A team of archaeologists from the Oxford-based Institute of Digital Archaeology have launched a project aimed at preserving Middle Eastern historical sites at risk from jihadist militants based largely on 3D printing.This would be a poor substitute, but I suppose better than nothing.
According a report from British daily The Times, experts behind the $3.1 million project hope to "flood the Middle East with 3D cameras" and catelogue every threatened item, including but not limited to artifacts, buildings and monuments
The archaeologists believe they can recreate and reconstruct items destroyed by militants with the high-tech yet relatively new printing technology.
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Background here and links.