The ArchaeoInformant

Summary of Byzantine survey colloquium via Bill Caraher

James Newhard — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:23:32 +0000

Bill Caraher has summarized his thoughts from the recent colloquium on Byzantine survey, held at Dumbarton Oaks last weekend.

Modeling Connectivity

James Newhard — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:16:43 +0000

THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS AND THEODORE B. GUÉRARD LECTURE SERIES
PRESENT

Classical Charleston

Modeling Connectivity:
Cultural Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean

New approaches and technologies for interpreting space – “the spatial turn” — are having a profound impact on human communication, and the structures of social, economic, and political systems. This colloquium will model three perspectives for social networking and connectivity, bringing together the past and future.

On Thursday, February 21
“The Character of the Inhabitants:
Environmental Theory in Classical Antiquity”
Prof. Michael Maas | 4:00 p.m., Randolph Hall, Alumni Hall

AND

“How Romans Saw the World through Portable Sundials”
Prof. Richard Talbert | 5:30 p.m., Randolph Hall, Alumni Hall

On Friday, February 22
“Deep Mapping Archaeology:
Qualitative GIS, Citizen Science, and Immersive Sensual Worlds”
Prof. Trevor Harris | 3:30 p.m., SSMB, Rm. 129

The College Co-sponsors: School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs;
of Department of Art History; Department of Political Science /Geography Program;
Charleston Historic Preservation & Community Planning Program; The Santee-Cooper GIS Laboratory; Classics Club

Free GIS workshop in Lancaster

Jim Newhard — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:03:09 +0000

Reblogged from Archaeological Networks:

The Spatial Humanities team in Lancaster is organising a free two-day workshop in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for postgraduate students and early career researchers. The intensive two-day course does not require any prior knowledge on GIS and will introduce you to its data management, mapping and export functionality. I can definitely recommend attending this workshop, the team in Lancaster is doing some great pioneering work in spatial humanities and will make sure you get excited by GIS too.

Managing Archaeological Data in the Digital Age: Best Practices and Realities

Jim Newhard — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:46:49 +0000

Reblogged from The New Archaeology of the Mediterranean World:

This past week, Deb Brown, who co-organized our panel at the Archaeological Institute of America's annual meeting made the talks available on the YouTubes.

All the papers were very solid on this panel and it provides a nice overview of the state of the field. I offered a reflection on the paper in their immediate aftermath here and have more to say on the topic in here…

At the AIA Annual Meeting in Seattle, Deb Brown co-organized a session on managing archaeological data. The talks were recorded, and she has made them publicly available via YouTube. Bill Caraher, one of the speakers, has compiled them nicely within a single blog post.

Arches: Heritage Inventory & Management System

Jim Newhard — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 16:59:16 +0000

Arches is an open-source, web-based, geospatial information system for cultural heritage inventory and management. Purpose-built for the international cultural heritage field, Arches is designed to record all types of immovable heritage, including archaeological sites, buildings and other historic structures, landscapes, and heritage ensembles or districts. Read a joint statement from the leaders of the Getty Conservation Institute and World Monuments Fund, the organizations that have partnered to lead the development of Arches.

Filed under: Websites of Interest Tagged: heritage management, open source

Digital Classicist London 2013: Call for Papers

Jim Newhard — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 23:19:26 +0000

From the Stoa Consortium:

Call for Papers

January 24th, 2013 by Gabriel Bodard

The Digital Classicist London seminar series, which provides a forum for research into the ancient world that employs digital research methods, invites submissions for Summer 2013.

We warmly welcome contributions from students as well as established researchers and practitioners. Themes could include digital text, semantics and linguistics, imaging and visualization, linked data, open access, geographic analysis, information science and serious gaming, although this list is by no means exhaustive. While we welcome high-quality application papers discussing individual projects and their immediate context, the series also hopes to accommodate broader theoretical consideration of the use of digital technology in ancient studies. Presentations should have an academic research agenda relevant both to classicists, ancient historians or archaeologists, and to information specialists or digital humanists.

The seminars will run on Friday afternoons at 16:30, from June to early August in the Institute of Classical Studies, Senate House, London. There is a budget to assist with travel to London (usually from within the UK, but please enquire if you’re coming from further afield).

To submit a paper for consideration for the Digital Classicist London Seminars, please email an abstract of 300-500 words togabriel.bodard@kcl.ac.uk, by midnight UTC on March 22nd, 2013.

More information will be found athttp://www.digitalclassicist.org/wip/wip2013.html

Filed under: Academia, Conferences, United Kingdom Tagged: classical archaeology, classics, geospatial, GIS, linked data, modeling, Topography, United Kingdom

Workshop in Agent Based Modeling at CAA 2013

Jim Newhard — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 23:10:40 +0000

Preposted from the antiquist…

Ever wondered what all this complex systems talk in archaeology is about, or how to design your own sophisticated simulation model? Then this might be for you:

We will organise a workshop on complex systems and agent-based simulations models in archaeology at the CAA Conference in Perth, Australia, this March. Places are still available but Early Bird Registration to the conference ends on Thursday February 7th, so hurry up to get a discount! The workshop itself is free of charge.

The workshop will take place on Monday March 25th and will consist of a morning and an afternoon session. At the end of the day you will be able to design and program your own simulation model to help you answer your research questions in archaeology or related social sciences – guaranteed …

Registration for the conference at:

http://www.caa2013.org/drupal/registration

Registration to the workshop will be announced on the CAA website soon, but you can already reserve a seat by contacting Carolin at cv275@cam.ac.uk

Hope to see you there.

Best wishes,

Carolin, Iza, Tom and Eugene

Carolin Vegvari (Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge)
Iza Romanowska (Institute for Complex Systems Simulation, University of Southampton)
Tom Brughmans (Archaeological Computing Research Group, University of Southampton)
Eugene Ch’ng (IBM Visual and Spatial Technology Centre, University of Birmingham)

Filed under: Conferences Tagged: agent based, GIS, modeling

Graduate Symposium in GIS Applications in Archaeology

Jim Newhard — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:06:01 +0000

Middle East Technical University

Graduate Program in Settlement Archaeology Graduate Symposium Series 5

29-30 April 2013, METU Ankara

GIS Applications in Archaeology

Understanding the distribution of material culture in time and space forms the basis of archaeological studies. While the typological analysis of material culture enables archaeologists to analyse societal changes within a chronological order, the study of artefacts in relation to space reveals the sorts of relationships between human beings and the natural environment as well as constructed space. These relationships can be analysed in a variety of scales ranging from singular to plural units, from domestic to urban space and within local or regional settlement contexts. In the past decade, the collection, storage, analyses and interpretation of archaeological data through the use of GIS applications have become an important tool. Today, while GIS has become the most commonly used tool for spatial documentation, its potential for cultural heritage management and conservation, the discovery of new archaeological sites, statistical analyses of archaeological data and space and modelling is very well recognized.

The Graduate Symposium series organized by the Graduate Program in Settlement Archaeology at the Middle East Technical University this year invites papers on GIS Applications in Archaeology for its meeting on 28-29 April 2013. The symposium is open to any field of study pertaining to the topic. The applicants are expected to send an abstract of maximum 250 words to berciyas@metu.edu.tr until 1 March 2013. The applicants will be notified of the process by 5 March 2013.

Filed under: Academia, Conferences

Ancient Geography Resources – repost from AWOL

Jim Newhard — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 02:32:54 +0000

In September, the Ancient World Online (AWOL) posted an annotated list of resources for ancient geography. Better late than never, so here’s the link:

http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2012/09/roundup-of-resources-on-ancient.html

Happy browsing!

Filed under: Websites of Interest Tagged: classical archaeology, GIS, Topography

Some More Thoughts on Digital History

Jim Newhard — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 03:27:10 +0000