Departmental News

Posted:  May 04, 2026 - 12:00pm

Undergraduate Anthropology student Riley Jones has received the UNM OVPR Deborah Rifenbary Memorial Undergraduate Globally-Engaged Research Award for his honors thesis research.  The intent of his project is to document and analyze a unique type of looting of heritage sites in northwestern Syria between 2018 and 2023, using satellite imagery to gather data. While looting and other types of damage earlier in the Syrian civil war have been analyzed in this way, the events this project focuses on have not been recognized or reported on.

This looting is characterized by the level of organization seen in the operation. Its impact on sites is differentiated by the systematic use of heavy machinery such as bulldozers to remove material. This causes much more damage than is seen from ‘conventional’ looting, which usually consists of individuals digging pits. The organized nature of the looting also extends to the regional scale. Dozens of sites, primarily tells, in Idlib, Aleppo, and Raqqa governorates were looted in this way, all around the same time.By mapping out the extent of damage, the type of sites looted, and the proximity and relation to identifiable military installations, an understanding of the political, social, and economic circumstances can be constructed.