WELCOME TO THE CAAL DATABASE
A live database
The CAAL data comes from the analysis of recent and historic satellite imagery, historic maps, archaeological and historical archives, and published reports. At present we have collated information on over 55,000 sites. Thanks to the amazing efforts of our Central Asian partners, working through the pandemic, we also have nearly 20 TB of cleaned archival data on UCL Research Data storage, currently comprising over a quarter of a million scanned files, in nearly 15,000 folders. Each folder is a document (notebook, monument passport, report, folder of photographs, films, etc). For an example of a monument passport and images, see the Great Kyz Kala.
Search the inventory, explore the map and browse records from across Central Asia. No registration is required.
Our online viewer brings together site and monument records, remote sensing assessments, historic maps, datasets, institutions, vernacular heritage and information about digitised archival material. Developed for the project, it supports searches across these different resources and provides links between related records.
The viewer includes metadata[1] describing archival material. Access to the digitised documents themselves depends on copyright and the permissions of their owners. Material approved for open access will be available through the UCL Research Data Repository; other material is held securely in UCL Research Data Storage.
We hope that the information in the CAAL database will be of wide interest, particularly to researchers and heritage professionals, supporting cultural heritage and providing a significant tool for archaeological research. For an example of the heritage management applications of the data, see the work at Kalai Sar in Tajikistan.
The inventory is a live database, continually reviewed and improved as new research, documentation and corrections become available. Records vary in completeness and location confidence. A place without a mapped record should not be taken as evidence that heritage is absent.
The Public Viewer is freely accessible, with limits on map zoom and the location information shown in record details. More detailed access is available to authorised users, subject to their permissions. To enquire about access, please use the Viewer feedback form, selecting “Data request” and explaining the information required, your research purpose and your institutional affiliation, if applicable.
[1] Metadata: simply data about data. This means it is a description of the data, and who collected it. It helps to organize, find, and understand data.