Open Access Published by De Gruyter Open Access

Volume 1 Issue 1

January 2015

Issue of Open Archaeology

Contents
Journal Overview

Open Access May 9, 2014

Editorial

Anthony Harding

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Open Access July 18, 2014

The Mun Valley and Central Thailand in prehistory: integrating two cultural sequences

Charles Franklin Higham, Fiorella Rispoli

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Abstract

This paper compares the later prehistory in two regions of Thailand. The Mun Valley lies on the eastern side of the Phetchabun Range, the Lopburi Region (LR) to the west. They are linked by a major pass. While the Lopburi area is rich in copper ore, the Mun Valley has none. Quality salt is abundantly available in the Mun Valley but less so in the LR. This study explores the inter-relationships between the areas over a period of 2300 years which sharpens our understanding of both, and presents explanations and possibilities in the context of cultural transmission theories. Neolithic farmers with ultimate origins in China, arrived in the first half of the second millennium BC. Widespread exchange in prestige goods was a factor in the adoption of copper-base metallurgy in the late 11th century BC, when the LR became a producer, the Mun Valley an importer. With the Iron Age, (from about 500 BC), sites grew in size. During the course of this period, gold, silver, agate, carnelian and glass ornaments were ritually placed with dead elites. It is in these powerful and wealthy Iron Age communities that we can identify the early transition into states with population growth, agricultural intensification, conflict and increased production and competition over salt and metal for exchange.

Open Access October 11, 2014

Mapping site-level microtopography with Real- Time Kinematic Global Navigation Satellite Systems (RTK GNSS) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Photogrammetry (UAVP)

Christopher H. Roosevelt

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Abstract

Microtopographic mapping has a long history in archaeology and has gained prominence recently owing to the proliferation of digital technologies. With such proliferation, it becomes necessary to compare and contrast different approaches based on a common set of criteria. This article compares the implementation and efficiency of two methods of mapping microtopography – ground-based Real-Time Kinematic Global Navigation Satellite System (RTK GNSS) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Photogrammetry (UAVP) survey – assessing the pros and cons of each, including those related to data quality. ‘Off-the-shelf’ solutions for methods were used to create the comparative dataset of microtopographic maps of six Middle and Late Bronze Age sites over the course of four seasons between 2007 and 2013 in the study area of the Central Lydia Archaeological Survey in western Turkey. Comparison of results demonstrate that the methods are similar with respect to ease of implementation, cost efficiency, and the (in)significance of data defects, while, unsurprisingly, UAVP survey can be greater than one order of magnitude more labor efficient than RTK GNSS survey and over two orders of magnitude more detailed as measured by data density. The accuracy of both methods is high, within typical error budgets for site-level mapping, and comparable to other recent digital mapping approaches. Accordingly, the results suggest that, given site suitability, UAVP is the more labor and cost-efficient method in the long run, with significant data quality benefits.

Open Access January 27, 2015

Wooden coffins in the Avar-period cemetery in Frohsdorf, Lower Austria

Gabriele Scharrer-Liška, Otto Cichocki, Karin Wiltschke-Schrotta

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Abstract

The Avar period cemetery in Frohsdorf is located in eastern Austria in the area of the former western periphery of the Avar Khaganate. In a non-literate culture like that of the Avars, it is only possible to reconstruct everyday culture, including funerary rituals, through archaeological sources. Through archaeological field seasons from 2001 to 2011, we have been able to document numerous coffins and grave fixtures made of wood in inhumation graves. Burials in coffins seemed to be common practice. The coffins are preserved in different states, including wood residues and charred wood residues. In Frohsdorf, in contrast to many other investigated Avar cemeteries, we subjected these coffins and their wooden remains to a detailed analysis. Wood species analyses show a preference for a certain type of wood, namely oak. Based on the preservation status of the wooden remains the authors have developed a hypothesis concerning part of the funeral ritual at this cemetery.

Open Access July 23, 2015

Ceramics as indicators of Late Bronze Age environments at Zürich-Alpenquai (Switzerland)

Benjamin R Jennings

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Abstract

Lake-dwellings in the northern Alpine region are renowned for their extraordinary organic preservation. In addition to organic remains, thousands of ceramic sherds are also recovered. This paper addresses ceramic sherds from the Late Bronze Age site Zürich-Alpenquai, and assesses over 2000 sherds for indications of erosion and abrasion in addition to quantifying sherd size and plotting the spatial distribution of these factors. Recording such wear patterns can provide indications of deposition practices in addition to environmental conditions pre- and post-deposition. In this manner the study of ceramic remains from wetland sites for abrasion can complement environmental studies addressing conditions at the time of artefact deposition, and contribute to discussions of influences for lake-settlement abandonment.

Open Access November 24, 2015

Integrated Archaeogeophysical Approach for the Study of a Medieval Monastic Settlement in Basilicata

Giovanni Leucci, Nicola Masini, Enzo Rizzo, Luigi Capozzoli, Gregory De Martino, Lara De Giorgi, Cosimo Marzo, Dimitris Roubis, Francesca Sogliani

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Abstract

The paper deals with the results of an archaeo-geophysical approach adopted for the study and the reconstruction of the architectural plan of the medieval monastery of San Pietro a Cellaria in Calvello (Basilicata, Southern Italy). The monastery is a remarkable witness to Benedectine architecture of the 12-13th century in Basilicata, built by monks of the Congregation of S. Maria di Pulsano, who were active mainly in southern Italy. The historical data and the diachronic architectural study, based on the analysis of building techniques, provide evidence for a long and intense history, during which the monastery underwent several architectural changes, including the demolition of buildings and the superposition of other constructional elements. The only preserved medieval remains are a church with a nave; the adjacent structures are more recent. This preliminary data prompted a research project to shed new light on the as yet unknown history of the medieval monastery. Specifically, a remote sensing approach around the monastery including aerial survey by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and geomagnetic survey in gradiometric configuration (MAG), was adopted in order to verify the possible existence of buried masonry structures and other possible features of archaeological interest, including channels and aqueducts. The GPR time slices were constructed from closely spaced parallel profiles. The time slices, computed by averaging radar reflections over vertical time windows several nanoseconds thick, are used to map subsoil features associated with the structures, probably of anthropogenic origin. To facilitate the interpretation of the results, a threedimensional image was constructed using closely spaced parallel profiles, which are linearly interpolated. The MAG survey was carried in gradiometer configuration, in order to study magnetic properties of the shallow subsoil. Ground-penetrating radar gives details about archaeological structures in a limited area where survey was possible, while gradiometer survey confirms GPR results and improves archaeological knowledge in the areas where GPR survey was impossible. This multi-sensor remote sensing program revealed a wide variety of archaeological features of interest, which may be targeted accurately with excavations in the future.

Open Access November 25, 2015

A New Method for Contextual Analysis on Prehistoric Attitudes to Ritual Pottery

Makoto Tomii

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Abstract

This paper provides a new method for the contextual analysis of pottery in an approach to prehistoric sensibilities. Collating the contextual photographic evidence of pottery in a prehistoric ritual setting, with photographs of the pot taken after excavation from every direction, that is, omni-directional photo-taking, allows an archaeologist to demonstrably identify which surface of the pot was oriented to a certain direction in its original context. Owing to the presumably solemn and formal atmosphere of the prehistoric burial, the orientation of funerary goods is helpful for the understanding of the cognition of prehistoric people. A case study comes from the cemetery of the introductory stage of the Japanese Neolithic, and the orientation of the blackened discoloration of pottery that had appeared accidentally during open-firing in production is investigated. Results show that the prehistoric actor was fully aware of the blackened spot, and contributes to the argument for the inclination of past potters to try to prevent such accidental defect.

Open Access November 26, 2015

“Shaping” and “Painting” during the Early Bronze Age: the Case-study of Pottery of Colle della Croce (Scicli, Ragusa)

Carlo Veca

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Abstract

Pottery technology, although largely neglected in studies of the Sicilian Early Bronze Age (Castelluccio culture, 2200-1450 BC), represents a strategic field of research for focusing on main steps of manufacturing of Castelluccian vessels. In this perspective, the evidence from the archaeological deposit of Colle della Croce (Scicli, Ragusa) has allowed us to emphasise some new technical features that can be observed in the production within other cultural districts. The most significant phase of the study was the autoptic examination of materials and surfaces that led to the definition of this production as medium and coarse ware, with the use of different kinds of technical solutions in relation to different uses and functions. The manufacturing techniques, especially when surface treatment is clearly recognizable on fragmentary specimens, can be conditioned by several factors, such as the shape type and the function of the vessel. Features such as working plans and supporting systems were observed quite frequently, as well as polishing techniques and joints slots for the handles that could be interpreted as ‘workshop standards’ rather than simply local traditions.

Topical Issue on Challenging Digital Archaeology

Open Access March 3, 2015

Challenging Digital Archaeology

Jeremy Huggett

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Abstract

A keynote presentation at the 2012 Computer Applications in Archaeology (CAA) conference in Southampton (UK) proposed the use of grand challenges as a vehicle for identifying and pursuing major advances in Digital Archaeology. At the same time, it was argued that this should be a collaborative venture. This was taken forward at a round table session at the 2014 CAA in Paris, and a number of papers in this volume were presented there. This paper introduces the concept of grand challenges for Digital Archaeology and seeks to define their key characteristics.

Open Access March 4, 2015

A Manifesto for an Introspective Digital Archaeology

Jeremy Huggett

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Abstract

This paper presents a grand challenge for Digital Archaeology of a different kind: it is not technical in and of itself, it does not seek out technological solutions for archaeological problems, it does not propose new digital tools or digital methodologies as such. Instead, it proposes a broader challenge, one which addresses the very stuff of archaeology: an understanding of how digital technologies influence and alter our relationships with data, from their creation and storage ultimately through to the construction of archaeological knowledge. It argues that currently this area is under-theorised, under-represented, and under-valued, yet it is increasingly fundamental to the way in which we arrive at an understanding of the past.

Open Access March 21, 2015

Extracting Information from Archaeological Texts

Keith W. Kintigh

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Abstract

To address archaeology’s most pressing substantive challenges, researchers must discover, access, and extract information contained in the reports and articles that codify so much of archaeology’s knowledge. These efforts will require application of existing and emerging natural language processing technologies to extensive digital corpora. Automated classification can enable development of metadata needed for the discovery of relevant documents. Although it is even more technically challenging, automated extraction of and reasoning with information from texts can provide urgently needed access to contextualized information within documents. Effective automated translation is needed for scholars to benefit from research published in other languages.

Open Access April 14, 2015

Digital Technologies and Communication: Prospects and Expectations

Francesco Gabellone

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Abstract

The birth of virtual reality marked a new path forward and also gave a fresh view of reality, allowing alternative ‘readings’ of cultural heritage. This new way of representation and simulation was soon associated with the term virtual environment, used to indicate those interactive three-dimensional models that could be navigated and that simulated a place, building, or synthetic representation scheme in real time. A virtual environment is like a “microscope for the mind” that allows you to elaborate amplified projections of the material world, to “look beyond” simple appearances and to make logical connections between elements grouped together. In recent years, virtual environments have been greeted positively by the public and scholars, testified by the quantity of thematic conferences on the subject of Virtual Archaeology. Despite this, there are still many contradictions found in the varying terms and the diverse aims of the developing disciplines that gravitate around the field of virtual reality such as Cultural Virtual Environment, Virtual Restoration, Virtual Archaeology, Enhanced Reality, and Mixed Reality. The spread of new media has upset the traditional systems of communication such as books, television, radio and even the roles of some cultural stakeholder. With this in mind, the role of virtual heritage also consists in transmitting information using the language and cognitive metaphors used in video-games, considering these as cultural paradigms for a form of communication that is freed from the classic rules of elite culture. It is quite frequent to find projects of digital promotion for monuments that are characterised by difficulty of access, or for objects that have been taken from their original context. One solution to enhance the accessibility of those sites is certainly the use of some visual computing technologies which without presuming to be the ultimate answer to the problems posed, try to offer communications tools that permit an effective support to the visit.

Open Access April 15, 2015

Beyond Digital Dwelling: Re-thinking Interpretive Visualisation in Archaeology

Alice Watterson

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Abstract

Archaeology is a visually rich discipline with a long history of utilising images across a variety of contexts within its practice. However, due to the often unavoidably subjective nature of visual interpretation, fundamental issues with its application remain problematic and largely unresolved. Furthermore, in recent years the rising dominance of digital techniques for archaeological threedimensional surveys and interpretive visualisation has resulted in a rapid uptake of emerging technologies without adequate assessment of their impact on the interpretive process and practitioner engagement. Using an example from experimental work in Orkney as a springboard for discussion this paper outlines the need for the field to develop a more practical approach to addressing some of these recurring issues by developing methodologies which more accurately reflect the multi-layered, interpretive and ambiguous processes involved in archaeological interpretation.

Open Access April 16, 2015

Bringing Impossible Places to the Public: Three Ideas for Rupestrian Churches in Goreme, Kapadokya Utilizing a Digital Survey, 3D Printing, and Augmented Reality

Giorgio Verdiani

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Abstract

The churches of St. Eustache, the Meryemana and St. Daniel are located in the Göreme area in Kapadokya, Turkey. Each of the three structures is composed of a main church with a refuge system. Nowadays these churches have limited access: they cannot be visited by a common tourist. Thus, they are a meaningful sample of rupestrian architecture, containing important mural paintings and suggestive spaces. Using digital survey techniques, 3D modelling and 3D printing to produce physical copies from the originals, this research project tries to find articulate and well working solutions to bring these architectural structures to the public.

Open Access May 18, 2015

Challenging Heritage Visualisation: Beauty, Aura and Democratisation

Stuart Jeffrey

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Abstract

In this paper I will pose a challenge to digital heritage visualisation that takes as its starting point the weirdness of the digital world in comparison to everyday experience. Related to this is the apparent inability for digital objects to benefit from or acquire aura from their originals. I contend that, unless mitigated, these properties will cause a continuing lack of engagement with digital heritage visualisation beyond the professional and academic circles in which they are created. Contrary to expectations, I will argue digital objects can indeed manifest an auratic quality and that this is in fact fundamental to how they are received by various audiences. I contend that both aura and the intimate relationship between digital representation, aesthetics and the creative imagination need to be understood and embraced in practice. Finally, I will suggest some ways of addressing the challenge by looking at modes of co-production, physical replication and aesthetic quality.

Open Access May 19, 2015

The Social Web and Archaeology’s Restructuring: Impact, Exploitation, Disciplinary Change

Sara Perry, Nicole Beale

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Abstract

From blogs to crowdfunding, YouTube to LinkedIn, online photo-sharing sites to open-source community-based software projects, the social web has been a meaningful player in the development of archaeological practice for two decades now. Yet despite its myriad applications, it is still often appreciated as little more than a tool for communication, rather than a paradigm-shifting system that also shapes the questions we ask in our research, the nature and spread of our data, and the state of skill and expertise in the profession. We see this failure to critically engage with its dimensions as one of the most profound challenges confronting archaeology today. The social web is bound up in relations of power, control, freedom, labour and exploitation, with consequences that portend real instability for the cultural sector and for social welfare overall. Only a handful of archaeologists, however, are seriously debating these matters, which suggests the discipline is setting itself up to be swept away by our unreflective investment in the cognitive capitalist enterprise that marks much current web-based work. Here we review the state of play of the archaeological social web, and reflect on various conscientious activities aimed both at challenging practitioners’ current online interactions, and at otherwise situating the discipline as a more informed innovator with the social web’s possibilities.

Open Access May 20, 2015

Further Frontiers in GIS: Extending Spatial Analysis to Textual Sources in Archaeology

Patricia Murrieta-Flores, Ian Gregory

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Abstract

Although the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has a long history in archaeology, spatial technologies have been rarely used to analyse the content of textual collections. A newly developed approach termed Geographic Text Analysis (GTA) is now allowing the semi-automated exploration of large corpora incorporating a combination of Natural Language Processing techniques, Corpus Linguistics, and GIS. In this article we explain the development of GTA, propose possible uses of this methodology in the field of archaeology, and give a summary of the challenges that emerge from this type of analysis.

Open Access June 29, 2015

Curating Archaeological Knowledge in the Digital Continuum: from Practice to Infrastructure

Costis Dallas

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Abstract

As a “grand challenge” for digital archaeology, I propose the adoption of programmatic research to meet the challenges of archaeological curation in the digital continuum, contingent on curation-enabled global digital infrastructures, and on contested regimes of archaeological knowledge production and meaning making. My motivation stems from an interest in the sociotechnical practices of archaeology, viewed as purposeful activities centred on material traces of past human presence. This is exemplified in contemporary practices of interpretation “at the trowel’s edge”, in epistemological reflexivity and in pluralization of archaeological knowledge. Adopting a practice-centred approach, I examine how the archaeological record is constructed and curated through archaeological activity “from the field to the screen” in a variety of archaeological situations. I call attention to Çatalhöyük as a salient case study illustrating the ubiquity of digital curation practices in experimental, well-resourced and purposefully theorized archaeological fieldwork, and I propose a conceptualization of digital curation as a pervasive, epistemic-pragmatic activity extending across the lifecycle of archaeological work. To address these challenges, I introduce a medium-term research agenda that speaks both to epistemic questions of theory in archaeology and information science, and to pragmatic concerns of digital curation, its methods, and application in archaeology. The agenda I propose calls for multidisciplinary, multi-team, multiyear research of a programmatic nature, aiming to re-examine archaeological ontology, to conduct focused research on pervasive archaeological research practices and methods, and to design and develop curation functionalities coupled with existing pervasive digital infrastructures used by archaeologists. It has a potential value in helping to establish an epistemologically coherent framework for the interdisciplinary field of archaeological curation, in aligning archaeological ontologies work with practice-based, agencyoriented and participatory theorizations of material culture, and in matching the specification and design of archaeological digital infrastructures with the increasingly globalized, ubiquitous and pervasive digital information environment and the multiple contexts of contemporary meaning-making in archaeology.

Open Access October 6, 2015

Additive Archaeology: An Alternative Framework for Recontextualising Archaeological Entities

Paul Reilly

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Abstract

Additive manufacturing poses a number of challenges to conventional understandings of materiality, including the so-called archaeological record. In particular, concepts such as real, virtual, and authentic are becoming increasingly unstable, as archaeological artefacts and assemblages can be digitalised, reiterated, extended and distributed through time and space as 3D printable entities. This paper argues that additive manufacturing represents a ‘grand disciplinary challenge’ to archaeological practice by offering a radical new generative framework within which to recontextualise and reconsider the nature of archaeological entities specifically within the domain of digital archaeology.

About this journal

Open Archaeology is a peer-reviewed, electronic-only journal that publishes original, high-quality research on all aspects of archaeology. The journal encompasses novel, interdisciplinary approaches to archaeological data including archaeological science, theory and interpretation as well as archaeological heritage management and promotion.

The aim of Open Archaeology is to become a premier source of knowledge and a worldwide-recognized platform of exchange for scientists, without any geographical or temporal restrictions.

Scope of the journal includes, but is not restricted to:

World Archaeology - discoveries and research
Archaeological science
Theory and interpretation in archaeology
Archaeological heritage preservation and management

Journal Partners

Call for papers

Can You See Me? Putting the 'Human' Back Into 'Human-Plant' Interactions
Coordinating Editors: María Martín-Seijo, Dawn Elise Mooney, Marian Berihuete Azorín and María Laura Ciampagna
Digital Religioscapes: Current Methodologies and Novelties in the Analysis of Sacr(aliz)ed Spaces
Coordinating Editors: Anaïs Lamesa, Asuman Lätzer-Lasar
Engaging the Public, Heritage and Educators through Material Culture Research
Coordinating Editors: Katherine Anne Wilson, Christina Antenhofer, Thomas Pickles
Scales of Interaction in the Bronze and Iron Age Central Mediterranean
Coordinating Editors: Emily Holt, Davide Schirru
Archaeology of Migration: Moving Beyond Historical Paradigms
Coordinating Editors: Catharine Judson, Hagit Nol
Bricks Under the Scope: Microscopic and Macroscopic Approaches to the Study of Earthen Architecture
Coordinating Editors: Marta Lorenzon, Moritz Kinzel, Benjamín Cutillas-Victoria
Ancient Cultural Routes: Past Transportations Infrastructures as a Two-Way Interaction between Society and Environment
Coordinating Editors: Francesca Fulminante, Francesca Mazzilli, Franziska Engelbogen
Microhistory and Archaeology
Coordinating Editor: Juan Antonio Quirós Castillo
Past Sounds: New Perspectives in the Field of Archaeoacoustics
Coordinating Editors: Margarita Díaz-Andreu, Neemias Santos da Rosa

Completed Topical Issues

Challenging Digital Archaeology
Coordinating Editors: Jeremy Huggett and Davide Tanasi
Advances in Arctic Archaeology (Part I, II)
Coordinating Editors: Peter Whitridge and Max Friesen
Aspects of non-professional metal detecting in Europe
Coordinating Editors: Pieterjan Deckers, Michael Lewis and Suzie Thomas
Understanding diversity in Neolithic Houses and Households
Coordinating Editors: Joanna Pyzel, Penny Bickle, Ben Chan, Lech Czerniak, Christina Tsoraki
Uncovering Historical Routes for Sustainable Mobility: Methods, Tools and Case Studies
Coordinating Editors: Cinzia Tavernari and Carlo Citter
Portable XRF in Archaeology and Museum Studies
Coordinating Editors: Davide Tanasi, Robert Tykot and Andrea Vianello
Exploring Advances in the Use of 3D Models of Objects in Archaeological Research
Coordinating Editor: Barry Molloy
From Line to Colour: Social Context and Visual Communication of Prehistoric Art
Coordinating Editors: Liliana Janik and Simon Kaner
The Danubian Provinces of the Roman Empiree
Coordinating Editor: Mateusz Żmudziński
Unlocking Sacred Landscapes: Digital Humanities and Ritual Space
Coordinating Editors: Giorgos Papantoniou, Apostolos Sarris, Christine E. Morris, Athanasios K. Vionis
Scientific Studies of Obsidian Sources and Trade
Coordinating Editors: Robert H. Tykot, Maria Clara Martinelli, Andrea Vianello
The Black Gold That Came from the Sea. Advances in the Studies of Obsidian Sources and Artifacts of the Central Mediterranean Area (Part I, II)
Coordinating Editors: Franco Italiano, Franco Foresta Martin, Maria Clara Martinelli
Archaeological Practice on Shifting Grounds
Coordinating Editors: Åsa Berggren, Antonia Davidsonach-Walther
Art, Creativity and Automation. Sharing 3D Visualization Practices in Archaeology
Coordinating Editors: Loes Opgenhaffen, Martina Revello Lami, Hayley Mickleburgh
At the Crossroads of the Mediterranean: Malta and the Central Mediterranean During the Roman Period
Coordinating Editors: David Cardona, Davide Tanasi, Robert Brown
Special Issue published in cooperation with the 1st Conference on the EARLY NEOLITHIC of EUROPE (Part I, II)
Coordinating Editors: Ferran Borrell, Ignacio Clemente, Miriam Cubas, Juan J. Ibáñez, Niccolò Mazzucco, Ariadna Nieto, Marta Portillo, Xavier Terradas & Silvia Valenzuela
Special Issue Published in Cooperation with Meso’2020 – Tenth International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe
Coordinating Editors: Thomas Perrin, Benjamin Marquebielle, Sylvie Philibert, and Nicolas Valdeyron
What is New in the Neolithic? – A Special Issue Dedicated to Lech Czerniak
Coordinating Editors: Joanna Pyzel, Katarzyna Inga Michalak, & Marek Z. Barański
Digital Methods and Typology
Coordinating Editors: Gianpiero Di Maida, Christian Horn, & Stefanie Schaefer-Di Maida