The study of dental morphological traits in prehistoric populations is a new method of analysis and allows us to determine important characteristics of different human populations. In this paper we study the dental feature traits proposed by the ASU System (developed by Turner et al. in Arizona State University) by means of an alphanumeric and graphic database recording the dental morphological characteristics and the possible dental diseases (caries, dental wear, etc.). These traits are easily observed, and persist many years in dentally harsh life styles, evolving very slowly and without sex dimorphism. The multivariate data set obtained using the ASU System is defined by means of multistate qualitative variables, and the methodology of statistical analysis is the following: - The MMD test (Mean Measures of Divergence) was developed by Sjovold (1977) to observe the differences between two or more previously established and defined groups by means of multistate qualitative variables. It is also possible to test if existing differences among populations are ethnic, cultural, etc. - A Cluster Analysis algorithm developed by one of the authors (Esquivel1988) that enables us to build a grouping using qualitative multistate variables by means of specific developments in Information Theory established by Claude Shannon. Therefore, it is possible to determine the similarities of dental morphological traits between human groups, and compare these results with other previous information from archaeological data. This methodology has been applied to analyse human genetic diversity using exclusively dental morphological characteristics to determine the diffusion of the culture of the Argar, a prehistoric culture which existed in 1300-1500 BC The analysis has been applied to the teeth of 116 subjects belonging to the Argaric culture in the neighbouring settlements of Castellón Alto and Fuente Amarga (Granada, Spain), and the teeth of 58 subjects belonging to the non-Argaric settlement of La Navilla, also 1300-1500 BC, about 150 Kms. Distant. The results show a biological continuity, endogamy phenomena and genetic drifts. Finally, the study of the maxillar pathology like cavities and dental wear tells us about dental health, food and food preparation.
In 2008 the authors undertook a detailed statistical analysis of the dimensions of a large sample of loomweights from Insula VI.1, Pompeii. A major finding was that the weights of the loomweights appeared to have a bimodal distribution. Further analysis using loomweights that have come to light since the original work strengthens this observation. An analysis of loomweight volume has been undertaken with a view to predicting weight from volume for incomplete loomweights where sufficient information is retained to allow a volume calculation. Recently published experimental work allows an interpretation of the bimodality of the weights in terms of the loom set-up and the cloth being woven, and this is explored in some detail, along with further, tentative, observations on the chronology of the weights.
As well as solving two long-standing theoretical problems, this work shows great potential for the interpretation of ceramic assemblages, and has implications for the way in which pottery is catalogued. Different sorts of interpretation (functional, chronological, distributional) are possible at different levels of grouping (context, phase and site assemblages).
The predominant archaeological approaches to ancient cities to date have tended to focus almost exclusively on the architectural and thus visually perceptible aspects of cityscapes. However, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling were once equally vital elements in how people would have perceived urban reality. This volume seeks to explore methodological insights into these far more ephemeral and mostly neglected stimuli, and considers how they can be subjected to a broader analysis of cultural history. It therefore unites contributions from international scholars who approach the subject of sensory perception in Roman cities from different perspectives using a variety of different sources and archaeological contexts. Some of the papers presented here discuss cities as contexts of sensory perception (sensescapes), focusing in each study on different aspects: the ancient city is thus explored as a visual landscape, a waterscape, a soundscape, and even as a ruined landscape. Other contributions examine sensory experiences in the urban space set against the background of specific contexts of social interaction: scenarios considered include 'Walking' in the crowded metropolis and the collective celebrations of urban festivals. Finally, two studies sketch outlines of a close reading of the towns Ostia and Ephesus with regard to their manifold potentials and stimuli for sensory experiences. By adopting a broad variety of methodologies applied to an equally broad set of sources, this unique volume is able to open up a wider perspective on the multi-faceted experience of living in an urban environment during the Roman imperial period.
The transition from Late Antiquity to the Medieval period is considered one of the greatest periods of social, political, and economic upheaval in Europe, and has left its mark on the historical consciousness of people in this part of the world. Nevertheless, there remains considerable debate as to the degree to which the diets and economic status of different sections of society were impacted by this transition, with these so-called ‘Dark Ages’ often being uniformly considered as static and impoverished, particularly for populations along the Mediterranean rim. Such questions are especially important in central Italy, with its position at the former core of the Roman Empire leaving it most vulnerable to the major social and political shifts of the first millennium AD. However, direct insights into the diets of individuals in this region, across this key period, have been scarce, particularly in diachronic perspective. Here, we apply stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) analysis to bone collagen (n = 76), and stable carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analysis to tooth enamel (n = 34), to human, and associated faunal, individuals dated to Late Antiquity (3rd–5th centuries AD) and the Medieval period (mid 6th–mid 13th centuries AD) in Tuscany. δ13C measurements of both tooth enamel bioapatite and bone collagen suggest that a predominantly C3 diet during Late Antiquity was gradually supplemented by increased C4 consumption during the Medieval period. We interpret this as a shift from an agricultural focus on wheat following the Roman agrarian tradition towards the inclusion of millet as a reliable fallback food. We argue that this was part of a growing local and regional resilience amongst communities in the Medieval period, with more diverse agricultural systems and cultural preferences following a transition from the Roman classical civilization toward a Germanic tradition whose economy was based on the diverse cultivation of “minor crops” and close integration of pastoral husbandry livestock.
As part of an on-going project for a London based Archaeological Information System, work on the automatic generation of stratigraphic adjacency matrices has been jointly undertaken by the Department of Urban Archaeology (MOL) and the Department of Photogrammetry and Survey (UCL). Such a program has been developed on an Apple Macintosh using SQL treewalking techniques (under Oracle RDBMS) and a Hypertext interface which handles graphic presentation and manages rule based drawing conventions (using Supercard object-oriented hypertext). The ultimate goal of this research is the creation of an interactive reporting structure which allows access to many levels of recorded and interpretive site information.
Il volume illustra i recenti scavi archeologici, tra il 2007 e il 2009 dell’importante città di Spina. Essa rappresentava una porta dell’Etruria padana verso la Grecia e l’Oriente, una città cosmopolita tra Po e Adriatico, punto d’incontro di uomini e merci. Tutto questo è stata Spina, la città portuale etrusca sorta negli ultimi decenni del VI secolo a.C. alla confluenza tra un fiume appenninico e un ramo del Po, a breve distanza dal mare. Vengono qui pubblicati i materiali rinvenuti durante le campagne di scavo, dalle ceramiche (alle quali viene dato grande risalto), ai metalli, alla coroplastica, oltre alle analisi di archeozoologia e archeobotanica per la ricostruzione del paesaggio antico.
Catalogo della mostra omonima (Ferrara - Roma) che porta al pubblico, a cento anni dalla scoperta, le ultime novità degli studi archeologici sulla città di Spina, il porto etrusco nell’Adriatico che fu uno snodo fondamentale per i traffici e i contatti tra culture diverse, dal delta del Po all’Atene di età classica, dall'Etruria padana a quella Tirrenica, dal mondo transalpino alla Magna Grecia.
This paper presents an experimental project in the use of Personal Computers for teaching archaeology at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Venice. During three academic years from 1987/88 to 1989/90 the students worked on input and output of excavation data from existing information complied on sheets called “Unità Stratigrafiche” and “Elementi Strutturali”, using the Software Data Base III Plus. Furthermore the students began to use the graphical software package AutoCad, to draw the successive layers including their with tridimensional rendering.
The need for integration and sharing of data on ancient polychromies requires shared working methods and tools. This paper illustrates a first effort in the direction of testing the web-based Information System documentation for the Restoration of Yards (SICaR) of Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (MiBACT). This test activity suggested some changes that have been subsequently implemented in order to record archaeological and scientific information and manage standardized data on ancient polychromy in cultural heritage documentation.
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were distributed across a vast region from Europe to western and Central Asia. The Neanderthals’ paleoecology and distribution has been extensively studied in Europe where the species originated. However, very little is known about their paleoecology in south-western Asia. Here, we employed species distribution modelling and 45 Middle Palaeolithic (c. 200,000–40,000 years BCE) sites location associated with fossil and/or lithic artefacts made by the Neanderthals to examine the expansion of the Neanderthals on the Iranian Plateau in south-western Asia. We estimated the niche overlap between Neanderthals and wild goat, wild sheep and Persian gazelle by modelling their past distribution using 200, 143 and 110 occurrence records respectively. The results show that Neanderthals had highest niche overlap with wild goat in the study area. This analysis revealed that the most suitable Neanderthals’ habitats in south-western Asia were located in the Zagros Mountains stretches from north-western and western and some isolated patches in the central parts of the Iranian Plateau. The annual precipitation and maximum temperature of the warmest month were the most important predictor of the species’ distribution. This finding shows that the southern edge of the Neanderthals distribution was limited by warm summer. Our results provide important information for future field investigations and excavations in the area.
A new dynamic spatio-temporal model of North American prehistory and protohistory from 14,000 BP to 200 BP allows researchers to visualize the ebb and flow of culture change and demographic processes at any of many possible scales. The authors of past syntheses of such changes over time and space on a large scale in North America have depended upon aggregating lower-level syntheses and summaries prepared by various regional specialists. One advantage of the model is that it eliminates much of the bias and filtering that is typically entailed by this dependence. It does so by directly referencing site-specific data recorded and maintained in a GIS format. These are called up and displayed as animations of spatial change over time. The animations in turn can be mapped against environmental changes over time and space. The model raises theoretical and methodological questions about how we record and disseminate our data. These are briefly discussed.
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and related spatial technologies have a new and powerful role to play in archaeological interpretation. Beginning with a conceptual approach to the representation of space adopted by GIS, this book examines spatial databases; the acquisition and compilation of data; the analytical compilation of data; the analytical functionality of GIS; and the creation and utilization of critical foundation data layers such as the Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The ways in which GIS can most usefully facilitate archaeological analysis and interpretation are then explored particularly as a tool for the management of archaeological resources. Formal analysis of archaeological material, and the use of trend surface, contouring and interpolation procedures are considered along with predictive modeling analysis of visibility and intervisibility. Finally there is a discussion of leading-edge issues, including three-dimensional GIS, object-oriented GIS, the relationship between GIS and 'Virtual Reality' technologies, and the integration of GIS with distributed systems and the Internet. The approach is light, and technical detail is kept to a minimum, recognizing that most readers are simply interested in using GIS effectively. The text is carefully illustrated with worked case-studies using archaeological data. Spatial Technology and Archaeology provides a single reference source for archaeologists, students, professionals, and academics in archaeology as well as those in anthropology and related disciplines.
Spatial Resilience is a new and exciting area of interdisciplinary research. It focuses on the influence of spatial variation – including such things as spatial location, context, connectivity, and dispersal – on the resilience of complex systems, and on the roles that resilience and self-organization play in generating spatial variation. Prof. Cumming provides a readable introduction and a first comprehensive synthesis covering the core concepts and applications of spatial resilience to the study of social-ecological systems. The book follows a trajectory from concepts through models, methods, and case study analysis before revisiting the central problems in the further conceptual development of the field. In the process, the author ranges from the movements of lions in northern Zimbabwe to the urban jungles of Europe, and from the collapse of past societies to the social impacts of modern conflict. The many case studies and examples discussed in the book show how the concept of spatial resilience can generate valuable insights into the spatial dynamics of social-ecological systems and contribute to solving some of the most pressing problems of our time. Although it has been written primarily for students, this book will provide fascinating reading for interdisciplinary scientists at all career stages as well as for the interested public."Graeme Cumming, central in the development of resilience thinking and theory, has produced a wonderful book on spatial resilience, the first ever on this topic. The book will become a shining star, a classic in the explosion of new ideas and approaches to studying and understanding social-ecological systems." Carl Folke, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden
Modern Statistical Methodology and Software for Analyzing Spatial Point PatternsSpatial Point Patterns: Methodology and Applications with R shows scientific
This chapter reconsiders a well-known and long-established kind of archaeological dataset: the point pattern. Spatial distributions — in which simple points
The Lake Urmia survey project carried out from 2004 to 2006 in north-western Iran was aimed at obtaining a reliable overview of the occurrence of archaeological sites as well as to identify the spatial pattern of such sites across the area. This paper explores archaeological approaches to regional scale in dynamic landscape. Regional interpretation and the spatial statistical methods used to describe sites distribution, orientation, and pattern are often most reliant on point data. This paper also demonstrates how point pattern analysis offers quantitative information to the spatial process modeling of the natural and cultural landscape, which will aid at establishing a baseline from which other attributes of higher measurements for archaeological elements can be confidently mapped, described and modeled within a GIS. Point pattern analysis of archaeological sites has involved the advantages of visualization and iteration offered by a GIS. Therefore the significance of this study is three-fold. 1) it applies spatial analysis within a GIS to the understanding of archaeological site distributions. 2) it uses quantitative methods that are now available within a GIS to assess inferences concerning the survey data collected from the study area. Finally, this study offers insight into a methodology that is suitable to the spatial examination of more complicated surface data in landscape archaeology concept.
We examined patterns of spatial heterogeneity in the Spring River basin fish community along with environmental correlates to assess the relative importance of geographic distances and habitat differences among sites in explaining community structure. Spatial patterns of the fish community and environmental correlates, as indicated by results of Mantel tests and correlograms, were consistent with the hypothesis that environmental factors were the primary factors organizing the community at the basinwide scale. However, a linkage between mainstream and tributary communites, along with spatial autocorrelation in species composition, suggested contagious biotic processes were important in maintaining community structure, particularly at the interface between the mainstream and its tributaries. Space-constrained cluster analysis and principal coordinates analysis revealed three primary groups of sites, reflecting relatively distinct fish faunas within the Ozark Highlands, Central Plains and mainstream regions of the basin. Results of partial Mantel tests indicated that whereas environmental differences were significantly correlated to species differences, variation in community data could alternately be explained by contagious biotic processes, a factor often neglected in community analyses of stream drainage networks.
Finds distributions plotted over landscapes and continents, once the mainstay of archaeological cultural mapping, went into a lengthy period of decline when it was realised that many were artefacts of modern recovery rather than patterns of their own day. What price then, the rich harvest of finds being collected by modern routine procedures of rescue work and by metal-detectorists? The author shows how distribution patterns can be validated, and sample bias minimised, through comparison with maps of known populations and by presenting the distributions more sharply by risk surface analysis. This not only endorses the routine recording of surface finds currently undertaken in every country, but opens the door to new social and economic interpretations through methods of singular power.
The study of the distributive characteristics of settlement patterns is one of the most important topics in the reconstruction of historical landscapes. Unfortunately, advanced knowledge of GIS techniques, as well as quantitative techniques and methods are required in order to achieve positive results in this area. Furthermore, the application of spatial analysis in archaeological research requires a large and expensive investment of software and hardware to accomplish such tasks. In order to address all these issues, this year we started the development of an analytical tool for the study and analysis of spatial distributions. This software, rather than a GIS application, will be conceived as a general utility for data processing. In fact, the main aim of Spatial Analysis Utilities (SAU) is to accomplish in a quick and easy manner the entire quantitative process. The philosophy of the software is to provide conclusive statistical data with just some mouse clicks to non-advanced GIS users.
GIS has become an indispensable tool for archaeologists to organize, explore and analyse spatial data. In this introductory chapter, an historical overview of the development of GIS use in archaeology is given. It focuses on three major fields of application: site location analysis, modelling movement and transport and visibility analysis. This state of the art is illustrated by discussing three different case studies. Finally, some thoughts on the future of GIS in archaeology are presented.
This 1976 text is a pioneering study in the applications to archaeology of modern statistical and quantitative techniques. The authors show how these techniques, when sensitively employed, can dramatically extend and refine the information presented in distribution maps and other analyses of spatial relationships. Techniques of interpretation 'by inspection' can now be made more powerful and rigorous; at the same time interest has turned from the examination of such sites and artefacts as 'things' to the spatial relationships between such things, their relationships to one another and to landscape features, soils and other resources. This book was the first to apply the available techniques systematically to the special problems and interests of archaeologists. It also demonstrates to geographers and other social scientists who may be familiar with analogous applications in their own fields the exciting interdisciplinary developments this facilitates, for example in studies of exchange networks, trade and settlement patterns, and cultural history.
Each model of past movement based on historical and archaeological evidence nowadays relies implicitly or explicitly on a cost function estimating costs of
This paper concerns spatial analysis applied to urban and landscape scale; main aims are the reconstruction of the evolution in a specific settlement and the detecting of potential location for archaeological sites. Spatial analysis takes advantage of a GIS dataset containing different systems of sources (excavations, historical maps, toponymy, medieval documents, geomorphological data). Case studies at urban scale concern Monselice (Veneto) and Salpi (Northern Apulia). A retrogressive analysis aims to reconstruct the medieval urban fabric starting from the late morphology of these cities, using the modern cadastre or a magnetic survey. The Kernel Density Estimation and the evaluation of parcels orientation have been applied for a comprehension of the urban structure. At territorial scale, case studies regard two sectors of Northern Apulia. First step of these ongoing researches concerns the detection of landform (by TPI-Topographical Index, Geomorphons) and Wetness Index (TWI). This work helps us detect potential areas for settlements which are not preserved (dependencies of the city of Montecorvino and of the monastery of S. Egidio) and validate the outcomes of TWI (S. Marco in Lamis); moreover, it provides new hints about the relationship between settlement pattern, geomorphological elements, territorial/hydrological arrangement related to centuration.
An international team of scholars from Croatia, Canada, Britain and Slovenia is attempting to analyse the human adaptation of nature on the Central Dalmatian islands in Croatia. Archaeological data and various forms of environmental information were integrated into a GIS. This system is an ideal platform for a variety of analytical procedures: the economy of past societies was analysed, territories of larger communities were modelled, trade routes were predicted and the positioning of different sites was observed. In this paper, special emphasis is paid to the GIS application of a sites and monuments database in the analysis of the perception of space using the data from the Bronze Age.
Principal component analysis (PCA) is widely used in data processing and dimensionality reduction. However, PCA suffers from the fact that each principal component is a linear combination of all the original variables, thus it is often difficult to interpret the results. We introduce a new method called sparse principal component analysis (SPCA) using the lasso (elastic net) to produce modified principal components with sparse loadings. We first show that PCA can be formulated as a regression-type optimization problem; sparse loadings are then obtained by imposing the lasso (elastic net) constraint on the regression coefficients. Efficient algorithms are proposed to fit our SPCA models for both regular multivariate data and gene expression arrays. We also give a new formula to compute the total variance of modified principal components. As illustrations, SPCA is applied to real and simulated data with encouraging results.
Abstract Linked Open Data (LOD) should be the standard for the modeling and publication of research data, as it greatly improves the research process by facilitating access and reducing the likelihood of mistakes. To encourage our readers to create LOD, we have developed a workflow for the enrichment of datasets taken from analog and digital sources by interlinking and publishing them in Wikidata. This paper will discuss the main principles of LOD, as well as current attitudes towards it in the digital humanities. Our vision for LOD has lead us to create SPARQL Unicorn, a series of tools designed to make Wikidata easier to use. As an example of SPARQL Unicorn in action, the second half of our paper will describe the Wikidata integration of the inscriptions found on the early medieval Ogham stones. Sources, workflow, tools, and data models will be explained in detail, as two examples of (geo-) statistical analysis showcase the benefits of enriched LOD to researchers. Information Graph Technologies in the Humanities - Proceedings 2020 (GRAPH 2020), Vienna, Austria, February 21-22, 2020. Edited by: Tara Andrews, Franziska Diehr, Thomas Efer, Andreas Kuczera, Joris van Zundert Submitted by: Franziska Diehr Published on CEUR-WS: 20-Mar-2022 ONLINE: http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3110/ URN: urn:nbn:de:0074-3110-2 ARCHIVE: http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/ftp/pub/publications/CEUR-WS/Vol-3110.zip
Release version 0.17 aligned with the SPARQLUnicorn QGIS Plugin Release 0.17 New folder structure for pip package release Classtree vocabulary JSON-LD context HTML Template fixes: Better threejs 3D template, details tags for many values, lazy loading for images Static API Generation: CKAN and vCard Detection of Ontolex-Lemon vocabulary VOID File Generation Rewrite of export code
Ce volume décrit les méthodes archéogéographiques développées dans le contexte de l'archéologie, à partir des années 1990. L'archéogéographie étudie la transmission des formes d'organisation spatiales humaines dans le temps. Elle traite plus particulièrement des trames linéaires: voies et parcellaires, étudiées à travers leur état transmis sur les documents modernes et contemporains. Sont détaillés les documents planimétriques mis en oeuvre (cartes anciennes et récentes, photographies aériennes, télédétection, données archéologiques, microtoponymes) et les traitements opérés sur ces documents. Les documents et les traitements décrits s'appliquent à tous types de réseaux: planifiés ou non, mais l'accent est mis sur les processus historiques non planifiés à vaste échelle qui sont apparus comme de nouveaux objets de la recherche. Cet ouvrage est conçu comme un outil pratique de lecture des formes pour un public d'archéologues, de géographes et plus largement de tous ceux désireux de mieux comprendre les héritages dans les paysages actuels.
In 2014, an international team of scholars measured the acoustical properties of eight Byzantine churches in Thessaloniki. This article examines two of the tested churches, the Acheiropoietos basilica and the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, in order to
During the past few decades, researchers have developed methodologies for understanding how past people experienced their wider world. The majority of these reconstructions focused upon viewsheds and movement, illustrating how individuals visually observed their environment and navigated through it. However, these reconstructions have tended to ignore another sense which played a major role in how people experienced the wider, physical world: that of sound. While the topic of sound has been discussed within phenomenology at the theoretical level, and has been approached at the site level through the growing study of “acoustic archaeology,” there has been limited practical application at the landscape level. This article illustrates how GIS technology can be utilized to model soundscapes, exploring how people heard their wider surroundings.
This article presents a unifying theory of soundscape ecology, which brings the idea of the soundscape—the collection of sounds that emanate from landscapes—into a research and application focus. Our conceptual framework of soundscape ecology is based on the causes and consequences of biological (biophony), geophysical (geophony), and human-produced (anthrophony) sounds. We argue that soundscape ecology shares many parallels with landscape ecology, and it should therefore be considered a branch of this maturing field. We propose a research agenda for soundscape ecology that includes six areas: (1) measurement and analytical challenges, (2) spatial-temporal dynamics, (3) soundscape linkage to environmental covariates, (4) human impacts on the soundscape, (5) soundscape impacts on humans, and (6) soundscape impacts on ecosystems. We present case studies that illustrate different approaches to understanding soundscape dynamics. Because soundscapes are our auditory link to nature, we also argue for their protection, using the knowledge of how sounds are produced by the environment and humans.
This contribution is the result of experimenting with methodologies linked to the understanding of soundscapes in the context of medieval monasteries. In our specific area, the approach was not focused on the cognitive concept itself so much as the perception of the spirituality of the ringing of bells. The premise was to understand whether, and how, the bells functioned as a soundmark for controlling the territory. The case studies examined are the Abbey of Farneta, the Monastery of Camaldoli and the Abbey of San Fedele, today located in the Province of Arezzo: the three religious structures differ in their historical development, geographical position, and economy. However, what links them (and what links the great majority of medieval monastic complexes) is a tight control of their territory for production purposes, in order to guarantee the profitability of their material heritage. Analyses of the diffusion of the sound of the bells was compared (and integrated) with visibility and catchment analyses. The aim was to understand whether this type of analytical approach could contribute to the definition of a monastery’s ‘catchment area’. The data that emerged describe a complex economic landscape in which identified anomalies at settlement level can be worth analyzing and trying to understand.
The archaeological record of ancient Etruria suggests that different sounds were significant across sacred and secular settings. This is represented in everything from surviving musical instruments to vibrant images of musical performance and religious ritual involving natural phenomena. Nowhere is this more acute than the painted tomb where hundreds of images of musicians and dancers crowd tomb walls with their visually compelling yet silent sounds. Although multiple painted tombs survive intact, we know very little regarding their aural nature. This article presents data from a recent acoustic study in Tarquinia, Italy. The study constitutes the first archaeoacoustic study developed to study the Etruscan archaeological record. Drawing from the resulting acoustic data, the Tomba dei Demoni Azzurri is shown to exhibit similar levels of reverberation documented inside St. Paul's Cathedral in London, particularly in areas of the tomb where funerary rituals were conducted. Aural perception inside the tomb space is of focus, particularly with respect to the transactional nature of sound and vision. The methodology, which was developed to investigate the painted tomb, emphasises the importance of investigating the Etruscan funerary record from an aural perspective, thereby forging a new path forward in assessing the funerary record in pre-Roman Italy and the broader ancient Mediterranean.
, This article presents the results of an archaeoacoustic analysis conducted inside the three chambers of the fourth-century BC Etruscan painted tomb of Tomba dell'Orco at Tarquinia. Using digital sound samples and an acoustic recording protocol, the study demonstrates how, in some areas of the tomb, low-frequency sounds, such as drumming and chanting, produce lengthy reverberation times. These effects may have been associated with the natural rumble of thunder, which played a significant role in Etruscan society, as indicated in secondary literary sources and material culture. The study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the Etruscan tomb space, while identifying new avenues of research in pre-Roman and other ancient Mediterranean funerary contexts.
The field of Archaeoacoustics has grown exponentially over the past decade providing clarity regarding sound propagation across multiple cross-cultural settings in the ancient world. However, many subfields of archaeology continue to overlook acoustic constructs in the archaeological record. Nowhere is this clearer than with ancient Etruria, a Pre-Roman Italic culture from Central Italy notable for their reverence of sounds generated from natural phenomena. This paper presents acoustic data collected for the first time inside a series of 5th–3rd century chambered tombs in Etruria. The relationship of architectural constructs and specific acoustic characteristics are noted across chronologies and regions. The study demonstrates the value of acoustical fieldwork when considering the visual and spatial properties of Etruria and provides the groundwork and recommendations for future exploration of sound propagation in Pre-Roman Italy.
The availability of deepwater survey technology allows researchers to work more readily in waters beyond conventional diving limits and makes possible an increased number of historical shipwreck projects. Several deepwater historical wreck sites are being investigated, some are being archaeologically mapped, and a few are even being excavated. Conducting a deepwater archaeological project to acceptable archaeological standards requires extensive and complex pre-investigation planning; otherwise, valuable data could be lost, as well as expensive ship and sub time wasted. High-resolution geophysical survey data must be a part of this planning process. Utilization of this type of data gives the planning scientists a better overall understanding of the site, which is essential in formulating valid field methodology. Drawing on examples from actual deepwater projects, this article discusses why high-resolution geophysical data is essential to the planning process, the means and methods used to collect the data, and how this data is integrated into the planning process to produce a feasible field project plan.
This article is focused on the ways that terminology describing the study of music and sound within archaeology has changed over time, and how this reflects developing methodologies, exploring the expectations and issues raised by the use of differing kinds of language to define and describe such work. It begins with a discussion of music archaeology, addressing the problems of using the term ‘music’ in an archaeological context. It continues with an examination of archaeoacoustics and acoustics, and an emphasis on sound rather than music. This leads on to a study of sound archaeology and soundscapes, pointing out that it is important to consider the complete acoustic ecology of an archaeological site, in order to identify its affordances, those possibilities offered by invariant acoustic properties. Using a case study from northern Spain, the paper suggests that all of these methodological approaches have merit, and that a project benefits from their integration. See http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/22171/ for a pre-publication version.
Echoes of the Middle Ages are all around us in Britain. Sites like the Tower of London, Hampton Court, and the castles of Scotland and Wales are mainstays of cultural tourism, Medieval institutions like the monarchy, monasteries, and universities are familiar to us, and we come into contact with the remnants of Britain's medieval past every day we drive past a castle on a hill or visit a local church. People today can come into direct contact with their medieval predecessors through the inspiring cross-section of later medieval finds that can now be found on display in museums across the country. In many ways, the medieval past has never been so present. The Oxford Handbook of Later Medieval Archaeology in Britain provides an overview of the archaeology of the later Middle Ages in Britain between AD 1066 and 1550. Sixty-one entries, divided into ten thematic sections, cover topics ranging from later medieval objects, human remains, archaeological science, standing buildings, and sites such as castles and monasteries, to the well-preserved relict landscapes which still survive. This is a rich and exciting period of the past and most of what we know about the material culture of the medieval period has been discovered in the past two generations. This volume provides comprehensive coverage of the latest research and describes the major projects and concepts that are changing our understanding of the later Middle Ages.
Of the Assyrian rock-reliefs in Turkey, only two long-known groups, those of the Cudi Dağ and Bırklin (“the Tigris Tunnel”) have been fully published. These groups are both accompanied by inscriptions and present no problems of dating. A further relief at Eğil has been known for some time but is somewhat inaccessible, to the extent that it is still unclear whether or not it is inscribed. It has been the subject of a recent study.It is the purpose of the present article to make known some further Assyrian rock-reliefs, a single one from Cilicia, and a group from the Hatay. These reliefs were located by the author during surveys and travels, 1973–74. That these reliefs have remained undiscovered up to the present is a curious coincidence, and they may now take their place alongside those of the Cudi Dağ and Bırklin, as well as the rather few other reliefs discovered outside Assyria proper such as those of the Nahr el Kelb; we shall also see that they offer parallels to some of the native Assyrian reliefs such as those of the Maltai. In the absence of any identifying inscriptions the new reliefs present greater problems of dating.
The value for archaeology of some available methods of numerical classification was investigated. Brooches from an Iron Age site in Switzerland (Münsingen) were chosen for analysis for two reasons: they show variation over a typically wide range of attributes, and their archaeological context, in rich associations in a horizontally stratified cemetery, provides independent evidence to check the significance of any proposed classifications. A further control on results was provided by an `intuitive' classification of the brooches by professional archaeologists. The brooches were described numerically by quantitative and qualitative characters, and a similarity coefficient was computed between each pair. These coefficients were then submitted to two forms of cluster analysis (single- and average-link) and to a multi-dimensional scaling procedure. The average-link, but not the single-link, cluster analysis and the multi-dimensional scaling procedure were found to produce classifications of demonstrable archaeological significance.
Non-hominid faunal remains associated with cultural deposits have long been of interest to archaeologists. Recent archaeological work (Coutts and Higham, 1971; Daly, 1969; Drew et al. , 1971; Flannery, 1966; Higham and Leach, 1971; Shawcross, 1967; Ucko and Dimbleby, 1969) is showing an increased utilization of these associated faunal remains for detailed analysis of prehistoric man's environment, hunting techniques, dietary habits, the effects of domestication upon animals, changes in these over time, and seasonal dating. As analysis becomes more detailed and the need to extract increased amounts of relevant and sophisticated data from faunal remains grows more demanding, the representative quality of our samples of faunal remains becomes more critical. Many of the demands made upon our samples require that increased attention be paid to the recovery and analysis of some of the less obvious constituents of these faunal assemblages.
Assistiamo ad una crescente richiesta di soluzioni integrate web-based a supporto della conoscen- za, gestione e valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale. Il presente articolo fornisce una panoramica sulle più re- centi attività e iniziative orientate al web nel campo dei beni culturali. Vengono quindi proposti alcuni esempi di strumenti, servizi e applicazioni realizzate dal CNR. Si conclude infi ne con le sfi de lanciate dalle nuove prio- rità europee in merito alle infrastrutture delle Heritage Science, la Digital Library per il Patrimonio Culturale e il Cloud della Ricerca
The Athenian statesman, lawmaker and poet Solon has given his name to a database related to the European legislation on art and cultural heritage. The database Solone, which is currently in progress and will be published on the Internet (http://solone.sns.it/), was designed and implemented by the LARTTE Laboratory (Interdisciplinary Centre for the Research, Planning, and Management of Cultural Heritage) of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa. The database includes a selection of laws from the Roman period and Late Antiquity (from the 1st century B.C.E. to the 5th century C.E.), as well as from several countries that belong today to the European Community (Italy, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Greece), from the 19th century to 2006. In this database data on the individual norms and related institutions have been inserted. Bibliographic information was collected and the relationships between various laws, and the authorities and institutions that issued them have been considered. The database provides the full text of each law, often with one or more translations into Italian or English and a set of details regarding typologies, historical background, validity and jurisdiction, object, and sources. The database makes it possible to conduct research according to typologies, geographical areas or historical sections and institutions. In the present paper, Solone is presented from the perspective of one case study: the digital archive for the legislation on works of art, public and private buildings, roads and aqueducts enacted from the Roman Republic to the fourth Novel of Majorianus on public buildings issued in Ravenna in 459 C.E.
Le collaborazioni tra la Repubblica Italiana e il Sultanato dell’Oman nel campo dell’archeologia, della storia antica e della gestione del patrimonio culturale hanno una storia lunga ed estremamente diversificata. Dalla metà degli anni Settanta, missioni archeologiche e ricercatori italiani lavorano nelle diverse regioni dell’Oman con il patrocinio del locale Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e dell’Ufficio del Consigliere di S.M. il Sultano per i Beni Culturali, con il supporto di Università italiane, del Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale e dell’Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (IsMEO), recentemente ricostituitosi come Associazione Internazionale di Studi sul Mediterraneo e l’Oriente (ISMEO).
This new book from the celebrated author of The Language of New Media is the first to offer a rigorous theory of the technology we all use daily - software for media authoring, access, and sharing. What motivated developers in the 1960s and 1970s to create the concepts and techniques that now underlie contemporary applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Final Cut? How do these tools shape the visual aesthetics of contemporary media and design? What happens to the idea of a “medium” after previously media-specific tools have been simulated and extended into software? Lev Manovich answers these questions through detailed analysis of key media applications such as Photoshop and After Effects, popular web services such as Google Earth, and milestone projects in design, motion graphics, and interactive environments. Software Takes Command is a must for scholars, designers, technologists, and artists concerned with contemporary media and digital culture. Software has replaced a diverse array of physical, mechanical, and electronic technologies used before 21st century to create, store, distribute and interact with cultural artifacts. It has become our interface to the world, to others, to our memory and our imagination - a universal language through which the world speaks, and a universal engine on which the world runs. What electricity and combustion engine were to the early 20th century, software is to the early 21st century. Offering the the first theoretical and historical account of software for media authoring and its effects on the practice and the very concept of 'media,' Lev Manovich develops his own theory for this rapidly-growing, always-changing field. What was the thinking and motivations of people who in the 1960 and 1970s created concepts and practical techniques that underlie contemporary media software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Maya, Final Cut and After Effects? How do their interfaces and tools shape the visual aesthetics of contemporary media and design? What happens to the idea of a 'medium' after previously media-specific tools have been simulated and extended in software? Is it still meaningful to talk about different mediums at all? Lev Manovich answers these questions and supports his theoretical arguments by detailed analysis of key media applications such as Photoshop and After Effects, popular web services such as Google Earth, and the projects in motion graphics, interactive environments, graphic design and architecture.
We present VOSviewer, a freely available computer program that we have developed for constructing and viewing bibliometric maps. Unlike most computer programs that are used for bibliometric mapping, VOSviewer pays special attention to the graphical representation of bibliometric maps. The functionality of VOSviewer is especially useful for displaying large bibliometric maps in an easy-to-interpret way. The paper consists of three parts. In the first part, an overview of VOSviewer’s functionality for displaying bibliometric maps is provided. In the second part, the technical implementation of specific parts of the program is discussed. Finally, in the third part, VOSviewer’s ability to handle large maps is demonstrated by using the program to construct and display a co-citation map of 5,000 major scientific journals.
The creation of B.O.I.R.A. was brought about through the consideration of a problem that arises amongst every team of archaeological researchers. This problem is the great amount of information that is produced and gathered as a result of the work being carried on. In order that the information should be efficiently controlled and assimilated, the handling of the various data should be done by means of computer software tools. The aim of this report is not to call attention to the data that has been compiled from examples of recording systems of archaeological research published so far, but rather to make known to researchers a different methodology, such as that of Yourdon and the so-called Chen entity-relation design. This is done by using CASE tools in order to develop software systems which are made to measure and are of a high standard, which have been successfully proved in their implementation and use. By way of example, a system has been designed capable of handling data usually dealt with by an archaeological team.
Social computing prototypes probe the social behaviors that may arise in an envisioned system design. This prototyping practice is currently limited to recruiting small groups of people. Unfortunately, many challenges do not arise until a system is populated at a larger scale. Can a designer understand how a social system might behave when populated, and make adjustments to the design before the system falls prey to such challenges? We introduce social simulacra, a prototyping technique that generates a breadth of realistic social interactions that may emerge when a social computing system is populated. Social simulacra take as input the designer’s description of a community’s design—goal, rules, and member personas—and produce as output an instance of that design with simulated behavior, including posts, replies, and anti-social behaviors. We demonstrate that social simulacra shift the behaviors that they generate appropriately in response to design changes, and that they enable exploration of “what if?” scenarios where community members or moderators intervene. To power social simulacra, we contribute techniques for prompting a large language model to generate thousands of distinct community members and their social interactions with each other; these techniques are enabled by the observation that large language models’ training data already includes a wide variety of positive and negative behavior on social media platforms. In evaluations, we show that participants are often unable to distinguish social simulacra from actual community behavior and that social computing designers successfully refine their social computing designs when using social simulacra.
Assuming an individual's treatment at death is a reflection of the position occupied in a status system in life, and that differences between individual interments reflect the type of status system participated in (e.g., egalitarian versus ranked), the outlines of extinct status systems should be ascertainable. This paper will present the results of such an attempt using data collected from the mesolithic occupation and burial site of Wadi Halfa, northern Sudan. These data include age, sex, pathology, treatment of the body, and mode of interment. The evidence argues for an egalitarian status system with differences in disposal associated with differences in age, sex, and personal achievement. Differences in mortality rates are examined in light of constraints placed on hunting and gathering societies. There is also evidence of post-marital residence favoring the husband's agnates.
Social Complexity and Complex Systems in Archaeology turns to complex systems thinking in search of a suitable framework to explore social complexity in Archaeology.Social complexity in archaeology is commonly related to properties of complex societies such as states, as opposed to so-called simple societies such as tribes or chiefdoms. These conceptualisations of complexity are ultimately rooted in Eurocentric perspectives with problematic implications for the field of archaeology. This book provides an in-depth conceptualisation of social complexity as the core concept in archaeological and interdisciplinary studies of the past, integrating approaches from complex systems thinking, archaeological theory, social practice theory, and sustainability and resilience science. The book covers a long-term perspective of social change and stability, tracing the full cycle of complexity trajectories, from emergence and development to collapse, regeneration and transformation of communities and societies. It offers a broad vision on social complexity as a core concept for the present and future development of archaeology.This book is intended to be a valuable resource for students and scholars in the field of archaeology and related disciplines such as history, anthropology, sociology, as well as the natural sciences studying human-environment interactions in the past.
