Historical Landscape of Sistan in Iran and Afghanistan: EAMENA Dataset for Assessing Environmental Impact on Cultural Heritage

Abstract

This dataset is an exported subset of the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) database. It includes archaeological and cultural heritage places, such as ancient settlements, historical structures, traditional villages, and irrigation systems within the central areas of the historical landscape of Sistan (سیستان), located in eastern Iran and southwestern Afghanistan. The data was gathered by the visual inspection of 16,875 km2 of open-access satellite imagery accessible on Google Earth covering the period from 2001 to 2022, utilising the EAMENA methodology for archaeological and condition assessment. It is stored in the EAMENA web-based open-access database, hosted by the University of Oxford. The primary objective of compiling this dataset is to evaluate the impact of recent climate and environmental changes, as well as other disturbance factors, such as agriculture, building and development, and infrastructure, on the cultural heritage places of this historical region.

Keywords

• sistan
• iran
• afghanistan
• archaeology
• cultural heritage
• remote sensing
• open access
• climate change