HACRA

11/12/2023

Last week, HACRA presented at the ICOMOS Panel Series 'Expect Unexpected: ' aimed at highlighting best practices and recent efforts in and in risk mitigation and monitoring.

Our talk, titled 'From Risk to Resilience: Assessing the Impact of Changing Flood Patterns on Archaeological Heritage in the Indus River Basin, Pakistan' examined the results of an IGIS NUST study titled ‘Investigating the flood damages in Lower Indus Basin since 2000: Spatiotemporal analyses of the major flood events’ (Atif, S., Umar, M. & Ullah, F. 2021. Nat Hazards 108, 2357–2383) - which used satellite remote sensing and GIS to analyse the spatial distribution and impacts of floods in the Indus Basin between 2000-2020.

This study was combined with the results of the Inventory of Maritime Archaeology in Pakistan (IMAP) project which ran from 2021-2023, and produced a database of 10,850 archaeological sites in the Indus Delta region of Sindh. By overlaying the IMAP dataset onto a map showing the number of inundated days in from 2000-2020, we were able to identify 3 bands of cultural sites at high risk of flood damage - at least 585 sites have been inundated for 700+ days since 2000.

The presentation concluded with some recommendations for further academic study as well as some practical solutions for monitoring and protecting high-risk sites before the next flooding season. Thank you to the ICOMOS-ICORP Crisis Monitoring and Response Working Group for organising an insightful panel, and for allowing us to present our research!

A big thank you to Dr. Salman Atif for sharing his research and producing the beautiful map overlay of the flood/IMAP data - and to Faseeh Ehtsham for helping us make sense of the IMAP database! And, of course, to the entire IMAP team for their hard work in making the project a success.

25/11/2023

25/11/2023

At HACRA, we strongly believe in uplifting the discipline of archaeology in Pakistan, by adhering to international best practices, as well as leading change through technological innovation. Through our services and capabilities, we hope to sustainably empower local communities that are the true custodians of our shared heritage.

25/11/2023

Usman Iqbal is a Field Coordinator at HACRA, and is responsible for liaising with local communities for fieldwork and diving operations. Usman’s work at HACRA dovetails well with his role as Project Manager (Pakistan) for the Olive Ridley Project, an organisation that is working to protect sea turtles and their habitats through the removal of ghost gear in the Indian Ocean.

Outside of the fieldwork season, Usman has also done research work in the Sindh Archives during his time at MAHI, which included compiling maritime data from the weekly Sindh Official Gazette, and other pre-Partition documents that catalogue shipwrecking events in the Indus Delta in the late 1800s.

Usman’s work in fishing villages with regard to raising awareness about ghost gear has strengthened his relationship with these communities, which is central to our work at HACRA, and has deepened our respect for their traditions and their cultural heritage. As a registered football player, Usman has been playing football in Ibrahim Hyderi since 2008. Football is a popular sport in these communities, and Usman is able to maintain a social connection with the fishermen through regular football tournaments.

25/11/2023

Faraz Khan is a versatile Operations Manager dedicated to optimising organisational efficiency at HACRA. He is responsible for managing administrative processes including accounts, field logistics, procurement, inventory, and facility maintenance, ensuring smooth operations for the company and research work.

In his role at MAHI, Faraz had similar responsibilities in company administration and coordination of logistics. He was also certified as a PADI Open Water Diver as part of the IMAP project.

In his role as a Study Coordinator of a clinical trial running at Ziauddin University, Faraz developed skills in research coordination and compliance, ensuring adherence to federal guidelines and institutional policies. He also served as a Secretariat Assistant for the Government of Pakistan Ministry of National Health Services, managing diverse responsibilities including record-keeping, financial transactions, and correspondence. Faraz also has experience working in the Pakistan Electronic Media industry, contributing to experiments, data collection, statistical analyses, and maintaining laboratory equipment. Faraz is a great multitasker, and is a core part of our HACRA team!

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Faseeh Ehtsham is leading GIS and database operations at HACRA, and spearheading technological innovation in heritage management and research through various geospatial applications. His responsibilities include GIS analysis and visualisation, GIS Task automation, as well as the development of geospatial databases, plugins and tools.

Prior to HACRA, Faseeh was the GIS Developer at MAHI, where he was responsible for developing a database of over 10,000 archaeological sites. As a GIS Developer at Kaspar Consulting Services and Horizon Tech Services Pvt. Ltd., he contributed to GIS projects for clients in different domains, such as network optimization and deep learning. He worked with diverse datasets, developing customised GIS solutions, and collaborating with cross-functional teams. He also completed an eco-internship at WWF, where he learned about the importance of GIS for conservation and sustainability.

Faseeh is leading heritage preservation in Pakistan into the future, developing advanced solutions involving AI and mixed reality to solve age-old problems in the industry.

25/11/2023

Meeza Ubaid is a Consultant Specialist on Intangible Cultural Heritage at HACRA. As a UNESCO ICH Global Facilitator for the 2003 Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, Meeza has conducted Community Based Inventories of traditional practices in Tharparkar, Sindh, as well as in fishing communities along the Pakistani coastline as part of MAHI’s IMAP project. These include oral histories and folklore, fishing and net making techniques, music, food, medicinal knowledge, etc.

Trained as an architect, Meeza has over eight years’ experience of working in marginalised historic communities, including the Kalasha community in Chitral. Meeza also served as Secretary of the THAAP Heritage Outreach Program, which focused on capacity building in communities on the subjects of informed participation in the inventorying of cultural assets, and the implementation of Integrated Site Management Plans of cultural sites.

Alongside her work at HACRA, Meeza is also a visiting Lecturer at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, and the National Engineering University (NED). She graduated from COMSATS in 2015, and has a Masters in World Heritage and Cultural Projects for Development from ITCILO Turin, University of Turin and Politecnico di Torino, Italy.