Without assistance from the archaeological community, creating a GIS to cover all Egyptian historical sites is time-consuming and fraught with difficulty. EAIS has collaborated with a number of archaeological missions, but the bulk of the archaeological portion of the database has so far been populated by a team of EAIS researchers. The informational content in the database for each site is directly proportional to the amount that has been published on it. Even if site has been worked on for a number of years, EAIS has little to no access to the data if it has not been published. In such cases, the GIS does not properly document a site and cannot reach its potential as a tool for site protection.
Archaeologists have current and accurate information on their sites, information that is necessary for site protection. This is not only true with registered sites (sites owned or supervised by the SCA), but with unregistered sites as well. Sites that are unregistered are at special risk because the SCA does not have any legal authority to protect them, and often even their specific locations are unknown. As unregistered sites do not have official SCA maps, they cannot be included in the mapping portion of the GIS, and detailed archaeological information or GPS coordinates are rarely published.
EAIS believes that protection of Egyptian historical sites is a task best done though collaboration. Missions are invited to work with us in populating and updating the GIS. All copyrights are protected, and authors of texts and maps are cited within the system. Official protocols are signed and followed. EAIS can offer the following benefits to our collaborators:
- Verification of the legal status and official boundaries of your site
- Maps shared with the project are georeferenced and a copy returned to the mission
- Any technical assistance needed to make your map georeferencable, such as the use of a GPS, can be provided for limited time periods
- Information about which government maps your site is found on, and how to attain them
- Potential use of the system
- Technical advising on a case-by-case basis
Most importantly, your site is accurately placed in a system that is shared by Egyptian government institutions, offering it more protection. Through us you are working with multiple institutions to preserve historical sites in Egypt.
Please contact EAIS for further information.
You are also invited to download and fill out the EAIS Datasheets to provide the system with information on Egypt’s historical sites. Upon completion of the datasheets, please return them to EAIS at eais@eais.org.eg.
We would like to thank the following archaeological missions for their collaboration:
- The Austrian Mission to Tall ad-Dab‘ah, Manfried Bietak, Director, Josef Dorner, Field Director, at Tall ad-Dab‘a (ash-Sharqiyyah).
- The Dutch-Russian Mission to Tall Ibrahim ‘Awad, Willam van-Haarlem and Galina Belova, Directors, at Tall Ibrahim ‘Awad (ash-Sharqiyyah).
- The German Mission to Qantir, Edgar Pusch, Director, at Qantir (ash-Sharqiyyah).
- The Joint British-Norwegian-Egyptian Mission to Gabal al-‘Asr (Chephren’s Diorite Quarries), Ian Shaw and Tom Heldal, Directors, at Tushka (Aswan).
- Paola Davoli, Lecce University. Tall Saft al-Hinnah (ash-Sharqiyyah).
- The North Kharga Oasis Survey, Salima Ikram and Corinna Rossi, Directors, at North Kharga (al-Wadi al-Gadid). http://www.aucegypt.edu/academic/northkhargaoasissurvey/pages/nkos_home.html;
- The Widan el-Faras Project 2001, Elizabeth Bloxam, Director, Per Storemyr, Geologist; at Widan al-Faras (al-Fayyum).
- UCL–SCA Joint Expedition Kafr Hasan Dawud, Fekri Hassan, Director, G.J. Tassie, Site Supervisor, at Tall Hasan Dawud (al-Isma‘iliyyah).
- EES Delta Survey, Dr. Joanne Rowland, Director of the Minufiyyah survey
- IFAO Khargah Survey, Michel Wuttman, Director
