About CHML

The Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab (CHML) is a partnership between the Virginia Museum of Natural History (VMNH) and the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI). The CHML provides global monitoring capability for cultural heritage sites threatened by armed conflict and natural disaster. It is housed on the first floor of the Virginia Museum of Natural History, and it operates through a distributed workforce of archaeologists, art historians, GIS experts, and other heritage practitioners. Among other technologies, the CHML utilizes high-resolution satellite imagery provided by industry partners to rapidly identify destructive events and active threats to monuments, museums, archives, historic buildings, archaeological sites, and landscapes. Through its partnership with the SCRI, the CHML works with academic, NGO, and government stakeholders at research and response-oriented organizations.

Recent Reports:

Damage to the Sudan National Museum (18 May 2023)

Damage to the Sudan Natural History Museum (17 May 2023)

In Partnership with

The CHML supports SCRI's mission to protect cultural heritage threatened or impacted by disasters and to help U.S. and international communities preserve their identities and history.

Our Supporters

The Culture Conflict Research Network (CCRN)

USGS National Civil Applications Center (NCAC)

Iridium Communications Inc.

Contact

Hayden Bassett, Ph.D.
CHML Director & Principal Investigator (PI)
hayden.bassett@vmnh.virginia.gov 

William Welsh, M.A.
CHML Director of Operations
william.welsh@vmnh.virginia.gov

Madeleine Gunter-Bassett, M.A.
CHML Senior Analyst
madeleine.bassett@vmnh.virginia.gov