The Zamani Project is a research group at the University of Cape Town, which aims to capture spatial information of tangible cultural heritage sites across Africa and other parts of the world. Based on field campaigns and complex in-house processing, the team creates data sets that serve as permanent digital records for future generations. Besides this, Zamani data have been and are currently used for research, conservation, restoration and site management. Conservation projects where Zamani data were employed include the Palace Museum in Zanzibar, the Meroe Pyramids and the Temple complex of Musawwarat es-Sufra in Sudan, the Petra-Siq in Jordan, the Valley of the Queens in Egypt, the Wonderwerk Cave and Cape Town City hall in South Africa. The data also provide material for tourism and can contribute to international awareness of, especially African, heritage.
Digital collections of spatial data of African cultural heritage have become especially relevant in the context of ever-increasing man-made and natural threats such as climate change/sea-level rising, natural disasters, vandalism and wilful destruction, cultural terrorism, wars, mis-management of mass tourism, mining, construction of dams and the ravages of time. Thus historical, archaeological, cultural and anthropological information contained in cultural heritage sites is in danger of being lost.
To date, the Zamani Project has completed the documentation of some 65 heritage sites in 18 countries across Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. At these sites, more than 250 structures have been documented.