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
The answer is: Wassu in The Gambia! The Wassu megalithic circles, between the River Gambia and the River Senegal, form 11 stone circles in two rows with frontal stones. Excavations found a skeleton, copper bracelet and spearheads. Finds are at the Gambia National Museum in Banjul.
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
The answer is: The Teeth of Dandé, a dramatic rock formation within the Bassari-Bedik cultural landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Senegal. Its jagged peaks overlook the savanna and preserved village of Dandé. Caves sheltered Bassari and Bedik people and were used to make gunpowder.
Screenshot from Thimlich Ohinga Archaeological Site, displaying metadata elements.
Screenshot from Thimlich Ohinga Archaeological Site, displaying “Copyright & Access” group metadata elements.
Screenshot from the “Accessing Responsibly” article from 9th Issue
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
The answer is: Koobi Fora in the Lake Turkana Basin,
One of the world’s most vital archaeological landscapes, central to understanding human origins. This Valentine’s, we celebrate love at humanity’s birthplace—reminding us that beyond borders and differences, we share one story worth protecting.
Image 1: Cover of one of the Raymomd Many Notebooks
Image 2: Map of the Cap-Vert Peninsula showing shell middens.
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
The answer is: Discovered in 1969 in Senegal’s Senegal River Delta (Saint-Louis region), Khant was a major Neolithic site with vast shell middens and a refined bone industry (4221–3584 BC) producing axes, fishhooks, adzes, and needles. It was later destroyed by quarrying for construction.
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
Image 1: shows different representations and datasets collected at the site of Seoke, Botswana.
Image 2: a collage that shows data collection at the site of Ranaka, Botswana, in analogue and digital form
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
Historic Kipande House in central Nairobi, a stone colonial-era building with a clock tower, surrounded by modern high-rise offices, pedestrians crossing the street, cars and motorcycles passing by, and a Shell petrol station nearby under a bright blue sky. Photo credits: Daily Nation, May 16, 2019
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
The answer is Aksum, in northern Ethiopia. Capital of the Aksumite Kingdom (1st–8th c. AD), it dominated Red Sea and inland trade via Adulis, linking Africa, Arabia, and Rome. Ruins on the Tigray Plateau include giant obelisks, royal tombs, and palaces.
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 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 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 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!
Congratulations @stonefishweirs.bsky.social your answer is correct: Mbaraki Pillar, Mombasa. A 13th–15th c. Swahili pillar tomb in Mbaraki, built of coral rag and lime mortar. About 9–10 m tall, solid and cylindrical, it marked an elite grave and symbolised authority in Swahili coastal society.
View Lamu old town. Credit: Stefania Merlo
View of a house in Lamu. Credit: Stefania Merlo
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, National Archives UK reference CO 1069-157-91
Ceremony of the donation of Karimjee hall to the legislative assembly ©Karimjee Group
Abdulkareem Y.A. Karimjee presiding over Tanganyika’s independence ceremony ©Karimjee Group
Karimjee Hall today ©Dar es Salaam City Council
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
Congratulations @stonefishweirs.bsky.social your answer is correct. The Mut Temple at Jebel Barkal in Sudan is a significant Nubian archaeological site, partly carved into the rock at the foot of the sacred mountain. Built by Pharaoh Taharqa around 680 BCE, it was dedicated to the goddess Mut.
Shows 2 images: the one on the left shows the fort while it was a prison, the one on the right is what it looks like now. Undated, A Kabiru, 2025
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
View of an inside part of the Enclosure. Credit: Rebecca Bradshaw
View of an inside part of the Enclosure. Credit: Rebecca Bradshaw
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?
