Today many of the important sites, monuments and objects associated with the rich history of the region are increasingly under threat, exposed to environmental stress from cyclones, tsunami, accelerating erosion, land subsidence and rising sea-levels compounded with anthropogenic timpacts of rapid and unplanned development, and in some instances deliberate acts of vandalism.   

The MAHS conducts primary field survey work in the Maldives, Indonesia, and Thailand for data capture that supports the creation and ongoing expansion of an open-access digital repository of robust multimedia records enhanced and contextualized with customized web-based resources.  Working year-round out of mobile field offices in each country and supported by our Digital Heritage Documentation Lab in Kyoto, the MAHS Field Teams combine the approaches of surveying, photography, architecture, archaeological surface survey with cutting-edge technology including RTK GPS, LiDAR and photogrammetry. Data captured in the field is uploaded for processing by the Kyoto Lab team who works with material from database entry forms, GPS, LiDAR scanning, drone flight data, photography, photogrammetry, and video to produce records and digital assets that are integrated into an open-access online archive. All of these are accessible through this website and permanently archived in the library systems of Kyoto University and the University of Oxford.  

The Maritime Asia Heritage Survey (MAHS) builds upon the Maldives Heritage Survey pilot project which was based at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies from 2017-2020. That dataset is expanded considerably by the MAHS since it was launched in 2020 at Kyoto University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS). Both phases of the project were/are directed by R. Michael Feener and financially supported by Arcadia https://www.arcadiafund.org.uk