High-resolution, commercially acquired satellite imagery has been shown to be a powerful tool for documentation and analysis of damage to archaeological sites, particularly in conflict zones where ground-based observations are impractical or dangerous. Using this approach, previous investigations have reported widespread looting and other forms of damage to archaeological sites in Syria during the early years of the civil war (2011–2016). Relying on an expanding suite of satellite imagery resources, this paper presents a renewed analysis of looting and archaeological site damage in Syria over the past decade. The results reveal: (1) severe damage to many sites in northern Syria from a novel form of mechanized looting, (2) intensified impacts from the establishment of military facilities or refugee camps on many prominent sites, and (3) rampant incidents of small-scale looting across all areas of the country. These results highlight the importance of ongoing imagery-based heritage monitoring efforts and will support emerging mitigation, stabilization, and damage assessment efforts in Syria going forward.
Casana et al. (Sat,) studied this question.