The first demonstration of the ANCHISE project took place on 26-27 September 2024 in Thessaloniki and Amphipolis, Greece. The two-day event brought together approximately 100 participants from 10 different European countries, all working in cultural heritage protection. These attendees, who came from diverse sectors such as field archaeology, museum management and law enforcement gathered to explore and assess the innovative technological tools developed within ANCHISE to combat illicit trafficking of cultural heritage.
The ANCHISE aims at developing a series of 6 state-of-art tools that would increase the surveillance of archaeological endangered by looting, identification of ancient artefacts and traffic network by the law enforcement as well as a general repository of stolen goods.
Although some of these tools are dedicated to one of the three professional fields concerned by illicit activities (archeology, museum, law enforcement), we sought to gather representatives of these fields during this first demonstration in order to enhance the necessary transdisciplinary approach against looting, developing networking and discussions between experts from various horizons or geographies. The region chosen for these very first demonstration of the ANCHISE tools (more demonstrations will come) offered three keypoints which contributed to the success of the demonstrations: a major archaeological site (Amphipolis), internationally renowned museums (such as the Museum of Byzantine Culture) and a decisive geographical position experiencing intense international interactions through its harbour facilities.
The aim of organizing such demonstration was to deliver a hands-on training session on the use of the different tools by the tools owners, to use the project’s toolbox in simulated near-real operational environments and to collect feedbacks on it. Based on these feedbacks, the tools will be refined and two other series of demonstrations will be organized, in the same spirit but in other European regions, on the road to January 2026.
The demonstration event was meticulously structured over two days, featuring presentations, workshops, and interactive sessions. This organization allowed us to introduce the attendees, divided in small groups, to each of the six technological tools developed within the ANCHISE consortium. The event took place at two key cultural heritage sites: the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki and the archaeological site of Amphipolis.Â
On Thursday 26 September, the event took place in the Museum of Byzantine Culture of Thessaloniki, under the chair of Prof. Olivier Henry (Université Lumière Lyon 2). The introductive speech was delivered in the morning by Dr. Agathoniki Tsilipakou, Director General of the Museum of Byzantine Culture, who hosted this first day’s demonstration. She was followed by Prof. Véronique Chankowski, Head of French School at Athens, who is at the origin of the ANCHISE project, after having intensively participated in the previous NETCHER European program. Dr. Vassiliki Papageorgiou, Head of the Directorate of Documentation and Protection of Cultural Goods and Dr. Maria-Xeni Garezou, Head of the Directorate for the Administration of the National Archive of Monuments closed this first session by presenting the different activities aimed at fighting illegal trafficking conducted under their direction within the Greek Culture Ministry. In the following second session, attendees were presented an overview of the ANCHISE tools by each of the Technological partners of the project, as a preliminary showcase for the afternoon’s programme. The morning activities were concluded by Pier Giacomo Sola (Michael Culture Association) who presented the demonstration programme and goals.
In the afternoon, attendees were divided in small groups in order to participate to 6 individual workshops dedicated to an in-depth presentation and Q&A sessions, of 5 of the 6Â tools as well as to the ANCHISE participative platform. These workshops were animated by the creators and developers of the tools themselves as follow:Â
Huajian Liu (Fraunhofer) exposed KIKu-Mon tool for heritage collection protection. Nikos Pepper (ICCS) presented its tool for semantic analysis, heterogeneous processing and interoperable data. Armando Fernandes (INOV) showed the device consisting in cultural good detection and characterization by fluorescence emissions. Axel Kerep (PARCS) shared Arte-Fact tool for border control object identification support. The Cyprus Institute’s Guardian-CH tool was detailed by Valentina Vassallo. Pier Giacomo Sola (Michael Culture Association) presented to platform that was developed within ANCHISE in order to create a network of exchanging ideas and news as well as a community united by the fight against illegal trafficking.
On Friday 27 September, the audience traveled to the archaeological site and museum of Amphipolis. Amphipolis is a key city for Ancient Macedonia from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, also known for its ancient necropolis. Dr Dimitra Malamidou, Ephorate of Serres, opened the day with a presentation of the site, its history and cultural as well as historical value, while Prof. Véronique Chankowski gave a speech on the need for monitoring tools aimed at protecting archaeological sites. Then Titien Bartette (ICONEM) delivered a live demonstration of its tool for site monitoring and protection on the archaeological area. Assisted by an ICONEM team who had been working several days on site prior to the demonstrations, he was able to present the full functionalities of the tool applied to Amphipolis. The members of PARCS, Fraunhofer, ICCS, INOV, The Cyprus Institute provided further presentations, which mainly turned into Q&A sessions after the previous’ day demonstration. Finally, the floor has been given to the participants through focus group sessions, to collect the audience’s feedbacks.
The added value of these demonstrations extended beyond the mere technical presentation of tools. They provided a unique opportunity for cross-sector collaboration, enabling law enforcement agencies, archaeologists and museum professionals to communicate directly among themselves and share their experience and specific needs in the fight against cultural heritage trafficking. This inter-professional exchange was vital for refining the tools and ensuring that they are not only technically sound but also practical, user-friendly and that they answer the specific needs of the various environments where cultural heritage protection is needed. The feedback collected from participants will be used to improve the tools, which will be again presented, and tested, two more times with six months intervals in demonstrations scattered all over Europe.
The success of the first demonstration of ANCHISE toolbox marks an important milestone for the project. The feedback provided by the participants over these two-days demonstrations is already being analyzed to refine and adapt the tools to better meet the needs of the cultural heritage protection actors. The ANCHISE consortium is preparing for a second round of demonstrations in March/April 2025, where improved versions of the tools will be tested. This iterative process ensures that the technology remains adaptable and responsive to the field's realities.
The project will continue to develop and test these tools in different regions across Europe, with the goal of creating a replicable and scalable solution to combat the illicit trafficking of cultural goods, ensuring that future generations can enjoy and learn from our shared history.