UnderTheSands

UnderTheSands aims to locate and reconstruct the irrigation network of the areas under study in the Near East and to explore its chronological dynamics.

Four areas have been selected for the project. There are located in Iraq, Iran and Turkmenistan. The chosen regions in UnderTheSands have diversified characteristics, which will allow the development of a novel workflow for the large-scale analysis of irrigation networks that anyone can later apply to any other area presenting similar features. By studying the irrigation network found in UnderTheSands, we will understand the long-term socio-economic and historical circumstances that produced and maintained these irrigation networks.   

We selected the Near East for the project because it has long been the main research area for ancient irrigation. The current political situation, however, stopped most of the investigations. That is why archaeological study in that area needs to catch up with new methods and available data, which will benefit greatly. On top of that, research already done in that area and the availability of a well-preserved irrigation landscape comprise a perfect training area for ML/DL algorithms, which we will employ in UnderTheSands.

UnderTheSands is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship funded under the Horizon Europe programme of the European Union (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01-101062705) at the Landscape Archaeology Research Group (GIAP) of the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC).

https://underthesands.icac.cat/about-the-project