An Introduction to Digital Archaeology

Digital Archaeology Amphitheatre at Portus, by the Portus Project, U of Southampton http://www.flickr.com/photos/portusproject/6146823202/sizes/o/in/photostream/ Archaeology with, through, and by, computation - a very brief & non-exhaustive introduction! Shawn Graham, Carleton University @electricarchaeo Great Temple, Petra, Brown University Digital Archaeology is Public Archaeology Digital Archaeology is about representation Digital Archaeology creates new ways of knowing Digital Archaeology is about communication, tools, and new abilities to ask the previously impossible questions. dig·i·tal (dj-tl) adj. 1. a. Relating to, or resembling a digit, especially a finger. b. Operated or done with the fingers: a digital switch. c. Having digits. 2. Expressed in discrete numerical form, especially for use by a computer or other electronic device: digital information. 3. Electronics a. Relating to or being a device that can generate, record, process, receive, transmit, or display information that is represented in discrete numerical form. b. Relating to or being a service that provides information expressed in discrete numerical form: We subscribe to digital cable. 4. Relating to or being a profession or activity that is performed using digital devices: a digital librarian; digital photography. 5. Using or giving a reading in digits: a digital clock. 6. Characterized by widespread use of computers: living in the digital age. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/digital Archaeology explores the material conditions of humanity and humanistic endeavors. 'Digital' implies the ability to manipulate with one's hands, to count, to measure and to represent. Image of haptic interface for archaeology: http://graphics.cs.brown.edu/research/sciviz/archaeology/archave/archave.html Roman Baths on the North Slope of Vesuvius - the 3d model, by Apolline Project Day of Archaeology, Richardson et al. http://www.dayofarchaeology.com/ http://electricarchaeologist.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/signal-versus-noise-why-academic-blogging-matters-a-structural-argument-saa-2011/ http://heritage.crowdmap.com LIghthouse at Portus, U of Southampton Portus Project http://www.flickr.com/photos/portusproject/6146274383/sizes/o/in/photostream/ Adam Rabinovitz on digitizing an excavation: http://www.livescience.com/18077-digitizing.html Virtual Excavation on the Carleton Virtual Campus http://screencast.com/t/92Xv9KAcXeZ Janssen, Understanding Artificial Anasazi http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/12/4/13.html Agent Based Modeling Travellersim, Graham & Steiner http://www.graeworks.net/abm/Travellersim.html http://j.mp/A3YkHV New forms of sharing & discovery: Data as publication and new publishing models http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1r6137tb# Digital media represent more and more of our world as bits. We offload our cognition to our devices. Soon, we will need an archaeology of the devices, software, and programs themselves. ....but that's a topic for another day. Kay, S. & Witcher, R.E. 2005. The Tiber Valley Project: The Role of GIS and Databases in Field Survey Data Integration and Analysis. Archeologia e Calcolatori 16: 113-127 http://j.mp/AjG7V1