As the number of historic sites damaged by US-Israeli strikes in Iran mounts, Iranian archaeologists have launched an interactive map that geolocates cultural sites in the country that have been damaged during the war.
The map was launched by Sepideh Maziar, a senior researcher and lecturer at Goethe University Frankfurt’s Institute of Archaeological Sciences, and Mehrnoush Soroush, the director of Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes (CAMEL) Lab at the University of Chicago. The mission, they say, is to draw attention to the erasure of the country’s irreplaceable heritage.
The site, launched on 22 March as part of CAMEL’s website, already includes 69 entries, with a 70th currently under verification. Due to limited internet and communications access in Iran, verification has relied primarily on open-source information, with each site requiring confirmation from multiple sources.
One of the initiative’s recent entries is the Sa’dabad Palace complex in Tehran. Located in northern Tehran near the popular commercial-residential Tajrish Square, the 80-hectare complex comprises 18 palaces and mansions dating back to the 19th-century and used by both the Qajar (1796-1925) and Pahlavi (1925-1979) dynasties. According to local media, three structures were seriously damaged on 17 March by blast waves from a nearby strike. Media images, which are available on the interactive map, show debris across interiors, with damage to ceilings, mirrorwork, walls, doors and windows. The map also provides information on the site’s significance, the extent of damage and links to source reports.
Tehran’s Sa’dabad Palace
“It doesn’t matter what [story] you want to tell—maps help bring it to life, they help you connect to spaces,” says Soroush, whose expertise includes archaeological mapping. “And it has to be interactive. You have to be able to read, to click,” she adds, noting the importance of providing accessible information on each site.
Soroush says the map, which will be constantly updated, is not only a documentation tool but also a visual platform showing that Iran’s cultural heritage and identity are at risk.
Maziar echoes this concern: “When cultural heritage is destroyed, a part of a nation’s identity and memory is lost forever.” She adds: “By documenting these damages, we are not ignoring the human suffering, but trying to preserve the history, the identity, and the memory of our people for future generations.”
Developing the platform has also served as a form of “therapy” for the two archaeologists, both of whom have family ties in Iran and deep professional connections to its heritage. By the second week of the war, Maziar says, reports had already emerged of damage to 58 sites, making it imperative to act quickly.
Within a week of initial discussions about how to raise awareness of the scale of the destruction, the map was launched. On Tuesday, local media reported that Iran’s ministry of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts had announced the number of damaged sites had risen to 114 sites.
Both archaeologists stress that their inclusion criteria are deliberately conservative to ensure the data withstands scrutiny. They only list, for example, sites on the Iranian government’s list of national heritage sites and record a damaged complex as a single entry, even when multiple structures are affected. The same approach is applied to assessing damage, with only the minimal level recorded in the absence of detailed information. However, they warn that even damage that appears superficial—such as to decorative mirrorwork seen in a number of affected sites—can, if not restored, lead to more serious structural deterioration.
“Once internet access is restored and we’re able to gather more information, I expect the figures could increase significantly—possibly several times over,” Soroush says.
According to information provided to The Art Newspaper in August 2025 by Iran’s ministry of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts, more than 34,000 historic sites are recorded on the national heritage list. Maziar and Soroush say the figure aligns with their experience—but note it represents only a fraction of the country’s heritage and does not include a large number of archaeological sites.
“The reality is that in Iran, you can hardly set foot anywhere without encountering something of historical value,” Maziar says. “Registering such a vast number of sites, especially given administrative limitations, is extremely time-consuming.” As a result, she says, many remain unlisted.
“Unfortunately, the scale of damaged or destroyed archaeological sites may be even greater than that of buildings,” Maziar says.
Maziar says the interactive map relies almost entirely on the work of cultural heritage professionals inside Iran, who are working to secure sites and record damage – at considerable personal risk. “Their level of dedication and sacrifice is almost impossible to comprehend,” she says. Maziar and Soroush have been in contact with colleagues at Tehran’s National Museum, who continue to report to work to safeguard collections despite heavy bombardment.
Maziar and Soroush are not the only ones tracking the damage. Since 2015, the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project, led by the University of Oxford with support from the universities of Durham and Leicester, has recorded threats to heritage sites across the region using remote sensing or fieldwork, including in Iran.
Bijan Rouhani, a senior researcher at EAMENA, emphasises the scale of the threat to Iran’s heritage. “Currently areas in different parts of the country, and not just cities and city centres but also remote areas, have been attacked and bombed,” he adds.
Soroush meanwhile warns that the duration of the war will shape the scale of future damage. “A more pessimistic view is that ‘the day after’ will take a long time to arrive,” she says, warning that prolonged conflict—or a shift into civil unrest—could lead to looting, vandalism and long-term neglect of sites that are already endangered.
The US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with scores of senior officials. Iran retaliated by attacking Israel and US military sites and interests in neighbouring Gulf states. On Monday, US President Donald Trump said his administration was negotiating with Iranian authorities—a claim Tehran has denied.
A total of 3291 Iranians have been killed in the war so far, according to the US-based Iranian human rights group HRANA.
