Documenting and Analyzing Rock,Paintings from Torres Strait,NE Australia,with Digital Photography and Computer Image Enhancement

Abstract

The deterioration of rock-art over time is an important concern for indigenous communities, archaeologists, rock-art researchers, and cultural heritage managers. Computer enhancement has emerged as an important tool in viewing poorly visible rock paintings. While most studies regarding this technique explore the methods associated with computer enhancement there is little discussion of the results that can be generated beyond the recovery of images. This article presents results from the application of computer enhancement methods to rock paintings from the Torres Strait region in NE Queensland. The results obtained through the computer enhancement of deteriorated rock paintings are used to reveal degrees of preservation, interregional interaction, and previously undocumented spatial patterning across the strait.     

Technological art and Studio International’s eclectic vanguardism

ABSTRACT

This article takes the editorship by Peter Townsend of Studio International, to which the author contributed regularly between 1969 and 1972, as a starting-point to recall decisive personal encounters with Roy Lichtenstein’s paintings, Wen-Ying Tsai’s sculptures, Jasia Reichardt’s exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity and the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science. It goes on to re-endorse the earlier argument that a long historical time-scale was required for the aesthetic implications of photography to become clear, and that, like photography, the computer and holography are technological media whose immediate interactions with aesthetics and the culture at large will take many decades to pan out. Earlier claims about the relationship between art and ecology are then reviewed. Finally the article suggests that though world politics have changed considerably since the 1960s and 1970s, artists have undiminished opportunities to grapple with the challenges of new technologies directly, rather than retreating into a closed system.     

Archeological Recording Systems

Abstract

The labeling of artifacts and other collections is considered in the light of archeological needs at the present time. It is suggested that labeling systems be evaluated by four criteria: information content, accuracy, efficiency, and computer compatibility. There is a discussion of a labeling system and how it might be adapted to various circumstances.     

The United States Manuscript Census as a Teaching Aid

Abstract

This article describes a new approach for analyzing data within national historical geographic information system databases that can be used to explore long-term trends in landscape evolution. The methodology is based on clustering together areas with similar demographic characteristics to define urban agglomerations whose territorial extents and populations vary over time. The resulting database can be used in a wide range of ways that allow the empirical study of urban growth and urban sprawl. The article is based on data for England and Wales but given the increasing availability of national historical geographic information system databases for countries around the world, the approach could be replicated for a wide range of different places.     

The Asiatic marbles of the Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli

Multi-method provenance studies, including petrographic, isotopic, electron paramagnetic resonance and trace chemical analyses, have been carried out on 20 white, 9 black and 1 red artifacts purposely selected to investigate the use and distribution of sculptural marbles at the Hadrian's Villa. A large fraction of the marbles tested (21 samples, 70%) are shown to be from Asia Minor, mostly originating from the recently discovered site of Göktepe near Aphrodisias (15 or 71%). All the 9 black samples investigated and 6 out of 11 white Asiatic marbles are from Göktepe, the remaining being Docimium marble from Iscehisar (4 samples) and Aphrodisias marble from the city quarries (1 sample). The single red sculpture tested proved to be Carian red marble from the Iasos quarries, whereas non-Asiatic marbles include 3 Carrara and 6 Pentelicon samples. The selection of marbles tested is preliminary and incomplete, but, despite this, the results are noteworthy, especially since the marble of other sculptures from the Villa has already been identified as Göktepe. Together with other published results, the marble distribution at the Hadrian's Villa seems to suggest that the use of sculptural marbles in the Roman world underwent considerable changes around the turn of the 1st and the 2nd century AD. The evidence supporting this hypothesis is briefly summarized in the conclusions.     

Numerical Analysis,Computers and Problem-solving

Abstract

The number of problem which can be solved by the method of classical mathematics is limited, especially those which have application to practical problems. Numerical analysis offers a way out, but demand the co-operation of scientist, applied mathematician, and expertise in computer software and numerical methods. The following article discusses examples amenable to numerical analysis and describes the Oxford University-Industry Study Group which has successfully contributed to the solution of applied problems. It also argues for the establishment of computer program libraries which have recently become a valuable adjunct to problem solving.     

The Antiquities Market

Abstract

The computer has not been widely used for the study and analysis of Greek and Roman pottery. Recently at Stobi in Yugoslavian Macedonia a considerable quantity of pottery has been coded according to a system devised specifically for the rather complex situation presented by the wide-reaching market for ceramics in the Greek and Roman periods. The system and coding procedures, as well as the preliminary results of the analysis, are published here in the hope that they will serve as an aid to others working with similar material.     

Information Retrieval in Cultural Heritage

Abstract

This article discusses the opportunities and challenges of applying modern information retrieval techniques to the cultural heritage domain. Although the field of information retrieval is closely associated with computer science, it originally emerged from library science — also one of the main disciplines concerned with access to cultural heritage material. Hence we are, in a sense, exploring what happens if we bring these strands of research back together again. The article consists of three parts. In the first part, we explain the field of information retrieval and its multidisciplinary nature. In the second part, we discuss how and why the problem of providing access to cultural heritage can be cast naturally as an information retrieval problem. In the third and main part, we present a detailed case study of applying the modern information retrieval approach in practice within a museum.     

CARBON AND OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS OF MARBLES FROM SOME ANCIENT QUARRIES OF WESTERN ANATOLIA AND THEIR ARCHAEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

¹³C/¹²C and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O ratios have been measured for 42 marbles from the main quarry localities of archaeological interest of Western Anatolia (Marmara, Ephesos, Aphrodisias, Denizli and Afyon) in order to test the possibility of isotopically characterizing ancient marbles from this region. The various groups of samples are not clearly distinguishable on a δ¹³C-δ¹⁸O diagram. However, if only white or slightly coloured samples are considered, the isotopic method appears to be much more selective.     

A Bronze Age Quarry in Eastern Crete

Abstract

The sandstone quarry at Mochlos is one of four major quarries in eastern Crete that were worked during the New Palace Period of Minoan civilization (ca. 1700–1450 B.C.) to produce large ashlar blocks for nearby Minoan sites. At that time sandstone, or ammoudha, as it is known locally, was especially valued as a building material, partly because of its distinctive color and texture, but mainly because of the ease with which it could be cut, and the stone was used extensively for exterior façades, for walls around interior courts, and for other architectural features of the more important buildings on these sites. This article describes the quarry at Mochlos in some detail, including the quarrying techniques employed, and argues that the destination of the stone from the Mochlos quarry was the Minoan palace at Gournia. The article ends with a comparison of the four ammoudha quarries in eastern Crete.     

A journey – crossing boundaries

ABSTRACT

Dr George L. Mallen writes about his introduction to computer simulation in the early 1960s and his work with Gordon Pask, founder and director of System Research Ltd, a convergence point of cognitive science, computer technology and art. In 1969 Mallen co-founded the Computer Arts Society and helped to organize Event One at the Royal College of Art which brought computers into the art school. In 1969 he formed System Simulation Ltd and in 1970 developed ECOGAME, a system dynamics model of a hypothetical national economy, implemented at the First European Management Forum, the predecessor of the World Management Forum. Some of the ECOGAME technology was also used by Stafford Beer for the government economic decision room he designed and implemented for the Allende government in Chile in 1972–1973.     

Joshua’s Tomb

Abstract

Following the recent excavations of the Jerusalem 'Warren's Shaft System' and its attribution to the Middle Bronze II period, the authors re-evaluate the dating of the Gezer water system. R. A. S. Macalister attributed it to the 'Second Semitic' period, which roughly corresponds to the ME II period. Several scholars challenged this dating, suggesting a lower date in the Late Bronze or the Iron Age. The article draws attention to a detail which escaped the types of scholars, namely that the cave at the bottom of the system has in fact a lower outlet, to the tell's southern perimeter. This detail appears on a plan and section drawn by L Vincent, when visiting the excavation. This explains how the miners knew where to locate the entrance to the system within the city's boundary, and to what direction and angle to aim their tunnel to hit that cave. This increases the similarity between the Jerusalem and the Gezer water systems, and corroborates the MB II dating for the Gezer system, originally suggested by Macalister.     

The National Air and Space Museum,Washington, D.C.

Abstract

Space technology is not only one of the major subjects of this spacious and gracious new Museum on Washington's Mall, it also contributed greatly to its record construction programme and it opening ceremony. Above all its designers hope that 85 complex audio-visual exhibits will perform faultlessly thanks to MACS, the Museum Automatic Control System. This central computer control unit, complete with its space-age back-up system, constantly monitors the performance of all moving exhibits, whether puppets, films or slides. Any fault is detected instantly and thus can be repaired quickly.     

The Underdeveloped Historical Dimension of the Study of Community Power Structure

Abstract

This article presents a technique of standardising and coding textual birthplace and occupation strings in the censuses of England and Wales and Scotland, 1851–1911. While the approaches for the two text strings are different, they are both based upon the integration of computer technologies, mathematical methods, and expert knowledge. Both processes are described formally using Structured Analysis and Design Technique methodology. The classification of occupations is defined by two algorithms based on statistical decision theory in order to allocate codes from the original occupation strings. The method of standardising parishes is based on the comparison of original birthplace strings and reference data.     

Improving the preparation for fieldwork with ‘IT’: Two examples from physical geography

Abstract

Two potential roles for information technology (IT) to enhance the preparation phase for fieldwork are investigated. In the first initiative, a prototype geographical information system (GIS) is developed to support local fieldwork activity. The second initiative develops computer‐based briefing tutorials to prepare students for residential field classes. By enhancing the preparatory phase of fieldwork, students are more quickly acclimatised once they arrive at the field site, they are better able to focus on the key issues, and valuable time in the field can be utilised more effectively.     

Regional Aspects of Collaborative Invention Across National Innovation Systems

Abstract

This article analyzes the association between intraregional collaboration and levels of invention in nine developed countries. Patent data of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) regions of nine inventive countries are used to determine if a significant positive correlation exists between reliance on own region partners and overall invention. Strong intraregional collaboration is also related to the knowledge bases of technologies and to the tendency for inventors to team up in the first place. Results show strong evidence that inventors in highly inventive regions co-patent more with own region partners and that they have a greater tendency to collaborate in the first place. Support for the hypothesis that information and computer technologies favour own region collaboration and that more biotechnology invention encourages external alliances is mixed. However, there is far less evidence that more biotechnology invention encourages more external alliances. Variation in the results between countries is interpreted as evidence that national innovation systems have distinctive internal locational attributes. The findings refute the assertion that strengthening aspatial network proximities has eclipsed the pivotal role of intraregional linkages in technological advance.     

From Alpine clubs to Baggio and Berlusconi: Italy reflected through sport

Abstract

This article attempts to convey something of the importance of sport in Italy by tracing a brief outline of its development in parallel with the modern Italian state. It then looks at Patrick McCarthy's vision of Italian sport to see how this fits with the latest developments in this turbulent world. It suggests that the fortunes of Italian sport will be somewhat dependent on the wider economic and political system, where the past and present record is not encouraging. Much bolder reform is needed if the trends of bleeding sport dry through commercial exploitation and the erosion of local loyalties are to be reversed. But even if there is not further reform, sport will use its powers of resistance to survive. Much of the article focuses primarily on soccer, both because it is the country's most popular sport and because it has led trends affecting other major sports including cycling and motor racing.     

Martin Waldseemüller's Death Date

ABSTRACT

The subject of this article is the first extant topographical engraving of Meteora, the second largest monastic complex in Greece and one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world. This late eighteenth-century print combined cartographic principles with techniques traditionally used in Byzantine painting, which situates it within a broader vernacular Greek cartographic tradition. It can also be considered a mental map of the region as envisaged by eighteenth century monks, as well as a tool for advertising the region and its monasteries at a time of political and financial distress. As with any map, the engraving simultaneously concealed and revealed, masking difficult terrestrial conditions while showing pathways to heaven.     

The objective–subjective dichotomy and its use in describing probability

ABSTRACT

This article reviews the nature of the objective–subjective dichotomy, first from a general historical point of view, and then with regard to the use of these terms over time to describe theories of probability. The different (metaphysical and epistemological) meanings of ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ are analysed, and then used to show that all probability theories can be divided into three broad classes. A formal definition of (epistemological) objectivity is given and used to clarify this division.