Documenting Submerged Cultural Heritage. Dams and Archaeology in South-eastern Turkey

Since the 1960s, economic development strategies promoted by Middle Eastern governments fostered the construction of large scale hydraulic infrastructure including dams with the aim of providing short- and medium-term benefits in previously low productive regions. However, the massive modifications occurring to the riverbeds and surrounding areas involved deeply affected the natural and cultural landscape of vast regions. By using an integrated approach including open-access satellite imagery and archaeological data we provide new and detailed assessment on the impact of dams on the cultural heritage along the Turkish stretch of the Euphrates river.