Collaboration in Cultural Heritage: Greater Questions of Digital Reconstructions

May 24, 2026

March 22, 2014, from NYT

March 27, 2016, released by Syrian Arab News Agency

By Jacqueline Koutrodimos-Lewis

The process of documenting and preserving cultural heritage in digital models takes on added pressure and implication during times of political conflict or humanitarian crises. Choosing which heritage artifacts to digitize and how to allocate resources involves practical constraints like budget and expertise, but is also concerned with the wider repercussions of ownership and cultural self-determination.

How effective are digital reconstructions in preserving cultural heritage knowledge, and can this technology meaningfully support territories whose heritage is under threat from violence or authoritarian rule? By examining the responses of non-profits, international law, artists, and archaeologists to the events in Syria, specifically Palmyra, we will explore what is possible, or what is implied, with digital reconstructions of cultural heritage.

Defining “Digital”

For historians who have long hypothesized about objects and scenes depicted on wall decorations or ancient pottery vessels, photo modelling describes surface characteristics with clarity to create realistic 2D or 3D reconstructions.^[1]

In corroboration with archaeological evidence, archetypal digital models could be the modern answer to history’s questions. Stacking new archaeological results onto a digital reconstruction of a building offers a clearer image of a past structure, where before only historical descriptions alone served as the main source of data for previous scholars.^[2] When open and accessible on a free internet, the public is given a chance to experience the full picture of a cultural site in an interactive and clear visual representation.

Virtual interiors and environments stand as an effective instrument in charting a clear diachronic analysis for monuments.^[3] The feasibility of a cultural heritage reconstruction depends on historical and real data integration. It is a challenge to combine high-level 3D representation with historical representation, especially when reconstructing architectural façades when no laser scans or ancient drawings exist. For the case of Palmyra, a large institution and public repository of images existed for monuments along the Grand Colonnade, which were destroyed by ISIL the summer of 2015.

Crowd-sourcing data is a key element to many of the digital reconstruction projects working on Palmyra, including the NEWPALMYRA Project. On their homepage, users are given the option to upload their own photos of Palmyra, assured that their images, publicly available under a CC0 license, will be “used to rebuild Palmyra.”^[4] Today they have digital models of Monumental Arch, Temple of Baal Shamil, Temple of Bel, Tetrapylon, and the Roman Theater. Other digital archival projects, such as the American non-profit Arc/k, trains historians and photographers in photogrammetry, offering free guides for users to galvanize additions to their archives.^[5]

While Donald Sanders, President of Learning Sites, Inc. and the Institute for the Visualization of History, Inc., may be optimistic in touting 3D models as tools for researchers “anywhere to examine [objects] as if holding them in their hands,” digital models are a source for archaeologists and researchers to examine detailed comparisons and form more accurate conclusions.^[6] Interactive 3D models that are verifiable, reviewed, and navigable for anyone with internet access can serve as an efficient resource for researchers, especially for accessing delicate or distant objects.^[7]

3D Models can bring the diachronic nature of cultural heritage artifacts to the surface by reconstructing characteristics no longer visible, whether buried, reused, carted away, or destroyed.^[8] However, for digital archives that do not adopt focus, there is usually a preferred time period favored reconstruction.^[9] For example, Rekrei, which began as a crowd-sourced photogrammetry project documenting targeted sites in Mosul, features a majority pre-Islamic Western Asian artifacts (35 to 9 Christian/Islam sites).^[10] Without knowing what has been omitted, the digital archive runs the risk of preserving only one interpretation.

Not all monuments are created equal, or at all, when it comes to projects focusing on cultural heritage preservation. When targeted or destroyed, the monuments of the Roman or Assyrian period spark the most outcry, valued as a shared “world heritage.”^[11] These sites remain at the forefront of international heritage protection conversatoins, although this ancient material accounts for only a small percentage of ISIL’s targeted cultural sites.^[12]

In reality, sites that are not as ancient, such as shrines, mosques, churches, cemeteries, and other sacred sites of Christian, Yazidi, and branches of Islam that ISIL finds heretical, are the most common sites of destruction.^[13] The heritage of ancient Roman sites also receives more attention from Syrian and Iraqi cultural preservation bodies, as such sites allow for a safer, less divisive avenue for cultural heritage protection than monuments of more recent history, such as places of worship used daily by a variety of faiths.^[14]

Responses and Implication of Digital Reconstructions

Digital colonialism refers to the systemic extraction and commodification of marginalized cultures through digital platforms.^[15] When those with privilege claim ownership over cultural relationships, there is a risk of the original communities losing control of their own narratives.^[16] In this context, digital reconstructions raise questions of ownership and accountability, and implicate a problem imbalance of power between the owner and the cultural material’s country of origin.

Google Arts and Culture, in collaboration with Bay Area digital archive for cultural heritage, CyArk, launched Open Heritage in 2018 with the goal of making their archives accessible to the general public.^[17] However, those archives cannot be edited without credit or used commercially.^[18] These contingencies make it impossible for the countries of origin to monetize their own scans or data in the digital space, ensuring that the digital ownership of the artifact is permanently offshored to Western institutions.

In addition, while exact photographic reproductions of public domain works of art are not copyrightable, many U.S. cultural institutions ignore this holding by asserting copyright over their digital photographs of public domain artworks in their collection.^[19] Although fair use protects researchers’ access to share the material for educational purposes, there is still an imbalance that favors the creator, not the collaborator.

To remedy this extractive nature of digital reconstructions, many have called for preservation projects to be led by researchers from the country of origin, with local archaeologists at the forefront of these documentation projects.^[20] Artist and educator Moreshin Allahayri’s current work in progress centers locally supported research-based projects, led by female Arab/Iranian historians, scientists, and future-tellers whose stories, alongside objects, will spur reconsideration “of a technological past and a future for a region that is living in a dystopian present.”^[21]

In another work by Allahyari, Material Speculation: ISIS (2015-2016), Allahyari challenges the audience to go beyond the metaphor of cultural heritage reconstructions by reconstructing 12 statues to serve as tangible monuments and physical repositories for knowledge.

The body of the work includes 3D-printed replicas in clear resin of items destroyed by ISIS in 2015, with research material preserved in flash drives and memory cards included inside the body of each object.^[22] The artifacts recreated include Roman-period artifacts from Hatra and Assyrian artifacts from Nineveh.^[23]

These reconstructions required Allahyrari to collaborate with archaeologists, museum personnel, and local scholars to inform her reconstruction.^[24] The inclusion of technological tools for sourcing and disseminating data extends the collaboration and responsibility of cultural preservation to the viewer. The development of 3D models, whether online or in person, is at its best when it develops multidisciplinary collaboration, bringing together data scientists, engineers, architects, and archaeologists to render and protect cultural heritage knowledge in the digital sphere.

The threat of retaliation and violence under an authoritarian regime makes it difficult for researchers in regions of conflict to continue work towards an open-access cultural heritage model. For Syrian programmers and archaeologists, the consequences have been life-threatening, making locally-led preservation projects a daunting task.^[25] In effect, it is the Western countries, whose intervention in the region may have contributed to its instability, who then assume the responsibility for cultural preservation, all while neglecting any responsibility for the conflict.

Allahayri articulates this disconnect between digital reconstruction and ethical responsibility in her 2017 blog post: “I have listened to technologists, archaeologists, historians, politicians all from the Western countries talking about the shock that they experienced watching the video of the destruction of artifacts by ISIS. And through these years, I have not once come across anyone addressing or condemning the destruction and violence committed by the very countries they come from. The kind of violence that has “shocked” them and has inspired them to do something… [while] other kinds of violence stay invisible, hidden in their binary simplistic readings of these events.”^[26]

In late 2015, during a brief recapture of the Palmyra from ISIL, The Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA), a joint venture between Harvard University, Oxford University, and the Museum of the Future (Dubai), sent inexpensive 3D cameras to archaeologists in Palmyra to gather data on monuments that may be targeted next.^[27] By then, the devastation of the Temple of Bel had rocked the heritage world, and the executions of Syrian archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad and NEWPALMYRA founder Bassel Khartabil underscored the imposing threat the war and regime posed to cultural heritage.^[28] The protection of cultural heritage creates a straight-forward approach for the international community to condemn the violence of the Syrian Civil War without engaging with the more complicated and involved consequences of the conflict, such as the ongoing humanitarian and refugee crises.^[29]

The IDA also supported the Million Image Database project, responsible for the 3D reconstruction of the Palmyrene arch to Trafalgar Square, London, during the height of the Syrian Civil War.^[30] This collaboration was critiqued for its performative preservation, stimulating discussion on the methods that isolate and fetishize the cultural property of non-Western countries.^[31]

Conclusion

Digital models present a revolutionary model for preservation, and when focused on collaborative approaches between multi-disciplinary researchers and crowd-sourcing efforts, an informed and globalized product can be reached. However, if these digital reconstructions threaten a community’s cultural self-determination, or when the maintenance and knowledge of one’s cultural heritage no longer rests in the community itself, this technology can be used as a tool for erasure.^[32] As enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, it is important to maintain the right of a community to determine and protect their own heritage. This importance needs to be at the center of processes concerning digital reconstructions.

About the Author

Jacqueline Koutrodimos-Lewis was Spring 2026 Graduate Intern at the Center for Art Law. Her interests lie at the intersection of ancient art, local communities, and modern collecting. She has a master’s in Classics from the Graduate Center, CUNY, in New York, where she focused on Eastern Mediterranean material culture, classical reception, and museum provenance. She received her bachelor’s in Art History and English Literature from Seattle University, and has a background in communications for museums and non-profits. Her archaeological projects include projects in Pella, Greece (2025) and Thouria, Greece (2024).

Select References

1. Sander and Roberta Spallone1, Giulia Bertola2, Francesca Ronco3 ↑
2. G. Guidi & M. Russo, Diachronic 3D Reconstruction for Lost Cultural Heritage, XXXVIII-5/W16 Int’l Archives Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing & Spatial Info. Sci. 371 (2011), https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-XXXVIII-5-W16-371-2011. ↑
3. Frischer et al., 2002; Frisher and Stinton, 2002; Guidi et al., 2008; El-Hakim et al., 2008 ↑
4. #NEWPALMYRA, https://newpalmyra.org (last visited Apr. 2, 2026); ↑
5. Photogrammetry / Learn How to Shoot!, The Arc/k Project, https://arck-project.org/photogrammetry-learn-how-to-shoot/ (last visited Apr. 15, 2026). ↑
6. Donald H. Sanders, Virtual Heritage: Researching and Visualizing the Past in 3D, 2 J. E. Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Stud. 30-47 (2014), https://doi.org/10.5325/jeasmedarcherstu.2.1.0030. ↑
7. Ibid. ↑
8. G. Guidi & M. Russo, Diachronic 3D Reconstruction for Lost Cultural Heritage, XXXVIII-5/W16 Int’l Archives Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing & Spatial Info. Sci. 371 (2011), https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-XXXVIII-5-W16-371-2011. ↑
9. Erin L. Thompson, Legal and Ethical Considerations for Digital Recreations of Cultural Heritage, 20 Chap. L. Rev. 153, 168–69 (2017). ↑
10. Rekrei, Home, https://rekrei.org/ (last visited Apr. 15, 2026). ↑
11. Carsten Stahn, Colonial and Post-colonial Continuities in Culture Heritage Protection: Narratives and Counter-narratives, in Confronting Colonial Objects: Histories, Legalities, and Access to Culture (Oxford Univ. Press 2023), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192868121.003.0007. P. 348-349; ↑
12. Erin L. Thompson, Legal and Ethical Considerations for Digital Recreations of Cultural Heritage, 20 Chap. L. Rev. 147 (2017). ↑
13. Erin L. Thompson, Legal and Ethical Considerations for Digital Recreations of Cultural Heritage, 20 Chap. L. Rev. 148, 158 (2017). ↑
14. Matthew Clapperton, David Martin Jones & M.L.R. Smith, Iconoclasm and Strategic Thought: Islamic State and Cultural Heritage in Iraq and Syria, 93 Int’l Affairs 1205, 1215 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iix168. ↑
15. Morehshin Allahyari, Physical Tactics for Digital Colonialism, Medium (Jun. 7, 2019), https://medium.com/@morehshin_87856/physical-tactics-for-digital-colonialism-45e8d3fcb2da. ↑
16. id. ↑
17. CyArk’s Story, CyArk, Google Arts & Culture, https://artsandculture.google.com/story/cyark-39-s-story-cyark/jgWBnI_UPWCLKQ?hl=en (last visited Apr. 14, 2026). ↑
18. Morehshin Allahyari, Physical Tactics for Digital Colonialism, Medium (Jun. 7, 2019), https://medium.com/@morehshin_87856/physical-tactics-for-digital-colonialism-45e8d3fcb2da. ↑
19. Bridgeman Art Library, Ltd. v. Corel Corp., 25 F. Supp. 2d 421 (S.D.N.Y. 1998), on recons., 36 F. Supp. 2d 191 (S.D.N.Y. 1999)] ↑
20. Carsten Stahn, Colonial and Post-colonial Continuities in Culture Heritage Protection: Narratives and Counter-narratives, in Confronting Colonial Objects: Histories, Legalities, and Access to Culture (Oxford Univ. Press 2023), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192868121.003.0007. ↑
21. Morehshin Allahyari, The Remaining Signs of Future Centuries, Morehshin Allahyari, https://morehshin.com/the-remaining-signs-of-future-centuries (last visited Apr. 14, 2026). ↑
22. Morehshin Allahyari, Material Speculation: ISIS, Morehshin Allahyari (2015–2016), https://morehshin.com/material-speculation-isis/. ↑
23. Ib. ↑
24. Ib. ↑
25. Syria: UN Calls for the Release of Freedom of Speech Advocate Bassel Khartabil, Alkarama (archived June 25, 2015), https://web.archive.org/web/20150625170229/http://en.alkarama.org/1763-syria-un-calls-for-the-release-of-freedom-of-speech-advocate-bassel-khartabil. ↑
26. Morehshin Allahyari, Physical Tactics for Digital Colonialism, Medium (Sept. 26, 2019), https://medium.com/@morehshin_87856/physical-tactics-for-digital-colonialism-45e8d3fcb2da. ↑
27. Emily Sharpe, Digital Archaeologists Copy Palmyra Arch with Help of 3D Printer, The Art Newspaper (Feb. 1, 2016), https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2016/02/01/digital-archaeologists-copy-palmyra-arch-with-help-of-3d-printer. ↑
28. Kareem Shaheen & Ian Black, Beheaded Syrian Scholar Refused to Lead ISIS to Hidden Palmyra Antiquities, The Guardian (Aug. 18, 2015), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/18/isis-beheads-archaeologist-syria.; New Palmyra, People, https://newpalmyra.org/people/ (last visited Apr. 15, 2026).; ↑
29. For more on a decolonial model for Syrian cultural heritage, see:N.A. Munawar, Heritage After Assad: A Decolonial Framework for Post-Conflict Syria, 51 J. Field Archaeology 94 (2026), https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2025.2605603. ↑
30. Mark Brown, Palmyra’s Arch of Triumph Recreated in Trafalgar Square, Guardian (Apr. 19, 2016), https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/apr/19/palmyras-triumphal-arch-recreated-in-trafalgar-square. ↑
31. Sam Kriss, Why Recreating the Palmyra Arch Is Smug, Hypocritical, and Tacky, Vice (Apr. 25, 2016), https://www.vice.com/en/article/palmyras-arch-trafalgar-square-dubai-new-york/. ↑
32. Emese Ilyés, Digital Colonialism: How Social Media Enables New Violations of Cultural Rights, OpenGlobalRights (Feb. 27, 2025), https://www.openglobalrights.org/digital-colonialism-how-social-media-enables-new-violations-of-cultural-rights/. ↑