And the plot thickens. Other seals show real bulls from the region with both horns visible. And three-dimensional terracotta figurines appear to show the same unicorn with the single horn. We probably won’t know for certain until the Indus script is deciphered. Which side of the debate are you on?

The Mystery of the Indus Unicorn 🦄 Meet the enigmatic one-horned creature of the Indus Valley Civilisation, a recurring image found on stamp seals recovered from archaeological sites. This steatite example dates to c. 2500-2000 BCE and was found at the iconic Mohenjo-daro site in Pakistan.

From Salt to Sovereignty 🧂✊ This week we remember the courageous resistance to imperial rule embodied by the Salt March of 1930. Led by Mahatma Gandhi, this iconic act of civil disobedience aimed to break the British salt monopoly on a very public stage.

As we reach the modern satellite imagery from 2025, the city has expanded significantly and has now absorbed the site. We can also see that buildings have been constructed on top.

In the second image, we jump to spy imagery taken in 1975. The city has expanded a little, and the field boundaries show intensifying agriculture in the region.

One mound, one hundred years ⌛ Sitting in the southwest of Sirsa, Haryana, you can easily spot a large archaeological mound. While we don’t know much about the site, our documentation work enables us to chart its relationship with the growing city as it starts to surround it.

Pillars of Punjab 🕌🛕👑 Old Survey of India maps reveal many forgotten monuments of bygone eras. Plenty remain standing today but have melded into the background of everyday life in South Asia. Enter the Kos Minar!

Learn how to georeference historical maps with MAHSA & MAEASaM ▶️🗺️ Want to work with old maps for yourself? Our latest GIS workshop will teach you how! 🔗 Watch now: youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Surveying in the shadow of Kussak Fort, Chakwal, Pakistan 🏰 Follow the MAHSA field team as they document this impressive site, once controlled by the Janjua Rajputs from the 11th century. “This was us finishing our records in the shade after hiking up Kussak Fort in the morning..."

A deep learning model works a bit like a human brain. It consists of a network of digital neurons that fire a signal if certain conditions are met. It will look at a location and ask itself if it senses the pattern that it’s looking for.

Our deep learning model starts from the known: confirmed mound sites. We can take known mounds and build a stack of varying satellite images, each containing different variables we can test. Looking at variables across known mounds we create picture of what characteristics are associated with sites.

Many archaeological sites in South Asia take the form of elevated mounds rising above the surrounding plains, created by successive phases of occupation. The distinct characteristics of mound sites, such as their relative elevation, makes them ideal targets for remote sensing.

AI in Archaeology – it’s more than just a trend 🤖 At MAHSA, we’re actively using machine learning to identify potential archaeological mounds in collaboration with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center.

Introducing Dr Charlotte Evans! 🤝 We’re excited to introduce our newest team member, Charlotte, who specialises in GIS and hydrology. Charlotte is joining us following her PhD and postdoc in Manchester, where she worked for the NERC Digital Solutions Programme.

We’ve also thrown in a picture of Ahlu village, Pakistan, from an older Survey of India map. The village name sounds like the Urdu & Hindi word for potato, and I yam intrigued to see a nearby mound that looks suspiciously spud-like 🤔

Today marks the International Day of Potato, putting the spudlight on these vital veggies. Surveyed in 1968, our first map shows India’s Central Potato Research Institute in Himachal Pradesh. It helped popularise potato cultivation in the region and continues its spudtactular research today.

Level up your GIS and digital heritage skills with the MAHSA & MAEASaM YouTube channel 🗺️💻 Explore our growing collection of playlists designed to build foundational knowledge in digital heritage management: www.youtube.com/@mahsa_maeas... @maeasamproject.bsky.social

Getting figgy with it 🌳🕺 The peepal tree, or Ficus religiosa, frames this weathered temple in Punjab, Pakistan. Native to the Indian subcontinent, the sacred fig has religious significance in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. It’s a real peepal pleaser.

"Being new to the landscape and the weather in this part of India, I thought it would be comfortable working in winter. Sadly not! We landed in a smog covered landscape with the dark soil and low visibility making us feel claustrophobic."

“The landscape between Ludhiana city and Malerkotla town feels like two different worlds in the hot summer and smog-filled winter."

By Friday, the tanks have run dry after a week's surveying 🥱 Sending energy to our MAHSA colleagues, Afifa & Babar, for this week's ground truthing! #SurveyStories #Archaeology #Heritage #Pakistan

Bellum by the Jhelum ⚔️ Crossed swords mark the spot of a battlefield on the historic map, north of Chillianwala in Mandi Bahauddin District, Pakistan. This likely signifies the location of the Battle of Chillianwala (1849) – a brutal stalemate in the Second Anglo-Sikh war.

Introducing Shoaib Mohammad! 🤝 The latest member of our Cambridge team, Shoaib trained as an architect at the National College of Arts, Lahore, before specialising in building conservation through an MSc in Sustainable Building Conservation at Cardiff University.

Ground truthing + ground coffee, a recipe for success in the field ☕ Afifa, Waqar and Moazzam were back on the road again, in the Cholistan Desert. With some fancy beans and an AeroPress, any coffee snob will be happy in the field. Not sponsored by AeroPress but we’re open to offers 👀

Present-day Bahawalpur has grown significantly, but the Old City district is still clearly demarcated in the satellite imagery by the surrounding roads. It can be accessed via several historic gates along the perimeter.

The hidden histories of cities 🏙️ Heritage underpins our lives in so many ways, often unseen. But these hidden entanglements with the past can be revealed in historical maps. For today’s #MappingMonday we look at Bahawalpur, Pakistan, in 1908.

A big thank you to our wonderful visitors and team members. And an even bigger thanks to the Department of Archaeology and Lydia Clough for organising such a great day ✨ 📸 Department of Archaeology

MAEASaM had kids assembling a giant jigsaw of Africa and writing their names in an ancient alphabet. And the MAHSA team set up an interactive sandbox projecting contours and wildlife, creating a living map before your eyes!

MAHSA & MAEASaM at the Cambridge Festival! 🏔️🧩 We brought mapping to the masses last weekend at the fantastic Cambridge Festival Family Weekend. Over 1,000 visitors joined us at the University Centre where our teams joined the department to share interactive archaeological experiences with families.

Spilling the tea on field surveys in India 🫖 Well-earned refreshments with Kuili & Anisha after a long day of surveying in Ludhiana district! A special thank you to the farmer who saved the team's car from an agricultural field with his tractor 😅🚜