Zamani Project undertakes data collection and analysis, heritage communication, and training and capacity building for experts and the public so that they have access to high-quality spatial heritage data, and can learn from, conserve, and protect heritage.

Heritage provides a window into the past that helps us understand our present and plan for our future. The study of diverse sites and structures gives insight into why societies have come to value the things they do. Awareness of heritage can help to develop one’s own cultural identity and to promote tolerance and acceptance of others.

However, heritage sites are often undocumented, or poorly documented, and many face threats of damage or destruction. These include sea-level rise, natural disasters, vandalism and wilful destruction, cultural terrorism, war, mining, construction, poorly-managed tourism, and the ravages of time. As such, digital collections of the tangible archaeological, cultural and anthropological information contained in these sites have become especially relevant.

Over the past 15 years, in collaboration with significant international heritage organisations such as UNESCO and the World Monuments Fund, we have documented more than 250 structures, rock art sites and statues at some 65 heritage sites in 18 countries across Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Operating as a research group within the University of Cape Town (UCT), we collect and analyse heritage data, communicate the importance of heritage, and enable experts and the public alike to access, learn from, conserve, and protect heritage.