes their intersections ideal for georeferencing, allowing us to pinpoint where the historical sheet sits on the map.
Mapping is for everyone! 🗺️
In today’s #MappingMonday we venture to the region around Garhmukteshwar, Uttar Pradesh. Sat between the Ganges River and the former Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway, the town highlights the methods, challenges, and opportunities of georeferencing historical maps.
Eid Mubarak and Nowruz Mobarak from the MAHSA team 🥳
It’s a double bill of blessings today as we celebrate Eid al-Fitr and the Persian New Year. Whether you are breaking your fast and/or bringing in the new year, we hope you enjoy cherished moments and delicious food with your loved ones.
Bake Your Project 🧁
This week, MAHSA team members hosted Bake Your Project at the McDonald Institute, where colleagues baked treats inspired by the projects they work on. We raised over £170 for Cambridge Community Kitchen to support their fight against food poverty in Cambridge.
Arches Workshop available on YouTube! ▶️
Learn how the MAHSA & MAEASaM Projects are sharing their work with the world, and how you can create your own open access heritage database.
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Watch our latest GIS workshop ▶️
The recent MAHSA-MAEASaM online GIS workshop can now be enjoyed on our YouTube channel!
🔗 youtube.com/playlist?lis...
A special thank you to organiser/speaker Azadeh Vafadari and speakers Dr Stefania Merlo, Dr Kuili Suganya, Dr Arnau Garcia-Molsosa, Rosie Campbell, Jack Tomaney, and to all the project members who contributed their time and helped make this a success. (5/5)
We are grateful to our attendees for joining us and staying engaged throughout, including those fasting or joining from late time zones. Your commitment made this first large-scale interactive online training possible. (4/5)
The second half of the workshop shifted from discussion to practice, where attendees were introduced to QGIS and guided through applying this software to archaeological data. Clinics were offered in English, Urdu, Hindi, and French, looking at specific GIS applications in South Asia & Africa. (3/5)
The morning began with critical reflections on current applications and challenges of GIS, followed by insightful talks and case studies that demonstrated GIS in action, from hydrology and landscape modelling to public engagement through digital story maps. (2/5)
This week MAHSA & MAEASaM hosted a successful workshop covering the application, history, and challenges of GIS in archaeology. 280 participants joined us from over 30 countries, bringing together an international community interested in strengthening the use of GIS in archaeological research. (1/5)
We’ll be hearing from:
Sumedha Chakravarthy
Notes from the Field: Uncertain Immersion in the Political City
Saba Aslam
Interactions within within Karachi’s water infrastructure nexus
Join our next South Asia: Women in the Field meeting!
🕑 Thursday, February 26th, 2-4 pm (GMT)
📍 McDonald Institute Seminar Room, Downing Site, Cambridge
"..Under the gnarled vann (Salvadora oleoides) trees and piles on the graves, we were able to find broken pottery and figurines from around the 15th-19th C. In some cases, if we were very lucky enough, we would find the finest of steatite disc beads dating from the Harappan period."
"...Using data from Mughal et al. (1996) and historic maps, our aim was to document mound sites and other interesting features. Through this process we were able to see a vast and vibrant landscape of continued settlement where archaeological sites are seamlessly incorporated into regular life..."
In today’s #MappingMonday we join MAHSA team members Afifa Khan & Babar Hussain as they survey Nankana Sahib in Pakistan:
“Nankana Sahib is a peculiarly shaped district, not far from Lahore, and is renowned for being a part of the Sikh pilgrimage route in Pakistani Punjab..."
The first episode of South Asia: Women in the Field is now available on YouTube.
Join Malini Roy, Professor M.B. Rajani and Vaneshree Vidyarthi as they discuss the conservation of archaeological heritage using ground-breaking geospatial methods.
🔗 Tune in here!
youtu.be/IolMTRC0zPc?...
