Articles by Subject
Computer technology
Simulation AI
Godscapes: towards a model of material religion in the second millennium BCE Levant via Semantic Web ontologies
Nicola Laneri, Chiara Pappalardo, Marianna Nicolosi-Asmundo, Daniele Francesco Santamaria
Abstract
‘Godscapes’ proposes to combine a material approach with the Semantic Web to investigate cultural transformation and, specifically, how external elements trigger the transformation of religiosity, resulting in new hybrid elements. Focusing on a case-study on the Levant during the second millennium BCE, the project investigates the interplay between indigenous and exogenous elements (Egyptian, Syrian, Mesopotamian, Aegean, Anatolian) in shaping polytheistic beliefs and practices through the analysis of four types of data – funerary, architectural, iconographic and textual. Thus, the project addresses a new scientific perspective emphasizing the use of material culture to understand the connection between humans and the divine. The focus is on the unravelling of past religious hybridization to grasp how the second millennium cultural and religious intermingling persisted in the syncretic experience leading to the construction of the Israelite monolatry in the first millennium BCE.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2024, 35.2, 363-370; doi: 10.19282/ac.35.2.2024.38
Sharing structured archaeological 3D data: open source tools for artificial intelligence applications and collaborative frameworks
Francesca Buscemi, Marianna Figuera, Giovanni Gallo, Angelica Lo Duca, Andrea Marchetti
Abstract
This paper focuses on collaborative methods and open source tools aimed to analyze and query 3D photogrammetric models of ancient architectures. The processing of virtual models led to the constitution of a training dataset of around 1300 wall facing stones from four archaeological sites in Crete. Through a purposely-conceived add-on of the open source software Blender, some algorithms expressed in Python are able to extract archaeologically significant features and to perform processes of Machine Learning and data mining. The resulting data are imported into a dedicated DB managed through a web application based on the open source framework Django. This workflow addresses some peculiar challenges of the application of Artificial Intelligence to archaeological heritage: the lack of training dataset, particularly related to architecture; the lack of best practices for geometry processing and analysis of 3D data; the use of poorly predictive data in semi-automatic processes; the sharing of data into the scientific community; the importance of the open source technology and open data.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2023, 34.1, 145-156; doi: 10.19282/ac.34.1.2023.16
Food, distance and power. Modeling a multi-factor protohistoric landscape in the Po plain
Abstract
The paper illustrates the creation and integration of the environment as a multilevel landscape in AMPBV Simulator, a spatial Agent-Based Model (ABM) developed in NetLogo programming language. The model was conceived with the aim of investigating, through a simulative approach, the events and the circumstances (both anthropic and environmental) that presumably led, between the end of the Late Bronze Age, in the 12th cent. BC, and the beginning of the Final Bronze Age, the protohistoric communities of the Southern Verona plain (known as the Northern Terramare polity) from a climatic phase of maximum development and articulation to an anti-climatic phase of sudden collapse. The study context is an interesting application for an investigation through ABM, both because of the complexity of the case scenario, in which several interrelated actors and factors must have played an important role, and because of the availability of a number of geographical and archaeological data providing both a term of comparison and an excellent information base. With the development of an artificial environment and by modeling processes potentially critical for the fate of the Terramare system, the aim is, on the one hand, to give such a complex study case a new tool for historical analysis and, on the other hand, to experiment Agent-Based Modeling and assess its potential as a methodology for archaeological investigation in the Po Plain.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2023, 34.1, 257-266; doi: 10.19282/ac.34.1.2023.28
Developing a digital archaeology classification system using Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning techniques
Alessandra Caravale, Nicolau Duran-Silva, Berta Grimau, Paola Moscati, Bernardo Rondelli
Abstract
The Authors propose a knowledge map to analyse and access scientific contents related to Digital Archeology by leveraging various Machine Learning (ML) techniques. The case study concerns the articles published in our international journal «Archeologia e Calcolatori» in the decade from 2011 to 2020 and, as a benchmark, the publications in the ‘Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology’ (CAA) conference proceedings and journal. The titles and abstracts of the publications featured in these two data sets were analysed using a supervised classification approach into the subfields of computer science, based on the ACM’s taxonomy, and by applying topic modelling techniques to discover emergent topics, Named Entity Recognition to identify specific archaeologically relevant entities, and geotagging techniques to link articles with the geographical locations they discuss. The results achieved, although preliminary, provide some methodological suggestions: i) the opportunity to build custom analyses by taking advantage of the increasing availability of open data and metadata; ii) the scope of the contribution of archaeology, and in particular of computational archaeology, to the Heritage Science interdisciplinary domain; the heuristic and predictive role of different ML techniques to gain a multi-faceted access to data analysis and interpretation.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2023, 34.2, 9-32; doi: 10.19282/ac.34.2.2023.01
Defining Southern Etruria Final Bronze Age settlement models using an integrated GIS and Machine Learning approach
Abstract
This research aims to use quantitative and repeatable GIS techniques, as well as Machine Learning algorithms, to study the settlement patterns in Southern Etruria during the final phase of the Bronze Age (1150-950/925 BC). The region of Southern Etruria is located in present-day Latium, Tuscany, and Umbria. The study, which includes 166 settlements, focuses on identifying the morphological characteristics of these settlements by means of raster analysis. Using a Machine Learning approach, the research will compare real settlements with random points within the region to understand the specific characteristics of the settlement pattern in the landscape. The study will also examine the use of feature selection and features importance methods to select the most significant features of a multivariate dataset.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2023, 34.2, 51-68; doi: 10.19282/ac.34.2.2023.03
A postphenomenological perspective on digital and algorithmic archaeology
Abstract
Digital technologies are not neutral tools; rather, they mediate our knowledge of material evidence. This contribution stems from the reflections on the sidelines of the ArchAIDE project, which developed AI tools to recognise ceramics and attempts to answer questions, among others, on how technological intervention takes place in archaeology, particularly through AI, and if such effects are disruptive concerning epistemology and hermeneutics. Postphenomenology and material hermeneutics have been considered to describe the relationship between archaeology and digital technology. In the AI age, Archaeology’s challenge is to recognise technology as an actor (or maybe as an agent) on whom we depend on extracting meaning and, at the same time, as something that partially reflects our hermeneutic. The algorithms have digital technological intentionality that creates information, performs hermeneutics in our place, and finally directs archaeologists what to read. This act of knowledge is performed instead of ours. If, in Heidegger’s ontological inversion, science becomes dependent on technology and, in a sense, a tool of technology, in the same way, archaeology has become dependent on technology and entrapped by it.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2022, 33.2, 319-334; doi: 10.19282/ac.33.2.2022.17
The contribution of artificial intelligence to aerial photointerpretation of archaeological sites: a comparison between traditional and Machine Learning methods
Ilaria Cacciari, Giorgio F. Pocobelli
Abstract
On the basis of the research activity carried out as part of the Archeo 3.0 project ‘Integration of key enabling technologies for the efficiency of preventive archaeological excavations’, the authors explore the feasibility and limits of the automated approach for the recognition of archaeological marks. This approach is mainly motivated by the relevance that aerial photographs play in the reconstruction of ancient topography of human settlements. For this aim, a collection of historical aerial photographs of both the city and the necropolis of Vulci has been considered. These photographs, in colour and B/W, have been previously used in a PhD thesis in Ancient Topography in which the traditional methodology (photointerpretation and cartographic restitution) has been fully exploited. In this work, a systematic study is presented in order to compare the results obtained with Machine Learning techniques vs traditional ones. This comparison allows us to discuss the strengths and limits of both methodologies.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2021, 32.1, 81-98; doi: 10.19282/ac.32.1.2021.05
Augmentation and enrichment of cultural exhibits via digital interactive sound reconstruction of ancient Greek musical instruments
Georgios Kouroupetroglou, Spyros Polychronopoulos, Konstantinos Bakogiannis
Abstract
A significant number of Ancient Musical Instruments (AMIs) are exhibited in archaeological museums all over the world. Organized sound (music and songs) was the prominent factor in the process of both formulating and addressing intellectual activity and artistic creation. Thus, the way AMIs sound is a key element of study for many scientific fields such as anthropology, archaeology, and archaeomusicology. Most of the time, the excavated instruments are not in good condition and rather fragile to move around (in order to perform studio recordings or exhibit them). Building replicas was the only way to study their performance. Unfortunately, replicas are not trivial to build and, once built, not modifiable. On the other hand, digitally simulated instruments are easier to build and modify (e.g., in terms of geometry, material, etc.), which is a rather important feature in order to study them. Moreover, the audio stimulus and the digital interaction with an AMI through a Graphical User Interface would give more engagement and knowledge to the museum’s visitor. In this work, we show the simulation methods of wind (classes: Aulos, Plagiaulos, Syrinx, and Salpinx) and string (classes: Phorminx, Chelys, Barbitos, Kithara, and Trigonon) Greek AMIs and the relevant built-applications useful to scientists and broader audience. We here propose a user-friendly, adaptable, and expandable digital tool which reproduces the sound of the above classes of AMIs and will: a) allow the museum scientists to create specific Auditory Virtual Musical Instruments and b) enrich the experience of a museum visitor (either in situ or on line) through a digital sound reconstruction and a 3D visual representation of AMIs, allowing real-time interaction and even music creation.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2021, 32.1, 423-438; doi: 10.19282/ac.32.1.2021.23
Searching for ancient sonic experience in present-day landscapes
Abstract
Research on ancient sensory experience has questioned ocular-centric research as the primary form of knowledge production in archaeological investigations. With enough information about the material composition of an ancient building, the acoustic properties of the interior spaces can be modeled for greater understanding of the daily experience of past users. Acoustics can reveal what people heard in the past, an experiential starting point to begin asking how someone heard in the past. Thus, acoustic study of place offers the potential to deepen understanding of the emplaced past experience as well as limitations to what conclusions can be drawn directly from gathered data. One area that remains underdeveloped is the research of sounded experience in ancient outdoor settings. This paper presents ongoing acoustic research at the ancient Greek sanctuary to Zeus on Mount Lykaion, applying psychoacoustic analysis to comprehensive recording efforts. Moments of sonic connectivity and isolation in this mountainous site align with past building outlines and prominent landscape features, suggesting that the sanctuary landscape likely played a key role in ritual experiences. The sonic dynamics of the landscape can still be experienced – and measured – today. The paper details the current approach to data collection and analysis on the mountain and includes some of the challenges afforded by applying acoustic study in the ancient built landscape.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2021, 32.1, 439-456; doi: 10.19282/ac.32.1.2021.24
AHP-based methodology integrating modern information technologies for historical masonry churches diagnosis
Valentino Sangiorgio, Silvia Martiradonna, Fabio Fatiguso, Giuseppina Uva
Abstract
Surveys conducted in the aftermath of recent earthquakes have shown that the structural and anti-seismic performances of historical masonry churches are related not only to structural damages and masonry quality but also to other key features such as effectiveness of connections, damages of wooden elements or criticalities related to humidity. Technical and scientific communities are interested in developing or improving existing procedures for the fast-visual survey and diagnostics in order to measure and analyze all the parameters affecting the building performance. In this paper a new procedure, that can be implemented in a Decision Support System (DSS) based on the Analytic Hierarchy Processes (AHP), is developed to perform a rapid visual survey and diagnostics of masonry building through a set of condition ratings. The originality of the presented work is fourfold: 1) the AHP allows to include in the analysis qualitative and quantitative data such as the quality of masonry and connections effectiveness; 2) the proposed survey and diagnostics performed by suitable condition ratings allow an extensive application in order to identify the most damaged buildings that require more detailed structural investigations; 3) the proposed AHP-based approach is integrated in a DSS to provide a powerful computerized tool, useful to large scale data acquisition; 4) the comparison with a standard diagnostics is performed to validate the procedure and emphasize the advantages of the novel diagnostics.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2020, 31.2, 257-268; doi: 10.19282/ac.31.2.2020.24
Analisi delle reti e archeologia: il caso studio della Galilea
Paolo Cimadomo, Carla Galluccio, Giancarlo Ragozini
Abstract
The area of Northern Israel has been a region of interest for archaeologists. Textual materials are various and useful to reconstruct the history of the region, as well as a lot of data coming from the material culture. This way, archaeologists may shed light on the complex framework of cultures that developed in this territory. In the period between the 1st century BCE and the 2nd century CE, the growing influence of the Romans generated a substantial integration of Galilee into a global context. Through the application of new types of analysis, it is possible to reconstruct cultural and commercial trades of the area. The application of network analysis to archaeological questions is a pivotal subject of scientific debate. In this work, we aim to reconstruct the dynamic connections between Jewish settlements in Galilee on the basis of consistent evidence, speculating on the presence of links whenever proof lacks. Data referring to many types of artefacts were derived from the analysis of scientific papers and archaeological excavation catalogues. This way we obtained a multiplex network in which the nodes are the sites and the links are given by the presence of the different artefacts. Here we present the first findings from an exploratory analysis. Visualization methods are exploited, such as multi-force embedding and multi-task network embedding algorithm. More specifically, the latter, which is based on link prediction, seems to be particularly suited for the data we are dealing with, in which the absence of a link could be due to missing data. Moreover, in order to consider how connections have changed over the reference period, a temporal approach is used. Multiplex network analysis can also be used to model dynamic networks where each layer corresponds to the network state at a given moment.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2020, 31.1, 77-96; doi: 10.19282/ac.31.1.2020.04
Simuler une “artificial society”: organisation sociale, gouvernance et attitudes sociétales
Abstract
The attempts to model past societies by the latest techniques, such as multi-agent systems, are limited by the difficulties in modeling the processes of Human and Social Sciences: social organization, social rules, management, societal attitudes. While addressing this problem, the archaeologist is often led to select the climatic change and the economic processes, which are easier to quantify and model and therefore to find only “eco-systemic” explanations for changes in societies. We are here trying to initiate work on the modeling of such processes, the foundations of which are found in the work of earlier authors (history, anthropology, sociology).
Analytical Archaeology and Artificial Adaptive Systems
Abstract
The study of complex archaeological systems with the support of the philosophy of Artificial Intelligence is a research project that evaluates the historical meaning of the relationships between archaeological documents, intended as an essentially human construction, reaffirming, in this way, the importance of Analytical Archaeology, and updating it on the basis of the progress made by Cognitive Science, Neuroscience and Cybernetics through the simulation of the principles regulating memory, orientation, classification and interpretation of reality. It is important to highlight that these models, unlike others, require a precise encoding of the documents and acquire an important role in the research only when the results they produce become the hyper-surface to continue, update, refine or open the analysis itself. In the time of techniques it is still too predictable that the last perceptible limit is still that of the relationship (metaphorical, nuanced or allusive) between 'mind and machine'. Besides, in this age, it is almost instinctive to replicate the function of knowledge, to retrieve its origin and to postulate a backstory for it. On the other hand, the models seeking a place in this discipline, by drawing their inspiration both from other dissimilar disciplines and from the theories that try to explain the cognitive function, would be absorbed by the recreation, even though minimal or impossible, of intelligences, first the Cybernetic and then the Artificial Intelligence. The other model they would be inspired by is reason as a tool and this becomes, today, the condition for interpreting and communicating the historical, archaeological and anthropological complexity of the human being.
The general philosophy of Artificial Adaptive Systems (AAS)
Abstract
This paper describes the philosophy of Artificial Adaptive Systems and compares it with natural language, revealing some striking parallels. Artificial sciences create models of reality, but their ability to approximate the 'real world' determines their effectiveness and usefulness. This paper provides a clear understanding of the expectations created by the use of this technology, an evaluation of the complexities involved, and expresses the necessity of continuing with an open mind to unexpected and still unknown potentials. Supervised and unsupervised networks are described here.
Analytical Archaeology and Artificial Adaptive Systems Laboratory (LAA and AAS)
Abstract
This contribution represents a further attempt to synthesise and to introduce the research activities of the Analytical Archaeology and Artificial Adaptive Systems Laboratory (LAA and AAS) recently instituted at La Sapienza University of Rome thanks to the award of the project ARCHEOSEMA and to the institutional collaboration of the Department of Antiquities and the Department of Intercultural and European Studies and Physic Department. The main didactic and empirical activities of the Laboratory are related to the applicative simulations of Artificial Adaptive Systems to the analysis of complex natural and cultural phenomena through the lens of Analytical Archaeology. These complex phenomena are essentially understood to be the product of cognitive behaviour, in other words models and ideal-types which represent it and can be analysed on a formal logical level. This introductory exploration leads to a significant syntactic diversification of logical inferences and a progressive human attempt to trace them back to the simulation of cognitive complexity. Artificial Adaptive Systems, as Natural Computation mathematical tools which express these emulative properties, are historiographically involved in the connectionist reaction to behaviourism and therefore they effectively form the social sciences’ attempts to ascribe the complexities developed by our brains to advanced, non-linear and dynamic computational models. The LAA and AAS results will be examined in a historical perspective, but it is of great importance to consider the epistemological implications of this new approach since it is moved by the idea that every kind of language can be studied after being transferred into a non-linear sequence of variables.
Artificial neural networks and complexity: an overview
Abstract
Understanding the world around us is usually a hard task. All dynamically evolving phenomena in the natural world are produced by a strong interaction among a great number of causes and, often, only a few amounts of them are visible or measurable. Moreover, the phenomena may be so widely distributed over space and time, like the weather evolution, that only a small number of measurements can be taken, making the understanding of the overall system difficult and approximated. Some characteristics of systems can produce a very strange behaviour, even when the elements constituting the system are a small number. All these elements and their mutual interaction can produce the so-called complexity. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) form an interesting class of dynamic systems, as a paradigm of natural and spontaneous computation. ANNs are founded on bases inspired by the neurophysiological nature of neurons and their mutual connectivity. In this paper the historical reasons that led to the former mathematical models of neuron and connectionist topologies will be detailed. Over time, they have evolved through the feed-forward systems, Self-Organizing Maps, the associative memories up to the latest models in artificial cerebral cortex.
ANNs and geographical information for urban analysis evidence from the european fp7 secoa project
Abstract
The Artificial Adaptive Systems (AAS) have had several applications in different technical and scientific fields, in medical research, life sciences, and financial and insurance studies. These systems have had, so far, poor implementation in social sciences. Among the latter, the main examples can be found in research about urban models in which AAS are usually used together with GISystems. By their nature, neural networks are suitable for interpreting complex phenomena like the social ones. Their limited use is, therefore, surprising. It is just to explain a complex phenomenon that AAS have been used in the SECOA project. The project deals with the study of environmental conflicts in coastal areas. Environmental conflicts are, by nature, complex phenomena, multidimensional and multiscalar. In SECOA 26 conflicts in 17 regions were analysed. The AAS were used to generate an explanatory model that would allow to describe, through its essential elements, the relationship between conflicts and territories. AAS are not only an ordinary complement to the spatial analysis toolbox but a new paradigm for spatial analysis and mining. In particular Geo-SOM (Geo-Self-Organizing Map) is a tool to identify homogenous regions for which predictive analysis can be done using tools that make the visualisation of positive and negative correlation possible. Increased use of AAS and GIS, and the good results this method produced, contributed to a more precise identification of a GIScience in general and its research agenda in particular.
Computer science procedures for the Laboratory of Analytical Archaeology and artificial adaptive systems (LAA and AAS)
Abstract
In this paper the theoretical and methodological aspects of some of the tools applied to the archaeological, geographical and linguistic problems posed by ARCHEOSEMA project will be analysed. In particular, the single steps of the process of generation of outputs, from the initial analysis of the dataset, the subsequent procedures of pre-processing and encoding of the data to the characteristics of the processing algorithms will be described. For this purpose we will use a so-called toy dataset known in the literature. Using the same dataset, we will illustrate the main output produced, Minimum Spanning Tree maps. Along with the use of classical literature measurements, such as the Pearson linear correlation and Prior Probability, both used as metrics for the generation of these outputs, we have tried to show the innovative contribution of a new artificial neural network, the Auto-Contractive Map, designed by P.M. Buscema at the Semeion Research Center.
Adaptive systems and Geographic Information Systems in archaeology: retrospective and practical approaches in spatial archaeology
Abstract
For several years now archaeology has made use of methodologies based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Artificial Adaptive Systems (AAS). However, there are still only a few experiments that involve the spatial aspect, and in particular spatial analyses of the territory. Moreover, we are often faced with theoretical approaches, procedures that cannot be used or repeated by the scientific community because they are based on proprietary or undivulged algorithms. The first part of the paper is focused on a short historical retrospective of the applicative experiences of AI and GIS, from the New Archaeology pioneers to the latest experiments in predictive approaches. Subsequently, we present an open source application, both from the software as well as the procedural point of view, oriented to the creation of predictive maps and focused in particular on the study of ancient settlements.
The author’s fingerprint. A computerised attribution method
Abstract
Methods borrowed from Information Theory are applied to the traditional text criticism. A critique of the raw cladistic methods and an interpretation of the dichotomy-phenomenon are offered. The same methods are applied to 13th century Italian poetry to determine authorship attributions and to verify commonly accepted literary taxonomy. Philology is a human science primarily applied to literary texts and traditionally divided into lower and higher criticism. Lower criticism tries to reconstruct the author’s original text and higher criticism is the study of the authorship, style, and provenance of texts. The use of methods borrowed from information theory makes it possible to bring together methodologically some of the sectors of the two fields. The outcome of the experiments in both text criticism and text attribution has been encouraging. In the former, the tests performed on three different traditions have provided results very similar to those obtained by traditional methods requiring a great amount of time. The experiments carried out both on 13th century Italian poets and schools have shown that it is possible to draw texts closer to one another. Furthermore, the method we have used makes it possible to attribute anonymous writings.
Artificial adaptive systems for philological analysis: the Pessoa case
Abstract
Fernando Pessoa represents an extreme case in the context of contemporary author’s philology. The breadth of his legacy, the large number of unpublished works at his death, the disorganisation and incompleteness of his materials and the entropy caused by the early processes of inventory produced an archive, now largely in the possession of the Portuguese National Library, partially refractory to the application of traditional text-criticism methods. This paper will demonstrate, through some application examples, that a careful study of material aspects concerning the originals of the Pessoa archive, made through the use of Artificial Adaptive Systems, will shed new light on the complex and multi-layered writing system created by Pessoa and identify new genetic relationships among his works, useful for the construction of an overall mapping of his literary output.
Analysis on the cuneiform texts of Ebla. An exploratory point of view
Abstract
A sample of administrative texts from the Early Syrian state archives of Ebla were coded and processed through the model known as Auto-Contractive Map (Auto-CM). The results of this study led us to focus on some basic issues related to the structure of the Eblaite administrative records which deal with transactions of textiles. This first step is oriented toward the development of a methodology which would allow us to outline some concrete proposals for reconstructing the content of badly preserved tablets.
Kohonen self-organizing Maps to unravel patterns of dental morphology in space and time
Franz Manni, Alfredo Coppa, Francesca Candilio
Abstract
The paper illustrates how the application of a specific version of Artificial Neural Networks, Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs), enabled a more accurate analysis of human dental morphology. SOMs enable the processing of individual samples (dentitions) because they can cope with missing data. In fact, in archaeological samples of human remains, teeth are often broken or missing making a complete set of morphological traits often impossible to achieve. Other classification methods like Principal Component Analysis, Multidimensional Scaling, Mean Measure of Divergence, Multiple Correspondence Analysis do not handle missing descriptors and incomplete data matrices have to be filled in, thus leading to a certain approximation in the outcome with a lack of geographical or temporal resolution, as many incomplete samples have to be merged into a virtual one that does not present missing descriptors. Our discussion about the proficiency of SOMs, and ANNs in general, in the exploration and classification of anthropological databases concerning morphology is based on a specific case study, that is the classification of a Neanderthal sample. Through this example we would like to attract the attention of anthropologists and archaeologists to a very flexible methodology that is seldom applied, despite being widely used in many other disciplines.
Investigating Mesopotamian cylinder seals iconography by using artificial neural networks. The Isin-Larsa period
Abstract
The analysis of a corpus of seals belonging to the period of Isin and Larsa, carried out through the use of the Artificial Neural Network Auto-Contractive Maps, allows us to understand the complexity of the relationship of the different elements of the visual domain and its variety. The point of view adopted here is that of reading the iconology and iconography of the so-called presentation scene by offering an interpretation that goes beyond the concept of standardised and homogeneous production without any special innovative connotations.
Investigating Greek painted iconology by using artificial neural networks. Maenads and satyrs on athenian red-figure pottery
Juliette Wayenberg, Massimiliano Capriotti
Abstract
This study aims at exploring both the identity of the maenads and their multiple interactions with the satyrs on Athenian red-figure vases by presenting the preliminary results of an ANN-based analysis applied to a dataset of 114 vases representing 478 figures (maenads and satyrs). The encouraging results seem to confirm the highly significant role of ANN-based methodologies as innovative tools for the organisation, visualisation and analysis of complex data in History of Art and Archaeology. Further explorations of these methodologies, associated with higher levels of data formalisation, should open new perspectives for the research on Athenian iconography and iconology.
SimulPast: un laboratorio virtual para el análisis de las dinámicas históricas
Jorge Caro Saiz, Débora Zurro, Bernardo Rondelli, Andrea Balbo, Xavier Rubio Campillo, Joan A. Barceló, Ivan Briz i Godino, Joaquim Fort, Marco Madella
Abstract
The use of Computer Simulation for the study of Physics or Biology has its roots in the 1940s. The Social Sciences and Humanities have recently become aware of the heuristic potential computational models have for the study of social dynamics, generating the new field of Social Simulation. Specifically, from the first applications of Computer Simulation to Archaeology, their complementary nature has been proved. Computer Simulation provides an ideal context as a virtual laboratory in which to experiment with dynamic processes and Archaeology provides the possibility of generating information about past social processes, both short and long-term. However, we need to make a profound epistemological and methodological reflection about the nature of this tool and the implications of using it in Archaeology. On this basis, SimulPast aims to develop a theoretical and methodological research platform, which is both innovative and trans-disciplinary. The Project aspires to improve the study of historical, social and ecological dynamics of human societies as well as to stimulate the debate on the scientific research process at large.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2013, 24, 265-281; doi: 10.19282/ac.24.2013.13
ARCHEOSEMA. Sistemi artificiali adattivi per un'archeologia analitica e cognitiva dei fenomeni complessi
Abstract
ARCHEOSEMA is the name of a metadisciplinary theoretical, analytical and experi¬mental research project which has recently been awarded a grant by the Sapienza University of Rome. The purpose of the research is to create a logical model based on the interaction between Geographical Information Systems and Artificial Adaptive Systems. The model is conceived as an epistemological and methodological instrument: epistemological because it requires an interdisciplinary dialogue that involves archaeology, physics, geography, linguistics and statistics, and methodological because it is intended to analyze solutions for problems of classification, seriation and organization of alpha-numerical data; to implement the dynamic simulation of the variables which compose organic and/or cultural systems; to identify new rules for spatial, economic and political organization and, moreover, to analyze physical, aes¬thetic and linguistic phenomena of the self-organization, entropy, learning and translation. This epistemological and methodological instrument which is technically programmed like a GIS combines the most advanced instruments of physics, mathematics, algebra and geometry and the first simulations made on three different databases (territorial, aesthetic, and linguistics), already show a series of preliminary results that open new possibilities for territorial archeology, cognitive archeology and computational linguistics.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2013, 24, 283-303; doi: 10.19282/ac.24.2013.14
Virtual models for archaeology
Laura Bocchi, Mahmud Hoger, Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, Emilio Tuosto
Abstract
Archaeological excavations are complex activities, fostering the collaboration of a number of different institutions, organizations and individuals. The seamless organization of an excavation may benefit from the use of a virtual model, which can be adjusted to the specific needs of the project. Defining a model of such activities may help to anticipate the appropriate steps necessary, in order to avoid problems and delays and, more importantly, can be reused and adjusted for further projects. In this paper we attempt to promote the use of virtual breeding environments and virtual organizations as a modelling framework for the managerial aspects of archaeological excavations and we illustrate the flexibility of the framework by applying it to different scenarios. Our analysis also shows that the standard notion of virtual organizations needs to be extended in order to cope with specific aspects of archaeological excavations.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2013, 24, 305-324; doi: 10.19282/ac.24.2013.15
Relating archaeological chaîne opératoire and process mining in computer science
Ann Brysbaert, Laura Bocchi, Emilio Tuosto
Abstract
This paper investigates the potential for close methodological synergies between chaîne opératoire and cross-craft interaction, on the one hand, and an alternative use of the so-called process mining in Business Process Modelling, on the other. We use process mining and chaîne opératoire as an initial ground to bring archaeology and computer science closer. We suggest new theoretical models and methodological approaches fostering cross-fertilization between archaeology and computer sciences. The present paper gives an account of cross-cutting research inspired by these methodological approaches and we investigate our common methodologies and test them in case studies based on pottery making. Methodologically, we propose to adopt a formal approach inspired by the computer science notions of workflow and process mining. In fact, such notions have to be extended in order to model the complex chaîne opératoire envisaged by Brysbaert. As shown theoretically, this can be achieved by means of suitable ontologies. Consequently we have re-elaborated specific logs and shown that new notations for archaeological processes and algorithms are needed. In conclusion, we offer a list of requirements for an ontology of (workflows for) chaînes opératoires.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2012, 23, 165-186; doi: 10.19282/ac.23.2012.10
Artificial Neural Networks and ancient artefacts: justifications for a multiform integrated approach using PST and Auto-CM models
Alessandro Di Ludovico, Giovanni Pieri
Abstract
The integration of different approaches based on Artificial Neural Networks models has here been adopted to draw the guidelines of a map of a Mesopotamian administrative system. Two data sets concerning two different classes of findings have been contemporarily investigated using different models and procedures: a corpus of glyptic presentation scenes and group of administrative tablets from the archives of Umma. Both corpora are witnesses to the inner logics of late third millennium Mesopotamian state administration, and the investigations into them gave interesting contributions to the development of sound hypotheses for a general outline of the Ur III state bureaucratic culture. In fact, the results, obtained through different methodologies, show a large number of points of convergence, and the same features were recognized as "basic" both by Auto-CM and PST. In summary, through research on heterogeneous documents related to Ur III administrative communication, such as the relics of visual languages and traces of writing and sealing procedures, this work demonstrates how proper data mining techniques can partly reveal the very cultural background of some ancient centralized organizations and stimulate the development of new ways of considering the use and perception of those products.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2011, 22, 99-128; doi: 10.19282/ac.22.2011.05
Artificial Neural Networks in archaeology
Luca Deravignone, Giancarlo Macchi Jánica
Abstract
Artificial neural networks are adaptive models that can be used for classification and pattern recognition purposes. ANNs do not differ from standard statistical models. The main difference between ANNs and traditional statistical models is their construction and definition process. In fact ANNs are adaptive in the sense that they can learn. Landscape Archaeology is a research area where the application of ANNs can be very useful. ANNs can be used for Landscape pattern recognition and Settlement systems modeling. This paper illustrate some aspects of the development of new tools and the application of ANNs in a raster GIS environment for archaeological predictive modeling purposes.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2006, 17, 121-136; doi: 10.19282/ac.17.2006.08
Playful agents, inexorable process: elements of a coherent theory of iteration in anthropological simulation
Abstract
This paper presents an alternative to the purely sequential and arbitrary resolution of events in agent-based simulation for Anthropology. It is argued that an alternative system in which agents constantly evaluate their priorities in the light of the actions of other agents provides for more realistic social interaction and allows for the emergence of social-like processes in a computer agent population. A number of other problems, such as the production of survivorship curves from a threat environment, are also discussed.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2002, 13, 259-265; doi: 10.19282/ac.13.2002.18
Prospects for agent-based modelling in archaeology
Abstract
Although computer oriented archaeologists seem to have become somewhat disillusioned with computer simulation as a tool, other social sciences are witnessing a significant wave of enthusiasm for it, particularly in the form of agent-based modelling. My aim in this article is to reach some understanding of just why this paradoxical situation has arisen, and to consider what will and should happen next as regards agent-based modelling in archaeology.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1999, 10, 33-44; doi: 10.19282/ac.10.1999.03
Un sistema esperto a supporto della scelta di intervento conservativo su beni culturali
Abstract
The computer system SEMPRE (Sistema Esperto Montedison per il Restauro) was carried out as a support for the conservation of cultural heritage metal and stone objects. By two basic functions it may give information about the techniques and the products to be employed and may retrieve related examples in reference archives. The user can represent and save his knowledge of the case within the system by these two functions.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 963-972; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.82
Simulazione e/o Seduzione (la rappresentazione mediante modelli di reperti, relitti, oggetti ed altro)
Costantino Meucci, Giancarlo Buzzanca
Abstract
By using a mathematical model it is possible to express a formal representation of any object: such a representation is expressed in numerical language and is not automatically influenced by the physical object under study; rather it expresses "knowledge and ideas" relative to the phenomenon that, by means of models, is "interpreted" in this way. In general a model is an object that is constructed artificially in order to simplify the observation of another object. The intention is not to modify the actual physical properties of the things, but rather to represent ideal objects so as to be able to analyse their ideal properties. This allows the collection of information concerning real objects. Our research intends to verify the possibility of the use of mathematical analysis conducted using the method of reconstruction of finished elements on models that are reproduced with increased accuracy; the objects of this modelling have been archaeological shipwrecks. We have attempted to reconstruct, by means of data elaboration systems, realistic models of real objects without relapsing into specific logistics of pure modelling and/or pure mathematical research. The procedures that we followed derived from precise projectual needs, from the particular technical solutions available notwithstanding the restrictions imposed by the usable resources. It is necessary to use these calculation methods since they allow us to describe correctly, three dimensionally, the elementary geometry of the object while respecting rigorously the presence of the real one in the same space. In this way the use of information techniques is not reduced to a mere touch of modernity on the traditional techniques but becomes a meaningful support to the design procedure. This presentation shows some concrete examples and some lines of research that are presently being followed.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 973-982; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.83
EULOGIA: a hypermedia application for museum cataloguing enriched with SGML encoding
Abstract
The aim of the project is the design and development of a hypermedia application, exploiting University of Westminster's IDEAs system facilities, with the addition of SGML encoding support. Our target application is based on the Benaki Museum Byzantine Collection of icons and artefacts. However we envision the end application as a dynamic generic tool and we have focused our efforts in making provision to cover the multiple needs of all the Benaki Museum Collections through the application's functions. The project is being realised at the University of Westminster's Artificial Intelligence Division in close collaboration with the Benaki Documentation Department. Particular consideration has been given to visual data. The main facilities of the IDEAs system include: free text search with no limitations in the quantity or structure of the source information; hypermedia facilities and automatic cross-referencing and updating between different frames of information. The idea to include in our application Standard Generalised Markup Language encoding was germinated by our concern to find a reliable way of exchanging on-line data with other museums. We believe that the described service will offer the ground for a new type of on-line archaeological applications, by forming an accessible and explicit structure for the documentation of museum information.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 1039-1046; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.89
Modelling occurences in cultural documentation
Maria Christoforaki, Panos Constantopoulos, Martin Doerr
Abstract
CLIO, developed by ICS-FORTH, is a system for cultural documentation purposes of museums. It serves as a scientific catalogue of museum artifacts, as opposed to the basic documentation and administrative purposes served by usual collections management systems. It supports artifact descriptions as temporal, geographical, cultural, historical contexts; style, technique, usage, and physical data information. It allows to express certain and uncertain knowledge as well as opinions. In this paper we address the notions of existence, events and causality, referring to them collectively as notions of occurrence, within a conceptual modelling framework and in the context of developing a general ontology for cultural documentation. Particular attention is given to the representation of relations on which historical and other inferences can be based. We present a new approach, which takes mutual dependencies between time and space into account.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 1047-1060; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.90
La révolution cognitive et l'archéologie
Abstract
Two components of the cognitive revolution are here considered in relation to archaeology: first, reflexivity, or in French "la pensée réfléchie", interested in exploration of its own process; second, computer science, which provides a useful framework for the analysis and simulation of reasoning process in a cognitive perspective. The "logicist" approach of archaeological constructs developed in France and Switzerland over the past decade follows those two axes. The present paper exposes some of the lessons gained from that research programme. One of them bears on the contribution of formal methods (logicism included) to the process of archaeological knowledge. This progress cannot be denied, despite contrary views expressed by the more radical relativists; but it seems to depend more on the empirical value of historical constructs than on their formal concerns. Another observation relates to the diversity of consequents derived from the same premises in archaeological argument, clearly brought out by logicist schematizations. Interesting questions are raised on that basis, regarding the sources and consequences of the phenomenon: (a) practical questions, such as probable changes in the functions and forms of archaeological publications; (b) theoretical issues, related to the current debate on the position of the humanities "between" Science, Literature and Common sense.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 1221-1230; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.106
Artificial societies and cognitive archaeology
Abstract
This paper describes an approach to the study and understanding of social processes which has recently become prominent: systematic experimentation with "artificial societies" created on computers. The contribution that this new research tool can make to a "cognitive" archaeology, is considered. It is particularly asked how artificial societies techniques may be used to enhance our understanding of the role played by rationality and by collettive belief and misbelief systems, including religious belief systems, in the initial emergente of certain types of social complexity. Experimental work discussed aims to explore the relevant insights of Paul Mellars and of Roy Rappaport. One particular set of computer based experiments demonstrates how, in certain circumstances, social groups with some of the characteristics of "cults" may arise, with long term benefit to their individuals involved.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 1231-1245; doi: 10.19282/ac.7.1996.107
Proposta di applicazione di un approccio object-oriented alla formalizzazione di dati qualitativi
Abstract
Classification represents a central topic in archaeological research. In fact, archaeologists seem to spend a great deal of their time in describing and sorting materials, from surveys and excavations, in groups which should serve various ends. In the history of archaeological classification, briefly outlined in the first part of the paper, there has been an endless debate between the researchers following the traditional /qualitative/subjective approach and the proponente of a “new” (now forty years old) paradigm, founded on the formal/quantitative/objective idiom. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that none of them is at all satisfactory. In fact the traditional approach, despite the empirical validity, has proven very difficult to be formalized; the quantitative approach on the other hand, though being based on sound scientific principles, has presented serious difficulties in its practical applications. The article describes an attempt to implement an informatic tool able to produce formal analyses based on both qualitative and quantitative variables: an intelligent ObjectOriented system with classificatory purposes. The system, called Mosaico, is thoroughly illustrated in the second part of the article. The description concerns all the components of Mosaico, a language for conceptual modelling called TQL++ (Type and Query Language), and a brief explanation of some terms useful for a better understanding of the matter. A working example on the Fibulae from the Quattro Fontanili cemetery concludes the paper.
«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1995, 6, 225-242
Automatic problem-solving in archaeology: a computational framework
Abstract
In this paper I have tried to build a computational theory. In other words, a “theory” implemented in a computer program. When using a computational theory we try to solve scientific problems, that is to say, we do not retrieve data units, but we “instantiate” a solution for the problem. I have formalised the concept of an “archaeological problem” in the following way: how is an artefact (or set of artefacts) used by a community in a specific context. The task is then to evaluate the social uses of a specific set of artefacts (Final Situation or State) in terms of: a) their description, and b) all information available about the social, cultural or chronological context and about the human community who produced those artefacts (Initial Situation or State).We may then represent problem solving knowledge as a list of discrete and closed units. Those declarative units are successive states of the problem. We substitute equations for explicit sets of propositions. We can implement a set of answers and a set of decision rules for each one. The resulting program looks like a complex database and not like a mathematical procedure, and we may consider the problem-solving mechanism as a sequential search in a preexisting problem space, using a finite number of particular decision rules. Some interesting work has been done in mathematical representation of archaeological theories, but such approaches have not been very successful, maybe because social sciences cannot be exclusively represented by mathematical models, or because archaeologists are incapable to communicate between themselves using mathematical expressions. As a consequence, archaeologists tend to express their theories by means of linguistic sentences, which is inadequate, given the fact that natural language obstructs objectivity. A representation in terms of logical propositions appears then as the best representation tool available to build social theories. Artificial Intelligence scientists are now exploring this possibility. In this paper I propose an analogy between the structure of archaeological (and social sciences) theories and the mechanism of Turing Machines: given some empirical data (observation of the archaeological record) and a knowledge-base (constituted by high-level concepts and their middle-range correlates), we have to explain the particular case (the archaeological record) by means of the knowledge-base (the theory). The logical mechanism is modus ponens.
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