Graeme Earl, Timothy Sly, David Wheatley Both Geographic and 3D technologies (in their various guises) have become commonplace adjuncts to and directors of archaeological practice. Adherents argue that Spatial technologies (such as GIS and remote sensing) have proved valuable tools for formalising analytical approaches to geographic space, while 3D technologies ('Virtual Reality', 'Reconstruction and Animation') have helped in the re-humanisation of recorded archaeology, by focusing attention on the specific characteristics of human visual perception, and hence on the 'experience' of archaeological places. At the same time, different traditions of research and different technological tools have developed for different scales of analysis: buildings, urban, landscape etc. In this session, we would like to explore how the convergence of these technologies may offer new opportunties to build on each of these traditions of archaeological investigation and presentation. We intend for the session to focus more on theoretical possibilities and pilot projects, than on completed applications. As such, papers may wish to address current issues in theories of space and place, perception, movement or memory by making connections between computational approaches and - for example - theories of architecture, perception, cognitive archaeology, phenomonology or the archaeology of the senses. This session seeks to bring together the various strands implicated in GIS and VR models of past worlds at all scales. We are particularly keen to extend discussion to architectural, urban and built environment as well as site-based archaeology and the wider landscape to bring together the – often quite separate - theoretical and analytical traditions of interpretation that have developed within these different areas of research. Papers are invited on the following and related issues: - The relationship between spatial theories and spatial computation;
Leif Isaksen _ Archaeology Department, University of Southampton li103@soton.ac.uk Abstract: Urban Connectivity in Iron-Age and Roman Southern Spain is an AHRB project based at Southampton University aiming to analyze changing social, economic and geographical relationships between towns and nucleated settlements in southern Spain between the Iron-Age and Roman periods from c.500 BC to AD 500. This is one of the most densely urbanized areas of the western Mediterranean , and its rich archaeological evidence makes it a very suitable area of study. The project builds upon the premise that while towns and settlements of the Iron-Age and Roman periods in this part of Iberia, and indeed other parts of the Mediterranean region, are quite well-known, they have been studied in terms of individual settlement histories, or aspects of their topography, social or political organization. While this has immensely enriched our knowledge-base of individual settlements and aspects of their material culture, it has effectively obscured our understanding of the broader settlement pattern of which they are a part: this is particularly true of the Roman period. Consequently, towns and other major nucleated settlements can only ever be properly understood in terms of their broader geographical and settlement context and their changing social, political and economic inter-relationships. The work presented is an interim report on an aspect of that project: the use of a GIS to locate, record and analyze probable transport infrastructure within the region. This is with particular reference to the Roman and pre-Roman road system and the river Guadalquivir which provides a transit ‘spine' traversing the entire study area. Evidence for location takes a variety of forms from the textual (classical texts, itineraries) and material (milestones, geophysics) to the geographical (digitized aerial photos, topography, hydrology). How to record such a disparate array of data in a manner which is complete, comprehensible and computationally comparable is a further element of research. The approach currently undertaken is to generate a series of node graphs corresponding to provisional routes and then establish correlations between them. Having established these theoretical pathways, two further stages of research are foreseen. One will be to explore ways in which, in such a necessarily probabalistic field of inquiry, levels of certainty can be linked directly to the epistemic root of an assertion (e.g. that there existed an established route between locations X and Y). Thereafter it will also be necessary to find ways of representing different certainties, and indeed, varying types of certainty. The other, using conceptual constructs such as cost-surface analysis and a variety of social and spatial network analysis techniques, will look at disparities between what seems to have historically occurred and “natural” pathways. Is it possible to ascertain specific reasons for choosing certain routes over other, unrealised ones? These issues will form the basis for a brief discussion at the end of the paper. This work focuses upon the lower Guadalquivir valley, approximately the modern province of Seville , along with parts of Huelva , Córdoba and Cádiz. The successful development of this methodology will provide archaeologists with a powerful analytical tool for better understanding the ways in which Iron-Age communities were integrated into the Roman Empire and social hierarchies within the Roman provinces were articulated.
Dora Constantinidis _ University of Athens dorac@postmaster.co.uk Abstract: Research to develop temporal GIS databases that facilitate spatiotemporal analysis commenced in the mid 1980s. The majority of research concentrated on how time could be incorporated as an attribute instead of as a dimension. However Langran (1992) provided an excellent foundation for future developments that could incorporate time as a dimension in a GIS. Amongst recent research projects in this area is the Chorochronos project (http://www.dbnet.ece.ntua.gr/~choros/) that aimed at coordinating European researchers working on spatial and temporal GIS databases. The ultimate goal is to create a comprehensive Spatiotemporal Database Management System (STDBMS). An increasing requirement for GIS is that they be capable of tracing and analysing changes in spatial information. An a-temporal GIS obscures the process that causes states to change from one to the next, making dynamics of the modeled world difficult to analyse or understand. Until a truly integrated spatiotemporal database becomes available the additional temporal or t-coordinate can be included in the attribute database in order to account for time, and hence allow for data to be queried for temporally related issues. For instance a “spatiotemporal” GIS may assist archaeologists to reconstruct more accurate chronologies. Archaeological sites and landscapes encapsulate a series of changes that occurred due to human activity. As such archaeological data can provide a unique contribution to the field of spatiotemporal GIS research because they yield an abundant source of temporally referenced data. The requirement of spatiotemporal analysis is integral for the development of a GIS that can offer the capability of modelling landscapes affected by human activity. A spatiotemporal GIS could map cultural changes that could then be studied to determine what role these had on their immediate and wider environment. Currently time can be incorporated as an attribute. It is proposed that both Absolute dates (tA) and Relative Chronology (tRC) be recorded for each object found in the field. Ongoing research expects to facilitate a more comprehensive integration of time into GIS database structures. This paper examines how time, as recorded by archaeologists, could be incorporated into a spatiotemporal database. Time is essential to archaeology. Were it not for time, archaeological data would not exist. Therefore the storage and analysis of time is integral to archaeological research. Archaeological research is unique because time is analysed in relation to changes in space that occurred in the past. Archaeology does not trace recent changes which are occurring and probably will occur in the future as is necessary for land resource management systems based on GIS. Instead archaeological research seeks to reconstruct past time references based on data that have been collected. These changes are predominantly recorded with reference to their spatial x, y, and z coordinates. However the fundamental element of time, which in fact governs changes, has been largely neglected due to the fact that GIS technology currently lacks the capability of fully integrating the temporal or t-coordinate. Given access to temporal data, questions regarding whether temporal patterns exist, what trends are apparent, what processes underlie any changes, and how fast changes took place could be assessed. In order to answer such questions the relational interaction of the four coordinates (x, y, z, and t) of archaeological data should constitute the recording of all archaeological data. A spatiotemporal database that includes an “era-stamp” for archaeological objects and features can be used to determine whether or not any disturbance has occurred in the stratigraphy. For instance a search can be made for all objects of a given chronological era, in relation to their elevation points or z coordinates. It can be assumed that the depth of each object is directly connected to its time of existence, except for those instances of disturbance in the occupational sequence, which can only be determined retrospectively. These representations and resulting queries of spatiotemporal analysis can assist archaeologists to query the data to examine, for instance, the type of material found in one horizontal stratum to determine whether they all belong to the same era. Other issues they deal with are whether the depth of the strata reflects a certain time span or whether one culture lasted longer than another? The reasoning processes behind such issues include time; hence the importance of continuing research to improve data models for truly integrated spatiotemporal GIS. A science fiction tale. A robot called archaeologist Juan Barcelo _ Dpt. Prehistoria , Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona jbarcelo@seneca.uab.es Abstract: Doing archaeology does not mean to excavate and sample ancient things, but to understand and explain how people produced things as a consequence of social action, and why they changed the way of producing things through time. Once we know this point of departure or research, we may ask ourselves if it is possible the “automatization” of this process. Is it possible to build a machine to do archaeology by virtue of internal mechanisms? Such an automatic archaeologist has to be able to solve archaeological problems. In a sense, our automatic archaeologist may be seen as a cognitive robot. However, we are not trying to create a real engine, but to design a “virtual archaeologist”. By its design, this automatic archaeologist is a “virtual machine”. It has not arms, legs nor eyes. As yet it is a virtual brain, doing epistemic actions: namely, actions whose purpose is not to alter the world so as to advance physically toward some goal (e.g., excavating in order to unearth some archaeological material) but rather to alter the world so as to help make available information required as part of a problem solving routine. We imagine this “automatic archaeologist” as a computer agent. Assuming that explanations are for our virtual machine a form of robotic behavior, expressed in its most basic terms, the task to be performed may be understood in terms of predicting which explanations should be generated in face of determined evidence: GIVEN a set of observations or data FIND one or more general principles that explain those data This task is performed by the function that maps any given percept sequence to an action. The computer agent correlates evidence and explanation adequately in order to generate an adequate action. To do its task, our cognitive robot should be capable of inverse engineering. Inverse problems refer to problems in which one has observations on the response, or part of the response, of a system and wishes to use this information to ascertain more detailed properties. In archaeology, the changes and modifications in the form, size, texture, composition and location that experiences nature (observable effects) are a result of human work (production, use, distribution) (social cause). The inverse problem our cognitive robot has to solve entails determining unknown causes based on observation of their effects. This is in contrast to the corresponding direct problem, whose solution involves finding effects based on a complete description of their causes. When the relevant properties of the causal process are assumed known, as well as the initial and boundary conditions, the cognitive robot should be capable to generate a model that predicts the resultant effect. To be a real automaton, the automatic archaeologist should be able to deal with three main components. The first is an input. The second is an output –the action of the automaton. Finally there is the state –the inner mechanism which transforms the input into an output. The specific behavior of the automatic archaeologist is then said to be represented by a “state structure”. Any changes in the behavior, perhaps due to learning, are represented as changes in the state structure. Human archaeologist use linguistic terms and propositional logics to implement this state structure. An automatic archaeologist uses numbers and mathematics. In so doing, an “automatic” archaeologist is a system: • That thinks like archaeologists • That acts like archaeologists • That thinks rationally • That acts rationally However, in so saying, we are not arguing that artificial archaeologists (computer programs) run like human brains, nor that computer representations should be isomorphic to “mental” states. The purpose is to understand how intelligent behavior in archaeology is possible. Our automatic archaeologist is supposed to act as any of us, archaeologists, learning through experience to associate archaeological observations to explanations, and using those associations to solve archaeological problems. We are not pretending to substitute real archaeologists. We want to understand archaeological reasoning. It can be understood objectively and duplicated in different materials-in computers, for example. If a computer can be programmed to perform human-like tasks it offers a “model” of the human activity that is less open to argument than the empirical explanations that are normal in philosophy. This model can then be used in higher education, and even to improve scientific normal practice.
Nádia C. Luz, Cássio D. N. Vinhal _ EEEC – UFG ncl@cultura.com.br Abstract: Taking the assumption that some locations are more suitable for settlement of human groups than others, it is possible to try to set patterns to describe the behavior of prehistoric cultures through predictive models. This models can be used to get insights about the studied societies as well as to reduce the amount of time and financial resources, once they could infer the most potential areas for archaeological sites. This pointed, the main goal of this study was to check the possibility of finding any pattern related to areas suitable for archaeological sites using already available information collected in previous studies. To this end, clustering techniques like K-means algorithm and Self Organizing Maps (SOM) with spherical topology were used. The chosen area was the one studied by 'Survey and Rescue of the Area Affected by the Transmission Lines in Manso Nobres Project' made by Instituto Goiano de Pré-história e Antropologia (IGPA). In this project, the institute sampled 180 areas where the transmission towers would be settled, in which 24 sites were related. Environmental factors, including the vegetation type, water resources, slope, landform, lithology, ground classification, were recorded along with the notification whether or not the area contained an site. Two initialization methods were considered: random data chosen from the data set and the strategy that takes the most spread data. Three index were used to validate quantitatively the clustering results: Davies-Bouldin Index, Dunn Index and Index I [13]. Three intracluster distances were matched with six intercluster distances resulting in eighteen different values for each index.The comparison of the validation techniques were made taking either the average of these values or the average of these values after they have been normalized as proposed in [2], after considering which one best expressed the clustering configuration. The archaeological site prediction were made considering the site estimate within the cluster for which the data were mapped, as well as the site estimate of its neighborhood. In this sense, a new measure were proposed in order to simulate a neighborhood to the K-means: the similarity level or gs (acronym for grau de semelhanc¸a). Three different values were tested for the gs measure: 50, 60 and 75, that is, a cluster belongs to the data neighborhood only if its similarity (calculated by the Euclidean distance)is at least 50%, 60% or 75% as similar as the cluster for which it were mapped. Comparing the results obtained from K-means to the ones obtained from SOM, we couldn't observe notable differences in terms of the clustering and the site prediction accuracies. Considering the similarity level, the gs had no influence in the prediction, but it affect the clustering accuracy, and in this sense, we can say that the value 50 evaluated to a worse result than those one related with the values 60 and 75. The clustering and the site prediction accuracies kept relatively high (between 70% and 90%) in most of the selected configurations, which shows that either the prediction or the clustering were efficient and realistic when considering the data available. However, we believe that, in terms qualitative, the research could have achieved better results and better clusters could have been identified. Such belief comes from to main factors: 1. environment variables too generic - environment variables must be more specific, but these information were not available. 2. description of prehistoric groups - its important to consider information like chronology and site type. References [1] Jochim Michael A., Hunter-gatherer subsistence and settement: A predictive model., (1981). [2] Azuaje F. Bolshakova N., Cluster validation techniques for genome expression data, Signal Processing 83 (2002), no. 4, 825–833. [3] , Improving expression data mining through cluster validated, IEEE EMBS Special Topic Conference on Information Technology Applications in Biomedicine (2003). [4] Kvamme K. L. Brandt R., Groenewoudt B. J., An experiment in archaeological site location: modeling in the netherlands using gis techniques, World Archaeology (1992), 268–282. [5] Everitt B.S., Cluster analysis, 3 ed., Halsted Press, 1993. [6] Bouldin D.W. Davies D. L., A cluster separation measure, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence 1 (1979), no. 2. [7] Vazirgiannis M. Halkidi M., Batistakis Y., Cluster validity methods: Part i, Sigmod Record 31 (2002), no. 2, 40–45. [8] , Cluster validity methods: Part ii, Sigmod Record 31 (2002), no. 3, 19–27. [9] Wüst I., Continuidade e mudança - para uma interpretação dos grupos ceramistas pré-coloniais da bacia do rio vermelho, mato grosso, Master's thesis, Universidade de São Paulo, 1990. [10] Gama J., Métodos de agrupamento, 2002. [11] Dubes R.C. Jain A. K., Algoritms for clusteiring data, Prentice Hall, 1988. [12] Dunn J.C., Well separated clusters and optimal fuzzy clustering, J. Cybern 4 (1974), 95–104. [13] Bandyopadhyay S. Maulik U., Performance evaluation of some clustering algorithms and validity indices, IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence 24 (2002), no. 12, 1650–1654. [14] Heckerman D. Meil M., n experimental comparision of several clustering and initialization methods, Tech. report, MSR-TR, Jun 1998. [15] Kohonen T., Self-organizing maps, Springer, 2001. Predicting archaeological sites from environmental variables, International Series 320, 1987.
Natália Botica, Maribel Santos, Francisco Sande Lemos _ Universidade do Minho nb@uaum.uminho.pt Abstract: The Information Technologies are each time more powerful, sophisticated and user-friendly. They have allowed to store and to deal with a great volume of any kind of data. However, while the Databases are growing in an exponential form, the human being capacity to analyze and extract knowledge of this great volume of data is decreasing. Tools like Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) appear associated to Artificial Intelligence, in order to develop intelligent algorithms that autonomize the process of data analysis and to reach Knowledge Discovery. This article intends to present an approach to archeological databases using KDD Tasks like the identification of predictive models in archeological heritage, the identification of knowledge rules that structure and normalize the archaeological knowledge, or still the identification of relationships between archaeological variables, can be supported by the Knowledge Discovery in Archeological Databases. The predictive model servator will be presented as an example of a tool that supports the archaeological prospection and identifies areas where Heritage can exist. This kind of approach is compliant to the International recommendations to protect heritage when it is still not detected, but might exist. These tools might be considered fundamental in archaeological research activities.
Philipp Drechsler, Dirk Tiede _ University of Tuebingen philipp.drechsler@uni-tuebingen.de Abstract: Keywords: Cultural Innovation Diffusion, Spatial Diffusion Modelling, GIS In the Fertile Crescent around 9000 cal. BC, there was a change in the way of life of human population groups. Former hunters and gatherers became settled and started farming and herding. While the formation of this new way of life was restricted to a relatively small area, a spread of the “Neolithic idea” and of domestic animals can be demonstrated at around 7500 cal. BC, both to the north and to the south. In contrast to the "wave of advance" - model, which is accepted to a large extend regarding the spread of the Neolithic towards the north (Ammerman, Cavalli-Sforza 1984; Fort, Méndez 1999), on the Arabian Peninsula a different mechanism for this spatial diffusion process can be assumed. During the early Holocene the natural conditions on the Arabian Peninsula were slightly more favourable than today, with higher precipitation. Even so, most parts of the Arabian Peninsula were still marginal zones for human settlement and subsistence activities. Consequently these activities were highly influenced and determined by different small scale spatial changes in the environmental conditions. In many areas the natural conditions did not allow permanent residence settlement but stimulated a rather fast active crossing of unfavourable areas. It is assumed, that the Arabian Peninsula was only sparsely populated at the end of the Pleistocene. Therefore the spread of the Neolithic must be accompanied by a population displacement in form of a demographic diffusion together with a diffusion of cultural innovations. The aim of the presented study is to model the spread of neolithic herders under the assumption that this process was influenced by the freedom of human decisions, as well as by environmental conditions preferable for population movements. These assumptions are implemented in a modelling procedure working in the GIS (Geographic Information System) software ArcView: Based on available information concerning the respective environmental conditions that have influenced the diffusion, a raster surface has been created to represent resistance for movements of people and their animals. This cost surface interacts dynamically with a point layer representing groups of people moving randomly over the surface. In contrast to agent-based models provided with determined decision rules, this approach uses random points to represent the archaeological incomprehensible human decisions that are leading to displacements. But in every single case the number of created points within the next generation as well as the maximum spread radius depends on the information the current point gets from the underlying raster value. Therefore the general shape of the frontage of the point distribution, which resembles a wave of innovation, strongly depends on the raster surface. As a result this kind of spread modelling is a combination of a stochastic component, representing unknown forces influencing the demographic diffusion of the past population, and a deterministic component, which depends on former environmental conditions. The result is a spatial point distribution representing actual trajectories of past population movements much better than simple stochastic random movements. The implementation of the model was done by using the Avenue programming language in an ArcView 3.x environment. It is mainly based on an interaction between a growing point shapefile (digital vector storage format for storing geometric location and associated attribute information) representing the wandering groups and continually updated temporarily raster-files, representing the changing local (environmental) conditions forcing the movement of human groups. The user can determine different variables in the model, such as the number of generations, average spreading distance of each generation, threshold to survive and a value representing the change of the environmental resistance due to intense migration. Each point in the shapefile is producing randomly distributed descendants in each generation until the underlying resistance value is below the determined threshold. The amount of descendants for each generation and the spreading range depend on the underlying resistance value. Implementing this model in an ArcView 3.x environment allows a subsequent analysis of the modelled point distributions without any further export/import-procedures. Part of the program is also an animation tool which supports following dynamically visual analysis and supports an automatically export of georeferenced screenshots of each generation level. Literature Ammerman, A.J., Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. (1984): The Neolithic Transition and the Genetics of Populations in Europe . Princeton University Press. Princeton , New Jersey . Fort, J., Méndez, V. (1999): Reaction-diffusion waves of advance in the transition to agricultural economics. Physical Review E, vol. 60, no. 5, 5894-5901.
Mark Altaweel, Tony Wilkinson, John Christiansen _ Argonne National Laboratory maltaweel@anl.gov Abstract: Until recently, scholarly discourse concerning humans and their environment tended to prefer either cultural or environmental mechanisms as the driving force behind social evolution. However, we argue that the most cogent insights will result from analyses focused on interactions between concurrent cultural and environmental processes. We have applied such analytical techniques on ancient Mesopotamia , which serve as an ideal test case for the study of natural/human interactions because the region offers a temporally deep array of data drawn from archaeological, textual and ethnographic sources. Using advanced object-based simulation frameworks developed by Argonne National Laboratory, we are addressing fine-scale interactions of natural (crop growth, hydrology, etc.) and social systems (kinship-driven behaviour, farming and herding practises, etc.) on a daily basis across multi-generational model runs in Bronze Age Mesopotamian settlement systems. An essential component of this effort is the development of a powerful new agent-based computer simulation engine that can represent the dynamics of complex scenarios across varied spatial and temporal scales. This simulation engine is named “ENKIMDU” after a Sumerian god of agriculture and irrigation, and its development is currently funded by a Biocomplexity Grand Challenge Grant from the NSF. This paper describes the simulation chassis and presents results of initial studies highlighting social system representations. Among the topics to be addressed include nomadic and settlement systems interactions, regional trade and social adaptations to different forms of environmental stress such as human disease and drought. More importantly, we hope to show the value of holistic agent-based simulations in addressing archaeological problems in Mesopotamia and potentially other ancient societies. Sorin Hermon, Daniel Pletinckx, Franco Niccolucci The goal of the session is to propose an integrated system for the archaeological research using information technology, starting from data acquisition to data communication to the public, by presenting various showcases, dealing with each of the pipeline's steps (Data Collection, Data Analysis, data organisation, collection Integration and Archive, Geometric & Photometric Reconstruction, Dynamics and Semantic integration and Real-time Interactive Consumption) developed during the Epoch Network of Excellence activity. In this vision the goal is that all parts of the pipeline, from data collection and historic discovery through to real-time visitor experiences and scholastic communication of heritage visualisations, work in balance so as to make progress towards a complete system rather than partial solution to narrow research problems. more information is available at www.epoch-net.org. Sorin Hermon The session will discuss the use of 3D models and Virtual Reconstructions in archaeology, arguing that while there is a wide use of this methodology in the later stages of the research pipeline, i.e. virtual conservation of tangible cultural heritage or communication, it is less applied to the process of reasoning in the archaeological scientific research. This problem may be related to a wider concept, i.e. the scope of the archaeological scientific research. Thus, if indeed it is the reconstruction of the human past life and its context, based on evidences of natural remains and material culture, then modern techniques of visualization, 3D modelling and Virtual Reconstruction may apparently help in this process, by enabling the visual expression of alpha-numeric data and its interpretation. Most often, the virtual reconstruction of objects, structures or sites is guided by professional archaeologists; however, their work is limited to the role of advisors, in order to obtain an “accurate, scientific” model; but for who? Generally, the target public of these models is the tourist visiting a site or a museum, or the student in the classroom. Therefore, apparently much archaeological scientific work is neglected and obscured by technological or artistic aspects of the model and not its embedded scientific message. The session will open a discussion of pro and cons towards the application of 3D models in the process of archaeological investigation, with advantages and pitfalls, discussed through the presentation of various examples from recent works, mainly in three fields of applications: 3D illustrative and modelling methods (Bernard Frischer), the use of 3D scanners in the archaeological research (Gabriele Guidi) and 3D technology in pottery analysis and other archaeological artefacts, as a convenient and accurate tool for research (Avshalom Karasik.)
Vitomir Jevremovic. vita@online-archaeology.com Interactive Belgrade is a computer program that allows a visitor to explore the fifteenth century Belgrade freely . Using 3D glasses and a special projection technology, a visitor is able to experience the third dimension and enter and explore ancient Belgrade . The Reconstruction has been done to the smallest detail. Special attention has been given to every rock, wooden beam and roof constructions, fortress walls, textures of every object, vegetation and the whole atmosphere of ancient Belgrade . Suppressing other forms of scientific documentation and presentations, visitor is placed in a central role as a active participant and all his previous perceptions of history are altered. In this new way (environment), history becomes an interactive present! A new world is opened in front of his eyes which will not only provoke him and introduce a new visual experience, but will also educate him. A visitor doesn't need to imagine and interprets the past any more, he can now become actively involved in living it and exploring it. Reconstruction of Belgrade from the time of Despot Stefan Lazarevic, 15th century ruler of Serbia , has been done with a detailed instructions and guidance of Dr. Marko Popovic, chief archaeologist and expert on Belgrade fortress.
Vitomir Jevremovic, Nenad Tasic. vita@online-archaeology.com ArchaeoPackPro is a software system for archaeological excavations. After second year of development and intense implementation on Vinca excavations, authors will present new methodology introduced into the fieldwork based on usage of ArchaeoPackPro during 2003/2004 campaigns. New version of the software offered some great options for the excavation team, giving them more independence in the fieldwork, much faster data acquisition, more precise documentation and unique options for correlation of data gathered . Campaigns of 2003/2004 at the site of Vinca where marked as a years of transition from the grid system, to unit based methodology which were encouraged and directly backed up by the software features.
Vitomir Jevremovic. vita@online-archaeology.com Gaming industry is what we are all looking at when developing real-time virtual worlds. Gaming is 3D real-time. Gaming is where the big money is circling. Gaming is where the newest hardware is utilized, researched and planned. Gaming is always developing for markets 2-3 years in future. Gaming is using the best and the newest 3D technologies. On the other hand, Virtual Archaeology is trying to build real-time 3D reconstructions. Virtual Archaeology is lagging behind gaming industry between 5 and 10 years. Virtual Archaeology is slow in using new hardware/technology solutions for its reconstructions/presentations. Virtual Archaeology has no standards of quality or realistic reviews. Still there is no market established for Virtual Archaeology products. Gaming technologies have always been a wishful thinking for Virtual Archaeology. So, what should be done? Is there a chance for Virtual Archaeology?
Pedro Pereira, Filipe Marreiros, Phillip Tomé, Tony Lavender, Adérito Marcos {Pedro.Pereira, Filipe.Marreiros, tlavender, Phillip.Tome, Aderito.Marcos} @ccg.pt Centre for Computer Graphics (CCG) and University of Minho School of Engineering Department of Information Systems The applicability of Augmented Reality (AR) for the dissemination of patrimony and cultural heritage is already a reality, as it is being used currently in a number of cultural-historical situations to present either virtual or augmented (where virtual objects overlap the real ones) scenarios. With AR systems the entertainment and educational components can be explored in order to attract users to view and interact with the system. This paper presents a monitor-based prototype for the visualisation of and interaction with an AR System, the Augmented Room (AugRoom). The AugRoom is an extension of a previous prototype - ARK (Augmented Reality Kiosk) - developed for the VirtualShowcases project and it is installed in the D. Diogo de Sousa archaeological museum in Braga , Portugal . The AugRoom is a multi-user system for up to eight users - four of whom can interact with the system, while the others just act as observers due to hardware restrictions. This AR system uses monitors to display the computer-generated images and half-silvered mirrors to reflect the monitor images. These mirrors have an inclination angle that it is perfect for giving the impression that the computer-generated images are in the middle of the AugRoom. Through the mirrors the users can see the real objects. When at the same time the monitors project computer-generated images and the users see the real objects through the mirrors, the result is the augmented reality scenario The scenario installed in the AugRoom has two parts. The first part presents a 3D simulation of a religious ceremony entitled “Ancient Roman Tomb” and in second part users can play a computer game based on the “Ancient Roman Tomb” story, the Augmented Game. The 3D simulation developed was based on archaeological artefacts and on the knowledge acquired by museum techniques used during the excavations. Several software tools were used to produce the 3D simulation but most important was AliasWaveFront Maya, as this software tool made possible the re-creation of a live representation of a roman funeral in northern Portugal at that time. The latter simulation is based on a stereoscopic video and it contains no augmented reality. This option was chosen by the museum experts, because for them realism is more important than the AR technology and a real-time rendering computer-generated 3D simulation does not have the same realism as a computer- generated video using Maya. There are two videos versions, one for active stereo visualisation and the other for red/blue analysis passive stereo. Both versions have Roman environmental sounds, other effects and voice overs that explain about the stages of the ceremony in both Portuguese and English. The Augmented Game is game is played after the video presentation to put into practice knowledge acquired during the video presentation. This system had as its main goal a low cost, low maintenance AR solution for multiple users; two characteristics that should guarantee success of this kind of solution in museums. VirtualShowcases Home Page: www.virtualshowcases.com
Paulo Bernardes One of the first computer graphics applications in archaeology began in the seventies and become more common in the late eighties and early nineties. Computer graphics applications, mostly virtual environments and multimedia, are widely spread out in areas such as architecture, urban planning, medicine, scientific visualisation and education and training.
Tyler Bell _ Oxford Archdigital, Ltd. tyler.bell@oxarchdigital.com Abstract: BRICKS is an FP6 EU Integrated Project whose ambitious goal is to unite cultural content from throughout Europe into a single semantic and technical framework. The result will be an online, platform independent Cultural Heritage Service that is intended to provide a next generation generation digital library The project consortium consists of twenty-four technology and content providers from throughout the EU. It has completed its first year and is planned to run for another 30 months. This paper follows an introductory paper given by Robert Hecht (" BRICKS – Building Resources for Integrated Cultural Services") and is intended to provide a more detailed look at how BRICKS will operate with a single cultural data source. Specifically, this paper will show how the Portable Antiquities Scheme data will be incorporated within the project, and will highlight the project's use of OAI-PMH for metadata harvesting, and the Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) for semantic abstraction. The presentation will focus on issues relating to information flow rather than the technological nuts-and-bolts of the project, and will therefore be geared towards audience members who may have heard of OAI-PMH, XML, CRM and other acronyms, but not necessarily know what they mean. It will be of interest to those members of the CAA community who may be thinking of providing content to BRICKS or a similar service, or those who are interested in some of the more recent approaches to the creation of large-scale, distributed, cultural heritage networks. http://www.brickscommunity.org/prj http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk [Note to editors: please arrange this paper to follow Robert Hech's, referred to in the abstract]
Robert Hecht Research on the Internet can be very frustrating for the following reasons: (i) information is scattered across many websites and (ii) interspersed with “noise”, e.g. websites of companies advertising their products. (iii) Often, it is not clear how reliable the information is. (iv) Since search engines are text-based, they find documents which contain the individual search terms out of context. (v) For the same reason, documents which contain relevant material, but not the exact key words are not found. Pictures or videos are found only if they are accompanied by text containing the search terms. The EU FP6 Integrated Project BRICKS aims to address these problems by creating a single semantic and technical framework for web services to search and access content from cultural heritage and research institutes. This will help solving problems (i) and (ii) above by providing a search interface to find content of all member organisations with a single query. Reliability will be improved by the fact that new member organisations must be “recommended” by existing members and by continuous assessment of the quality of the content of each member organisation by the users. To tackle problems (iv) and (v), we will exploit the fact that cultural heritage organisations often annotate their content with structured metadata that go far beyond simple text. We will implement queries based on these metadata rather than on key words in text. This should allow much finer-grained search and return also document which are relevant to the query but do not contain the exact words the user searches for. Using the CRM, as described briefly in a separate paper by Tyler Bell (“BRICKS: Moving Towards Cultural Heritage Integration”), we will strive to achieve an even better selectivity. Besides enhanced search capabilities, BRICKS will offer two other valuable tools to facilitate research: researchers can create Annotations to content items to add information or exchange opinions with their colleagues, and they can organise material relevant to their interests in hierarchically structured Collections, which can be made accessible to other users. Obviously, the success of BRICKS depends ultimately on the number of organisations who participate in the project. We will therefore also report how cultural organisations will benefit from making their content accessible in BRICKS, how their Intellectual Property Rights will be protected, and what we do to keep costs low. The presentation is targeted at non-technical people. It will outline the technologies on which BRICKS is based and focus on how cultural heritage organisations and end users will benefit from them. http://www.brickscommunity.org
Kate Fernie kate.fernie@mla.gov.uk University of Oxford Studies of visibility in the landscape predate the availability of GIS, but the impact of GIS has been to give archaeologists a toolbox for rapidly investigating the visual characteristics of a landscape using quantifiable and repeatable methods. As a result visibility studies have become more widespread in archaeology. But several different techniques are available for creating the Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) that are the basis for visibility studies in GIS. Each of these techniques produces models that can be used in analysis but there are differences in the models that have implications for archaeological visibility studies. This project set out to investigate the different techniques that are available to create DEMs with the aim of understanding the differences in the techniques and their implications for archaeologists. The project data was derived from a dataset developed by Vuk Trifkovic for the Iron Gates region in Serbia; the area around the Mesolithic site at Lepenski Vir, which lay on the bank of the river Danube as it passed through the Iron Gates gorge. The data used consisted of height data for a grid of 200 points across the region. Using the five interpolation methods available in Vertical Mapper (Inverse distance weighting; Natural neighbour; Rectangular; Triangulation with smoothing and Kriging) five DEMs were created and compared. The five different interpolation methods created different models of the topography of the region based on the points in the original dataset. As the landscape of the Iron Gates Gorge is very dramatic, the differences between the interpolation methods were emphasised. Different interpolation methods use different algorithms to calculate the slope in between the points provided in the original dataset. Some methods smooth the slope between points, while others assume the steepest slope. The project looked at the impact of this difference on viewsheds, by comparing viewsheds from the site of Lepenski Vir based on each of the five DEMs. The differences were dramatic with clear implications of choosing the most appropriate method of creating a DEM for archaeological visibility studies.
Claudio Barchesi _ Insituto di Studi sulle Civiltá Italiche e del Mediterraneo Antico claudio.barchesi@iscima.cnr.it Abstract: Since 1990 the Istituto di Studi sulle Civiltà Italiche e del Mediterraneo Antico of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) publishes the journal Archeologia e Calcolatori (http://soi.cnr.it/archcalc), under the direction of Paola Moscati. Its content focuses on the application of IT to archaeological methods and analyses the relevant theoretical aspects. The journal has been established in order to create an open and continous exchange of information among Italian and foreign researchers involved in computing archaeology, as well as to offer an up-to-date edition of ongoing projects both in Italy and abroad. Thanks to an agreement established with the Editor of Archeologia e Calcolatori (Edizioni all'Insegna del Giglio), a project for digitalisation and web diffusion of contents has been recently started. While Pdf seems to be the most satisfactory data format to deliver the electronic version of documents, international standards developed within the Open Archives paradigm can surely offer fascinating solutions to disseminate metadata describing their content. Especially for archeological and historical resources, Open Archives can play a main role, representing a valid base on which to establish projects aimed at a better visibility and wider diffusion of information. OAI-PMH (Open Archive Initiative – Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) is an international standard, supporting unqualified Dublin Core metadata schema proposed in 2001 by Lagoze & Van de Sompel. OAI-PMH has been developed to create and query standardised metadata archives by interdisciplinary communities. It permits the harvesting of metadata collections by using XML and HTTP on the basis of a shared protocol. OAI-PMH is based on a restricted and plain set of specifications; it is easier to implement than Z39.50, a standard that has been for many years the most widely known mechanism for supporting cross-repositories search. Several applications based on OAI-PMH have been proposed by different institutions and some obtained a brilliant success. However, in certain situations the deployment of an OAI-PMH conformant repository software is still problematic. The reason ranges from lack of technical expertise, cost of implementation, intrinsic complexity of web server administration. For small research institutions and university departments the most part of the existing OAI applications seems in effect not simple to implement. In this paper a simplified approach to OAI implementation for small and medium size archives will be discussed. This project is based on a OAI Static Repository file (OAI-SR, i.e. an XML file based on a schema whose guidelines has been recently issued by OAI),Visual Basic, ASP, XML/XSL and Java technologies. This project has been applied to the collection of abstracts coming from the articles published in Archeologia e Calcolatori, but it can easily be adapted to other cultural subjects with small efforts.
Tyler Bell _ Oxford ArchDigital Ltd. tyler.bell@oxarchdigital.com Abstract: MIDAS is the Monument Inventory DAta Standard developed by the Forum for Information Standards in Heritage (FISH), a consortium of UK heritage institutions formed in 2001 to "co-ordinate, develop, maintain and promote standards for the recording of heritage information". MIDAS XML encapsulates this mature data standard into ten XML schemata, which provide a common format for the storage, processing and exchange of historic environment information. MIDAS XML is the answer to the needs of cultural heritage community of the United Kingdom and Ireland , but has been specifically designed to be used internationally. This paper will introduce MIDAS XML to the CAA community and highlight some of its salient features. It will be of interest to delegates who are involved with data standards, information exchange, and interoperability issues. Familiarity with XML will prove advantageous, but is by no means required. Contributing organisations to FISH include The National Trust, English Heritage, The Archaeology Data Service, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland , The Museum Documentation Association, Oxford ArchDigital Ltd. and several others. International participants from further afield are encouraged and welcome to contribute. FISH: http://www.fish-forum.info
Sandra Schloen, David Schloen _ University of Chicago d-schloen@uchicago.edu Abstract: The "XML System for Textual and Archaeological Research" (XSTAR) has been under development at the University of Chicago since 2001 (see http://www.xstar.org). XSTAR consists of a database structure and related user-interface software. Users can integrate archaeological and philological data from different research projects and view and query the integrated data via the Internet. More specifically, XSTAR is designed to serve the needs of researchers and students in ancient studies by providing: (1) access to searchable data from any computer on the Internet; (2) integration of data from different projects; (3) an environment for collaborative online research in which data and interpretations are credited to specific persons; (4) a vehicle for online publication and reliable citation; and (5) a platform for long-term preservation of digital information in archaeology and textual studies. The technological solution chosen to meet these needs involves using the Extensible Markup Language (XML) for data and Java for the user interface. The XML data is managed by a native-XML database server which can store and query large quantities of semi-structured hierarchical data with great efficiency. The XML server acts as a central "data warehouse" in which information from many different projects can be integrated. For most archaeological databases, a "data warehousing" approach will be more feasible than on-the-fly "data mediation" or federation of online databases. Data integration is made possible through the use of a comprehensive "global schema" expressed in terms of 24 XML document schemas, each of which represents a particular type of database entity (i.e., these XML document schemas are analogous to the relational table schemas in a normalized relational database system). This abstract global schema is called the "Archaeological Markup Language" (ArchaeoML). ArchaeoML acts as a kind of comprehensive ontology for archaeology and philology. It permits data from multiple research projects to be incorporated into a single database while preserving each project's terminology, recording system, and authorship. The data can then be accessed by multiple simultaneous users, who can perform queries that integrate diverse lines of evidence as an aid to interdisciplinary research. Each project will determine which users can have access to their data; i.e., data will remain private for a project until it is released for general use. Because XSTAR is based on XML and related open standards such as XML Schema and XML Query (XQuery), it is both "platform independent" and "self-describing" (the data are stored as Unicode text in which are embedded human-readable tags that describe the data's structure and meaning). These features facilitate long-term preservation and citation of digital information, as well as allowing highly structured data to be transmitted via the Internet (i.e., as plain text using HTTP). XML data structured according to the publicly available ArchaeoML schemas could be accessed with a variety of client-side applications, including relatively simple Web browser interfaces. But in order to provide a more powerful user interface we have developed a downloadable Java application that works with ArchaeoML. The XSTAR Java application allows users to log in to a native-XML database server in which archaeological and textual information of various kinds is stored in the form of a large number of XML "documents" (data objects), whose structure is defined by the 24 XML document schemas that make up ArchaeoML.
G. Rispoli, A. D'Andrea, F. Rosiello, V. Barone _ Centro Interdipartimentale di Servizi di Archeologia dandrea@iuo.it Abstract: Within INNOVA project, granted by Regione Campania, some specific programmes have been aimed at studying new methodologies and tools for the safeguard of cultural heritage of Campania.Particularly, an interdisciplinary group, including archaeologists, philologists and computer science's experts, is dealing with the encoding of ancient literary sources (greek, latin and byzantine) and archaeological evidences (archaeological sites, buildings and monuments) in order to implement a web-system for users having a different skills and goals (scientific researches, institutions, public organizations for the safeguard of cultural heritage). The project, at the moment limited just to two areas of Campi Flegrei (Napoli-Pausyllipon and Baia) as a test area, is based on a theoretical framework inspired by ontological engineering and on a language representing the objects (archaeological and philological data), their structures and their conceptual relationships. This paper describes the way tested in order to integrate the literary sources, usually not structured, with the archaeological evidences, which are structured within traditional forms. For this tasks we have chosen an encoding system based on XML both for literary documents and for the archaeological contexts, to avoid representing all the information through a common database. In this paper we submit the selected model for the encoding of the ancient literary texts and archaeological data. We highlight here also te developed methodology for the mark-up of relationships among objects, and besides the possible ways of finding data into a coherent global resource. Taking into account the heterogeneity of the different sources we used for the mark-up a semplified system of the CIDOC-CRM formal definition; the main element is represented by the event considering that each source describes an historical and cultural event happened within the selected areas. Each event, characterized by specif attributes (struggle, description, etc.), is linked with other special elements (subject, object, place, time, natural resources). Using CIDOC-CRM formal standard schema was intented to facilitate not only the integration of different cultural heritage information but also to guarantee the exchange between heterogeneous sources concerning the same research area. Considering all the disparated sources, the solution which has been chosen is based on a semi-structured form which is articulated into a hierarchy of nodes with the criterion of inclusion. Each file, concerning a specific archaeological and literary source, has as the root-element the tag “place” (Baia/Pausyllipon). Files concerning ancient texts includes the following elements-nodes: author, work, book, chapter and paragraph, while data concerning archaeological monuments is articulated into: topographic units, monuments and objects. In order to make the research easier, every file has been catologued into different thematic areas (History, Geography, Society, Imaginary) and its relevance has been evaluated along a range 1 to 5 degrees. Thus users can retrieve not only specific information by pointing out the linkage between archaeological finds and ancient texts, but they can also process the queries starting from thematic areas. This is in order to visualize ancient sources and archeological monuments linked to the generical and thematical areas. This paper describes the mark-up chosen for encoding archaeological and textual sources and shows the web-interface implemented for the management of all the digital archives.
Efthimios C. Mavrikas, Vagelis Stournaras, Christis Konnaris _ Historical Archive of the Aegean , Ergani tim@ct.aegean.gr Abstract: This paper presents a detailed methodology account and an intermediary results report of the Information Society project entitled "Development and exploitation of a thematic digital collection regarding the modern economic and social history of the North Aegean region (1870-1930)" supported by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture under Invitation 65. This historical memory preservation project is undertaken by the Historical Archive of the Aegean - Ergani, a civil, non-profit organisation aiming to collect, document, preserve, research and exhibit archival evidence of the financial, social, political and cultural life of the northeastern Aegean Sea area. The historical study catalyst of this project is the Kourtzi family archive, a prospective body of knowledge encompassing numerous types of evidence, including architectural and industrial plans, technical manuals and designs, diplomatic and accounting records, diaries and logbooks, personal and business letters, market studies and advertising material, newspapers and magazines, ethnographic period footage in the form of amateur Pathe Baby movies, photographs, postcards and works of art. The main actors of the archive are Panos and Mitsas Kourtzis, an outstanding father and son continuum of entrepreneurship and innovation. Spanning the rich archival evidence, their story is about overcoming troubled times and the unsettled confines of a declining Ottoman Empire and an embryonic Hellenic Kingdom to prosper in banking, commerce, shipping, mining, hotellerie (spas) and the olive oil industry, founding model industrial processing plants on the island of Lesvos. Their story highlights, contrasts and eventually accords with Lesvos' progressive marginalisation and isolation from its natural geographic context - the Asia Minor coast, the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea - after joining the hellenic state. Ergani follows a semantically consistent methodology for the electronic documentation, digitisation, management and study of the archive, enabling knowledge-rich online and offline presentations of the Kourtzi family cultural property. Primary documentation produces ISAD-compliant descriptions at evidence level, encoded in XML following the EAD DTD. The historical, social and industrial archaeological research of the evidence is supported by the CIDOC CRM ontology, as ontology concept instantiations enrich the primary XML descriptions and establish semantic connectivity throughout the archive. Semantic interoperability is ensured by an OAI-PMH implementation and an extensive cross-reference of controlled documentation vocabulary to a selective list of thesauri, including the Getty AAT and TGN, the Library of Congress TGM I and II, and the UNESCO Thesaurus.
Ruth Tringham, MACTIA, U. Berkeley, Franco Niccolucci, University of Florence , Italy A growing number of archaeologists know about standards. The bad news is that in most cases it still isn't clear why these standards are useful or how they are best applied in archaeology. Alicia Wise, Promoting Standards in Archaeology , Papers from the Standards in Action Workshop, Churchill College , Cambridge , 1-3 October 1997 After more than 6 years, and a lot of work on archaeological standards, is this statement superseded? The original paper referred to the UK situation, where perhaps things have changed, but if we consider a wider scope in many regards it still holds. A survey carried on in some European countries has shown that the situation is diverse, according to national regulations, use, and archaeologists' good will. On the other side, the sometimes prescriptive and over-technical attitude of the standards people (proponents' of this session included) has not helped spreading awareness about the availability, usefulness and easiness of use of existing standards, in primis the CIDOC-CRM. On this regard, for instance, applications for daily use based on it are not at hand, and advantages of its use are not self-evident to everybody, especially if one considers that “ archaeologists are willing to make a priority of documenting their resources in a way compatible with museum IT strategies if these are flexible enough to allow them to get on with their own work at the same time, and doesn't increase their workload in the first place ” (Wise). Easiness of understanding, let alone using, has not yet been reached, notwithstanding the didactic efforts of the CIDOC-CRM team. If one includes USA in the analysis, diversity is still greater. Here, acceptance of CIDOC-CRM is argued and other proposals (e.g. XSTAR) are on the ground. The session will put together scholars with different expertise and provenance, all willing to promote an international debate with no prejudice or preconception. The goals of the session will be the following. • Discuss the pro's and con's of different systems and analyse whether there may be a convergence or, at least, compatibility in the short period. • Collect expressions of interest from the archaeological community to collaborate in a joint effort, where individuals will bring in their experience, for instance on their national situation. • Define a research agenda focused on archaeologists' needs and aimed at producing operational proposals based on standards • Verify the feasibility of a joint research project on archaeological documentation bridging the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The session will be organized as a panel session. The session is jointly organized by EPOCH and the University of Berkeley (USA). Invited attendees will include among others (all participations to be confirmed): Michael Ashley, MACTIA, U. Berkeley , USA Andrea D'Andrea, U. of Naples – Orientale , Italy Martin Doerr, chair of the CIDOC-CRM SIG, Greece Jon Holmen, Museum Project, U. of Oslo , Norway Ellen Jordal, Museum Project, U. of Oslo , Norway Eric Kansa, Alexandria Archive Institute, USA Giulia Marchese, PIN, Italy Franco Niccolucci, University of Florence , Italy (co-chair) Irina Oberlander-Tarnoveanu, CIMEC, Romania Christian-Emile Ore , chair of CIDOC, Norway Nick Ryan, U. of Kent , UK David Schloen, U of Chicago , USA Steve Stead, Vice-chair of CIDOC , UK Ruth Tringham, MACTIA, U. Berkeley, USA (co-chair) Tommaso Zoppi, PIN, Italy
Christine Finn _ University of Bradford UK cafinn@brad.ac.uk Abstract: This paper os base around the presentation of a selection of brief films, made as part of BBC Television's recent "Who do you think you are" family history programme. The author was one of those who made films which were screened via BBC Digital, and archives online www.bbc.co.uk/digitalstorytelling. While particants at the CAA may view these films at any time, this presentation will give the opportunity for discussion on a factor which was central to many of the stories - the use of an object as a mnemonic, from which the story emerged. Further, it illustrates how powereful stories about the past can be produced with limited (in terms of broadcasting) resources.
Rimvydas Lauzikas astro@moletai.omnitel.net Abstract: Object of this paper is the models of historical geography and historical chronology applied in digitalization of cultural heritage. Aim of the paper is presentation and substantiation of the model of space and time thesaurus (standard) of Lithuanian systems of digitalization of cultural heritage. The basic aims of such thesaurus should be the following: 1.Creation of a universal method of presentation of historical space and time in digital environment. 2.Standardization of space and time presentation in digital environment. 3.Geographical and chronological classification of the objects of cultural heritage. 4.Digitalization of the data of different objects of cultural heritage in single and integral form. 5.Analysis and dating of information of the objects of cultural heritage. 6. Creation of schemes of cultural development. In fact, Lithuanian thesaurus of historical space and time would be a three-dimensional system of axes where horizontal axes X and Y would be an expression of geographical latitude and longitude in degrees, and the vertical axis Z would be meant for time. Each object of cultural heritage would be expressed through space, time and relation between space and time. Depending on the relation of the object with place and time, in this system of axes it would look like a point (changed neither in space nor in time), segment (changed only in space or in time) or curve (changed in space as well as in time).
Eugenijus Jovaisa, Rimvydas Lauzikas, Daina Stankeviit _ Vilnius University astro@moletai.omninet.net Abstract: The primary source of the project should be called the computerized analysis system of funerary sites “Dangus” (“Sky”) designed in 1993 by Eugenijus Jovaiša and Marius Jovaiša and computerized reporting system of analysis of funerary sites „Archeologo darbo kamputis“ („Workplace of archeologist“). The later system won a first place prize in 1993 in the contest „Etninio darbuotojo tipine darbo vieta“(“Typical workplace of ethnic worker“). Objectives of the project : · Basis of digital archeological report. · Standard of presentation of archeological analysis report; European standard. · Form of presentation of archeological data in the internet; unified form, equalized features of memorial. · Application in digital projects of national culture heritage „Aruodai“ (Electronic compendium of sources on Lithuanian spiritual culture: ethnology, language and history) and LIMIS (Integrated Information system of collections of Lithuanian museums). The main objectives of this archeological database should be: · Management and Interchange of data and information. · Statistical data analysis. · Presentation of data and results of the statistical data analysis to professionals and general public. These objectives must be implemented through specialized archeological database. The database is to be accessed through internet using special passwords, which will be coordinated by the appointed specialists The fields of this database are to be ternary: obligatory field (data entering into these fields is obligatory to each investigation and each researcher); non-obligatory fields (data should be entered into these fields concerning the amount of available data, specification of methodology, personal position of archeologists, etc.), indexed fields (these are the fields to model automatically the virtual exhibition for general public). Four main data input modes used in this database: · Options from the list – Lookup Wizard (precise description of real appearance is obligatory to enter into the key and interface fields and also for statistical data analysis). · Number field (for entering of quantitative data). · Hyperlink field (interface with satellite databank of large volume). · Memo field (one memo field in each table for comments).
E. Tartera Bieto, A. Vidal Aixalà _ Grup d'Investigació Prehistòrica, Universitat de Lleida etartera@sidora.org Abstract: The GIP, a prehistoric research group from the University of Lleida, should like to present in the CAA 2005 the just started SIDORA Project (Sistema Integral de Documentació i Organització del Registre Arqueològic), which pretends to create and to share with scientific community an Archaeological Information System, made for archaeological recording in his most wide sense. Nowadays, informatics is nearly considered ubiquitous and information is a basic social resource. And it is reasonable to think that, after more than twenty years of encounter between archaeology and informatics, the archaeological record digitalisation is a consolidated phenomenon. At present, the use of informatics resources by the archaeological projects, as well as by the society we are forming part, is generalized and intensive. Added to that, information systems are an essential tool for the study, the management and the diffusion of Archaeological Heritage. On the other hand , the information systems in archaeology are still extremely atomized in many parallel or certainly equivalent solutions, whose developers groups have spent all kind of resources to solve the same problems, more than a once. From our point of view, although the excavation methods are based on solid and recognized principles rested on the so-called Harris method, the digitalisation processes are still short of normalization. Paradoxical though it may seem, our contribution is oriented to restart this process once more. But the difference with the previous experiences is that our research purpose has the intention to be opened, accessible and free. It will pretend to integrate all the outer contributions and it is very conscious of the software social value, which, in our opinion, is more important than its economic value. Starting from and open source philosophy and methods for its development, this project pretends to encourage the scientific community collaboration in order to collect better its necessities and also to implicate itself in this creation process. This text will show the motivations and the project work guidelines, as well as some reflections about usability and functionality in archaeological information systems. This system must join information quality and usability. The quality information will come from an open and complete ontology applied to the archaeological record, as well as from a more structured representation effort of the data. The system usability will be guaranteed by the implication of its potential users, from the beginning of the development process. In the final analysis, we will profit this congress to present the new project website (www.sidora.org), where we pretend to centralize the communication between this project and the archaeological community: a key electronic forum for the requirements collection and for the later resultant source dissemination. At the same time, the website will be the adequate place to find information and support about open source software for archaeology. As we see it, the open source phenomenon has to stimulate the archaeological research, giving it the more accessible software and numerous technological resources in order to satisfy its objectives and to solve its problems. To sum up, SIDORA Project pretends to be an encounter point for this technological impulse, offering itself to the scientific community as a tool for its work and as an expression way to collaborate in the technological future shape of archaeology.
Dennis Crall, Katina Lillios _ University of Iowa dennis-crall@uiowa.edu Abstract: The engraved stone plaques of late prehistoric Iberia have fascinated archaeologists for over 140 years. Over 1000 plaques are known, and they are housed in more than thirty museums across Portugal and Spain . Because of their dispersed locations and the large size of the collection, there has been no comprehensive catalogue of the plaques that might allow for their systematic analysis. ESPRIT (The Engraved Stone Plaque Registry and Inquiry Tool) aims to fill this gap. Created in 2004, it is an online tool able to organize information on the plaques and to facilitate their analysis. Information and images used in ESPRIT were gathered from published references to the plaques as well as through the study of museum collections in Portugal and Spain between 2003-2005. ESPRIT ( http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/esprit ) makes information on the plaques freely available to scholars, museum curators, and students anywhere in the world, and will continue to grow as new plaques are excavated. This paper presents the basic structure and elements of ESPRIT as well as an overview of the site's technical architecture. Driven by a widely available desktop database (Filemaker Pro), ESPRIT allows users to browse the plaques by type, by the archaeological site at which they were found, and by the museum in which they are housed. As users navigate the database, they are presented with detailed information about each plaque, including up to four distinct images. Architecturally, ESPRIT is designed to allow users to maneuver easily through the data -- moving from lists of plaques to an overview of a particular plaque to a high resolution photograph of a plaque and back again in just a few clicks. With powerful search capabilities and a comprehensive bibliography, ESPRIT is an invaluable resource for archaeologists and scholars interested in ancient art. It is also a powerful teaching resource in the analysis of archaeological arts. Additionally, the paper discusses the benefits and challenges that accompany online publication. The internet has flourished as a place to exchange information and ideas, and this medium stands to enhance research methods and to benefit archeologists. These benefits include maximal dissemination of information, continual updates to data through collaborative processes, and interactive tools for model testing. However, scholars must be mindful of the potential pitfalls of online publication. ESPRIT, as with many large archaeological databases, incorporates the work and property of many individuals and institutions, produced from the 19 th century to the present. Intellectual property rights must be dealt with in close consultation with legal counselors as well as with the individuals involved for each publication. Working with scholars in different countries with different legal and ethical norms pose further challenges to this kind of digital resource. Because of these complexities, issues such as copyright terms and image ownership need to be addressed from the earliest stages of a project. Quality control is another important consideration with online publication. As a relatively new form, there are also few standards governing either the production or review of online scholarly works. This paper will address some of the issues facing creators of on-line databases, including: should there be standards or a body of reviewers to control or evaluatethe quality of such on-line works? If on-line publications remain an open and unregulated system, how will these publications be evaluated in tenure and review cases? Will journals that customarily review book publications review such databases? If not, how can these publications undergo a critical post-publication review to ensure or maintain their quality?
Petko Staynov, Nikolay Genov _ New Bulgarian University petko@staynov.com Abstract: The application presented is a database management system developed by the departments of Informatics and Archaeology of the NBU. The existing implementations of the system concern different lytic assemblages from prehistoric sites on the territory of Bulgaria , Greece and Turkey . The main purposes of the application are: • to allow the storage of data about archaeological artifacts permitting further quantitative processing; • to avoid mistakes, ambiguities and misinterpretation of data by the imposition of data representation standards; • to allow the exchange of data provided by different researching teams; • to allow the common processing of data coming from different archaeological sites; • to allow the spatial representation (on a digital map) of gathered and processed data. It can be used for the following kinds of archaeological artifacts: • Normally it can be used with any kind of archaeological artifacts. • The modules developed so far concern assemblages of stone artifacts, but the open architecture of the system allows the users having the necessary rights to set it for any other kind of material. • The only limitation could result from analytical approach which stands at the bases of the system – the attribute analysis It's basic characteristics are: • client/server architecture • multilingual interface • different levels of access • multimedia features • support of numerous input and output data formats • offline/online mode of functioning The system comprises two main types of modules: • general modules – dedicated to general archaeological data – site description, absolute and relative dating, institutional context, copyrights, etc. • specific modules – concerning the different artifact assemblages and collections and the different descriptive and analytical approaches All the modules are open in manner – the users of the system can either add, or modify the already entered attributes and characteristics, depending on the rights they have been assigned with The application is based on the following technology : On the server's side: • MySQL server • PHP scripts • XML parser and DOM On the client's side: Offline version • Browser • XSL Online version • DOM • Browser The most original part of the system is the principle of its offline functioning which allows the use of open source client/server technologies without the necessity to install server software on the client's machine. It is based on the following steps: 1. Download of a data scheme from the server or creation of a new scheme by means of a special application (HTML format – browser). The scheme is stored on the PC in XML format 2. Visualisation fo the scheme in HTML format (XML – XSL – HTML) 3. Modification of the scheme (if needed) by the creation of new tables, fields or the definition of new values (HTML format – browser). 4. Entering/editing/deleting data (HTML format – browser). 5. Saving the modifications (HTML interface – DOM – XML file)script 6. Uploading of the scheme filled wit data on the server (XML – DOM – PHP script – MySQL DB) An operational version of the system can be accessed at the following address http://www.csisb.org/arcada The presentation of the system will be followed by a discussion of the possible introduction of ontology based data models which could be used for semantically rich indexing and standard representation of potentially related data.
Manuella Kadar, Ioan Ileana _ 1 Decembrie 1918 University, Romania mkadar@uab.ro Abstract: This paper presents a particular case of transformation applied to a relational database created with Visual FoxPro 6.0 and connected to a MySQL server. We have used XML-DBMS middleware written by Ronald Bourret for transferring data between XML documents and relational databases. It maps the XML document to the database according to an object-relational mapping in which element types are generally viewed as classes and attributes and PCDATA as properties of those classes. An XML-based mapping language allows the user to specify customize this mapping. XML-DBMS is available as a set of Java packages. XML-DBMS, along with its source code, is freely available for use in both commercial and non-commercial settings. It is not copyrighted. System requirements for the achievement of such transformation are: XML-DBMS, JDK (Java Development Kit) 1.1.x or 1.2.x, MySQL relational database, JDBC driver for the database , an XML parser written in Java, a DOM level 1 implementation written in Java, SAX (Simple API for XML) version 1. Here we present some sollutions applied to an archaeometallurgical database that collects artefacts discovered on the teritorry of Romania and have full archaeological and analytical description. Features of the database are: detailed, accurate, up-to-date documentation of the metallic objects, easy access, processing and filtering of data that facilitate the archaeological research in the interpretation of human cultures and development of technologies. The material is stored in an objective way, enabling all the interested researchers to get acquainted with it and to get different interpretations. The information stored is useful to scholars aiming to study the production and exchange systems in Eneolithic and Bronze Age Europe, to identify geological sources for raw materials available in Eneolithic and Bronze Age, to achieve typological classifications of artifacts correlated with classifications based on chemical composition and microstructure analyses, to understand specific features of metalworking techniques in this region and to compare them with other early metallurgical centers from prehistoric Europe. Our efforts are focused on the online publishing of data and to make it available to the scholars worldwide interested in the field of prehistoric metal production. Some issues we have faced: wide range of data which needs integrating, otherwise standards for current archaeological work such as GIS information, photographic information, text, and databases, archaeological complexity expressed by multiple sites, multiple kinds of artifacts, multiple terminology.
Harald Gropp _ Universitaet Heidelberg, Germany d12@ix.urz.uni-heidelberg.de Abstract: Some archaeological finds of astronomical and chronological importance will be discussed. My talk will focus on a 2000 year old Gaulish calendar which was found more than 100 years ago and on a socalled sky disk, more than 3500 years old, found 6 years ago. If time allows, some further astronomical aspects of Near Eastern and Mesoamerican archaeology will be briefly discussed. In the past the relation between archaeology and the history of mathematics and astronomy has not been without problems. Sometimes the quantitative analysis of archaeological finds and the use of certain mathematical methods were often not well received by the archaeological experts. In particular, if astronomy is involved, there has been a lot of problems and misunderstandings in the past. The calendar of Coligny was found in the small town of Coligny , north of Lyon , in 1897 as a bronze plate, broken into many pieces. It describes 5 years of a calendar in Gaulish language in Latin script. The calendar is about 2000 years old and was probably used in Gaul in the first century BC before the conquest of Gaul by the Romans. Today the calendar can be seen in Lyon in the "Musee de la civilization gallo-romaine". Altogether, this calendar is one of the few written sources of the Celts and an important witness of their scientific achievements. The calendar of Coligny and the astronomical knowledge which it contains could open the way to a better understanding of Celtic culture in the future. Since the calendar of Coligny was the earliest document in the Gaulish language which was found again, it was discussed in the last century mainly by scholars of Celtic languages. Only in the last 20 years the calendar was also investigated from the point of view of astronomy, mathematics and the history of these sciences. Concerning archaeology itself the calendar of Coligny has not been discussed very much since its excavation in 1897. The sky disk of Nebra was found in Nebra ( Germany ) in 1999. It is a bronze disk showing several objects of probably astronomical importance. The disk is more than 3500 years old.Whether the objects on the disk are better seen as symbolic representations of celestial objects or how much a quantitative analysis makes sense will be discussed. The disk is now shown in a special exhibition in Halle ( Germany ) and will be discussed in an international conference in February 2005. There are many proposals to interpret the objects on the disk as the sun, the full moon, the crescent, Venus, a boat, the Milky Way, just stars, certain constellations of stars, the Pleiades, Orion, etc. It will be discussed how all these explanations can be investigated using quantitative methods. Whereas in the case of the calendar of Coligny the discussion was restricted to a small circle of insiders for nearly a century after its discovery the sky disk of Nebra obtained an enormous public interest, also outside of the scientific community. Starting from these two examples the general problem of how to deal with such objects in an interdisciplinary way between archaeology, mathematics, and astronomy will be discussed, not only in the European context. There are also other astronomical and chronological problems related to archaeological finds, e.g. in Mesoamerica and in the Ancient Near East. In the future, and in particular for the rest of this century, the world should be seen with two eyes, i.e. in a stereoscopic way of more than one discipline in order to better learn about the astronomical knowledge and the chronology of our past.
Giuliano Pelfer_ Centro Studi Dinamiche Complesse pelfer@tin.it Abstract: The settlement organization and evolution in the territory of Tarquinia, in South Etruria, between the Final Bronze Age and the First Iron Age, during the process of protourban centres formation, was associated with the availability, in such territory, of the large resources: soils suitable for agriculture and breeding, wood from extended forests, maritime resources accessible by a network of navigable rivers and lagoons, minerals from the mines of the important mining basin on the Tolfa mountains. The utilization of these resources required a well organized network of communication roads that allowed their accessibility and control in connection with the settlement strategies, starting from the position of the protohistorical Tarquinia settlement, located in the large plateau of Pian di Civita. This paper presents a reconstruction model of the main communication ways, linking the ProtoCity of Tarquinia on the Pian di Civita at its large surrounding territory, at the coast, at the internal band, at the Tolfa mines. This model has been developed within the author's PhD research, that aimed to investigate the dynamics of the settlement evolution during the period of the protourban centre formation and the origin of the ancient city of Tarquinia : the analysis on the road network has been only one of the considered factors concerning the process of city origin. The tool used for such analysis is an archaeological GIS, built using, because of its known advantages, the Open Source GIS GRASS, interfaced with the DataBase PostgreSQL and with the statistical package R. The reconstruction of the road network has been done developing a model based on the method of Cost Surface Analysis and on the principle of minimum cost, in terms of expenditure of the physiological energy needed to cross an area corresponding to the DTM pixel. Also the effects of the terrain properties are calculated. The values of the parameters and constants used in the calculation have been derived from the ones published in journals specialized in the field of applied physiology. With the help of the used algorithms, we obtained the ways and we compared them with the layouts already identified in the previous archaeological bibliography, in the field surveys and on the aerial photo. The final results are in agreement with the parts of roads identified previously by the archaeologists or only hypothesized; at the same way, the results agree with the supposed seaworthiness of the main rivers, that were important communication ways, as it is underlined by many authors and sources. These results allow us to attribute to the proposed reconstruction of the main communication routes the value of a predictive model. That is, the obtained model can be considered correct also in connection with any information at the moment (and at the current knowledge status) unknown, undiscovered and only hypothesized.
Marco Tremari _ Universitá di Milano m.tremari@tiscali.it Abstract: Key words: Site Catchment Analysis, Landscape Analysis, GIS, Predictive Model, and Environmental Archaeology. The article describes results of Landscape Analysis carried out in several Bronze Age settlements in Vara Valley , East Liguria, Italy . Some of the settlements analysed in this context were known through surface research, while others have been inquired through excavation. The aim of this work is to analyse the Bronze Age settlements in connection with their environment, in order to understand the setting choices and the physical aspects of the environment that could have influenced them as regards populating dynamics. In order to go on along this direction, we have decided to elaborate data using Landscape Analysis supported by the use of GIS tools. In particular, Site Catchment Analysis has ben applied on each of the settlements chosen so that we could compare the results and obtain a basis for further valuations. On the ground of these results, we have used the environment aspects that emerged as important and connected with possible settling choices to create a model of the valley territory that highlights the areas with the same physical features. This model (also reproduced into a cartographical map) can now be used as a ground for further researches to discover new archaeological settlements that show similar features and, above all, as a sensible factor in territorial palnning.
Alexandrino Gonçalves, António José Mendes _ Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Leiria, Centro de Informática e Sistemas da Universidade de Coimbra alex@estg.ipleiria.pt Abstract: The use of technologies in the preservation and dissemination of historical and cultural heritage of Humanity has become an increasing reality. However, access to some of these projects, namely those involving the use of Virtual Reality techniques, is normally rather restricted and limited due to technical specificities used in its development and/or visualization. Availability to the general public, for instance through the Internet, becomes, then, impracticable. VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) emerged from the desire to project World Wide Web to a new level, the three-dimensional level. However, even though there are not many alternatives, VRML is not used often. In fact, the number of projects available that use this language is lower than expected. Why? Generally the development of realistic VRML environments results in a set of big files that difficult its download. The complex calculations often necessary to display the virtual environment also create difficulties, since they demand too much for low end computers. This paper intends to present some VRML optimization techniques that allow the creation of a very low file size and a realistic historical environment that can be accessed from any current personal computer. As a result, you can make your own historical tour at: - The Flavian Forum of Conimbriga: http://www.forumflaviano.web.pt - House of Skeletons (Conimbriga): http://www.casadosesqueletos.web.pt Keywords: Virtual Reality, Web, VRML, Optimisation, Conimbriga
Amy Smith, Brian Fuchs, Leif Isaksen _ Ure Museum , University of Reading vlma@rdg.ac.uk Abstract: The Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology at the University of Reading (http://www.reading.ac.uk/ure) is developing a Virtual Lightbox for Museums and Archives (VLMA), an RDF-driven visual collections aggregator/syndicator applet that allows viewing, collecting, and reusing distributed visual archives and relevant metadata via P2P technology. It is funded in 2004-2005 by JISC and is a joint project with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de). The VLMA is a response to specific practical problems in content integration and reuse encountered in digitizing and publishing the Ure Museum 's collections and in adding them to the ECHO humanities portal (http://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de). As a small collection where an object-type is normally represented by a single example, if at all, the Ure Museum is crucially dependent, for both teaching and research, on comparisons of its holdings to those in other museums and archives. Online resources could provide much of the requisite comparanda, yet differences in presentation from site to site severely limit this potential, as does the well-known difficulty of maintaining references to off-site data. To address this problem, the VLMA has developed a "portlet" approach, in which collections with intrinsically heterogeneous metadata sets are syndicated and their contents "collected"--browsed, stored, viewed, and reused--at the peer/client level on an object-by-object basis. This allows metadata integration to be performed at the point of reuse, by the end user, an approach which complements more traditional ones such as common metadata structure (CDWA) or metadata aggregates (OAI). Content reuse can take several forms ranging from a presentation to re-syndication of collected objects in the form of a new collection. The latter possibility provides an easy method for bringing added value to published content as well as a simple way of creating thematically related collections with distributed content. The VLMA employs a simple method for content syndication. A content provider seeds the network by syndicating already published content using a syndication tool, which writes RDF to a lightbox namespace, consisting of services, collection objects, images, and metadata. The two services currently implemented are searching and browsing. In the collection browser service, a user browses online objects in a discrete collection, which he then captures to the lightbox. The lightbox then displays the images and metadata sets associated with this object, and syndicates them as a local collection, which appears in the applet's service hierarchy alongside other collections that have been discovered on the network. In the search service, a user can use a search mask built from a collection's metadata schema to search collection metadata and collect objects. The client then has several reuse options. The applet currently allows local export to Open Office Impress and to xml which also enables state to be saved. Annotation and visual comparison options have also been included to facilitate comparison between items. The VLMA applet is open-source and written in Java and Perl under a GPL. It consists of a number of webservices which are utilised by an ‘applet' running within any standard browser (e.g. MS Internet Explorer) on any platform. The current release is available from the project's website (http://vlma.sourceforge.org) as well as from the Ure Museum 's website (http://www.reading.ac.uk/Ure/VLMA).
Petridis Panagiotis; Martin White; Paul Lister _ University Of Sussex p.petridis@sussex.ac.uk Abstract: We present a flexible system specially designed for museums and other heritage institutions to allow them to build their own virtual museums incorporating 3D, virtual and augmented reality integrated seamlessly with their existing web sites. This offers museums the opportunity to develop visitor attractions both online and within the museum that surpasses their current ‘exhibitions' at relatively low cost. In recent years 3D, virtual reality and augmented reality have emerged as areas of extreme interest as methods for visualizing digital museum artifacts in context, particularly over the Internet. In addition, the technology associated with these new visualization techniques has until now been very expensive. The advent of cheap computing and graphics cards coupled with increasing Internet ‘broadband' access has made possible the implementation of effective virtual museums both online and within the museum. Such virtual museums have enormous benefits for the end-user in learning about their local heritage in an interesting way. These benefits are now being recognized by the museum community. Museum artifacts can be digitized and set into a virtual interactive context that provides a much more rewarding experience than perhaps seeing an artifact in a museum glass case with a simple description on a card. This paper presents two relatively low cost client-server architectures and their components for visualizing digital content over the Internet or an intranet using XML, Web3D, virtual and augmented Reality that are targeted at small, medium and large museums offering a range of business models to suit the museums' resources and skill levels. Our goal is to provide a museum with a ‘virtual museum building and presentation solution' with interesting visitor interaction modes. We satisfy this goal by providing flexible systems that can provide visitors with an interactive visualization of digital content using popular web-based presentations and extending them into the virtual and augmented realty presentation domains. We demonstrate our systems through the implementation of several virtual museums illustrating collections in the Victoria and Albert museum, through to visualization and interaction with valuable artifacts, and virtual reconstruction of vernacular buildings and archaeological sites and monuments. Specifically, with this paper we demonstrate a virtual museum composed of a virtual reconstructed model of the Fishbourne Roman Palace in the south of England as it was in the Flavian period. The museum visitor can navigate and interact with the virtual reconstruction by selecting various parts of the Fishbourne Roman Palace , which enables a hyper jump to interconnected virtual exhibition spaces composed of both 3D virtual galleries and 2D multimedia web pages. The museum visitor can access more detailed information on the web pages and interact with 3D models of archaeological artifacts form the palace. Studying both the reconstruction of the palace and its archaeology allows the visitor to gain a better understanding of the palace and its archaeology.
Arjan de Boer _ ADC ArcheoProjecten a.de.boer@archeologie.nl Abstract: In the Netherlands , the upcoming implementation of the European treaty of Valletta (Councel of Europe, 1992) has increased the research volume of archeological prospection. Because the research period for individual projects is often limited, it has become important to develop strategies to explore regions in a accurate and efficient way. Since the introduction of LIDAR-data several years ago, large amounts of high quality data became available, and ever since, various researches used the data to search for archeological sites. However, standard methods to explore these data are missing: results depend heavily on the quality and experience of the individual researchers. Recently, in the framework of a larger project of the Dutch National Service for Archaeological Heritage (ROB) a study was made to explore the possibilities of pattern recognition techniques in relation to LIDAR-data. The science of pattern recognition studies the design and operation of systems that are able to recognize patterns in data (Theodoridis and Koutroumbas, 1999). Applications can be found in various research areas but applications in the field of archeology are scarce. However, considering the degree of success in other research fields, pattern recognition algorithms offer a promising opportunity to explore large amounts of data in a structural and cost-effective way. Pattern recognition uses techniques such as feature extraction, discriminant analysis, principal component analysis, cluster analysis, neural networks and image processing to search for data with a set of predefined characteristics. Algorithms can be categorized into two classes (Brunelli and Poggio, 1993): template-based and feature-based. Template-based algorithms calculate the correlation between one or more templates and (a selection of) the data. Basically, this method isolates a small part of the data representing the phenomenon in question. Next, using a correlation technique, the whole dataset is analyzed for similar patterns, which will yield a high correlation factor. Feature-based algorithms analyze local features in the data and their spatial relationships. Considering surface altitude data, features that can be used include the absolute or relative altitude, the slope or the change of slope, the roughness and the smoothness of the surface and the exposition. Next, using a known relationship between the occurrence of these features and the occurrence of the phenomenon in question, the latter can be traced. In a pilot study (Laan and De Boer, in press) the use of a template-based technique was explored to search LIDAR-data for burial mounds in the central part of the Netherlands . The hemispherical burial mounds mostly date from the Neolithic until the Iron Age and typically have a diameter of 10 m and a height of 1 m , though their size may vary considerably (see e.g. Theunissen, 1999). As a result of the reclamation of previously uncultivated many burial mounds were ? land – especially in the beginning of the 19th century destroyed. Today, the best-preserved mounds occur in forested areas that were considered unsuitable for cultivation. It is likely that many more burial mounds exist in these areas because they are relatively difficult to detect in the forest using field surveys. In the pilot study, the correlation between the template and a sample of the image was calculated. Using a template of an idealized DEM of a burial mound, a map with correlation values was constructed. It proved that many locations were present with a high correlation: on these spots the shape of the surface resembled a burial mound. The location of these potential burial mounds were compared to the position of known burial mounds using a database of the National Service for Archaeological Heritage (ROB). It showed that almost all of the known burial mounds were traced, and many new possible locations were found. An interesting detail is that the coordinates in the ROB database were often offset to the most probable location on the correlation map; thus, the techniques might also be used to verify coordinates in this ROB database. Archeological sites with a morphologically similar shape, such as, house or village-mounds and eolian dunes covered by Holocene deposits, can be traced using the same techniques. In general, all archeological sites that are visible in the local surface morphology can potentially be traced using pattern recognition techniques in combination with LIDAR-data. This includes a wide range of archeological features and landscape types, e.g., historical routes, Celtic fields, sand pits, medieval parcel structures, meander belts and crevasse splays. Laan, Walter N.H. and Arjan G. de Boer In press “AHN onderzoek West-Veluwe.” ADC-rapport, Amersfoort : ADC-Archeoprojecten. Theodoridis, S. and K. Koutroumbas 1999 Pattern recognition. London : Academic Press. Theunissen, Liesbeth M. 1999 Midden-bronstijdsamenlevingen in het zuiden van de Lage Landen. Ph.D. dissertation, University Leiden. Council of Europe , 1992 European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (Revised), CETS No.: 143.
Benoît Sittler, Marc Daeffler _ Institut für Landespflege benoit.sittler@landespflege.uni-freiburg.de Abstract: Ridge and furrow, a relic of arable cultivation of medieval origin, survived into the 20 th century after having reverted to grassland or woodlands. In this latter case, obtaining spatial and altimetric information of these corrugated earthworks is generally difficult by using traditional topographical surveys because obscuring vegetation prevents visual detectability. In a pilot study devoted to forested sites near Rastatt (SW Germany) and Strasbourg ( Eastern France ), LIDAR has been used to test whether the pattern displayed by such medieval landscape can be detected and analysed efficiently. In these sites, the widths of these earthworks range between 6 and 20 meters , while the depths of the furrow are on average between 30cm and 50 cm Data were obtained by aerial flights missions organized separately. The first was part of a broader project initiated by the Land Survey Agency of Baden Wurttemberg with the purpose of providing a global coverage of surface Lidar altimetric data for the whole land. Lidar data for the woodlands in Alsace (F) were obtained as a spin off of a project aiming at the generation of orthophotos of the City of Strasbourg , ridge and furrow having survived in forests of the Bruch de l'Andlau, just at the Southern border of the City. Of special interest for comparison purposes are the differences in the forest canopy structures (mixed stands at Rastatt, deciduous stands in Alsace) as well as the timing of the flight missions: While those conducted in Baden Wurttemberg were done in wintertime (trees without foliage), airborne data acquisition for the region of Strasbourg was done in late summer, with a still dense foliage canopy cover. In Germany , filtering and processing of raw data was performed by the Land Survey Agency of Baden Wurttemberg , while in the case of Alsace , this was done by TerraImaging company. The subsequent use of GIS enabled then to generate realistic 3 D Terrain models. While in both cases the corrugated structures of the field strips could be revealed, there is preliminary evidence that the extent and distribution pattern appear more complete and are better readable in the instance of data acquired in wintertime. This latter case also highlights a number of subtle features that proved useful for the purpose of a closer interpretation of this archeological resource. While additional tests about accuracy of altimetric data in structures hidden under various forest canopies remain to be done, it was shown that as a whole the resolution of this data and the relative ease of capture compares favorably with traditional surveys methods, even in presence of vegetation cover.
Sascha Schmidt , Jörg Bofinger, Ralf Keller, Siegfried Kurz Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Baden, Württemberg LIDAR (light detection and ranging) is a tool that comes out of the remote sensing and is widely used by the Ordnance Survey of Baden-Württemberg. The technique will replace classic survey methods, but can it be useful for archaeology beyond its original purpose, too? As part of the CULTURE 2000 program as well as in a few other areas of research, the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Baden-Württemberg is using LIDAR-Data to support the fieldwork. With a high resolution DTM that can be calculated by the data (between 0.5 m and 1m screen ruling), it was possible to identify trenches in the external settlements of the Heuneburg Iron Age hillfort. Even nearly invisible structures can be detected by LIDAR, if used in addition to geophysical methods, aerial photography and traditional survey as in the two ongoing Heuneburg Projects. We will present the different currently used DTM's and show their different accuracy in comparison to the LIDAR based model. Two examples of structures from the Heuneburg will be presented, as well as an archaeological structure from Lauda-Königshofen,that could be interpreted by using LIDAR-data. We will as well show our first steps in using the data more than just as a mapping base.
Stephen D Stead The second edition of the Core Data Standard (CDS) is nearing completion. It is intended that it includes all the necessary information to explain its use in support of the new European Landscape Initiatives as well as incorporating the lessons from the first edition of the standard published in 1995. This session will concentrate on producing the final text of the standard. Interested parties are asked to contact cds@paveprime.com to receive a copy of the text before the meeting to allow for informed debate. Stephen D Stead The heritage sector has developed or borrowed an increasingly large number of standards. Yet we are still plagued with many anecdotes of incompatible data, data recasting exercises and “new” data structures that actually follow concepts discredited more than 10 years before. This session aims to survey the standards available, in use or under development and provide an annotated listing together with bibliographic references and use cases. People interested in standards development and deployment are invited to bring with them brief descriptions of the standards that they have developed, used or encountered while working in the field; together with references to appropriate bibliographic and use case references. The resulting survey will then be published. Stephen D Stead Since the Charter of XXXX in 19zz a number of charters and other international instruments have been created. These are poorly understood by many archaeologists and yet they shape the political landscape within which we practice our professions. This session aims to review the existing charters as well as look at emerging initiatives (including the Ename Charter). From this review it is hoped that an agenda for computer applications in archaeology can be formulated and articulated as a document that will inform future charter work and thus the political landscape we operate in. Stephen D Stead Session co-sponsored by ADS and the Digital Preservation Working Group of CIDOC The digital presentation agenda is being set by the library community. Unless we want to have another Dublin Core that nearly fits our requirements we need to set out our expectations. This panel will start to discuss the shape of this expectation. Call it an archaeological digital preservation manifesto
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