Artificial Intelligence, 3D Documentation,and Rock Art—Approaching and Reflecting on the Automation of Identification and Classification of Rock Art Images

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory - Rock art carvings, which are best described as petroglyphs, were produced by removing parts of the rock surface to create a negative relief. This...     

Mapping Submerged Archaeological Sites using Stereo‐Vision Photogrammetry

Creating photo‐mosaics and plans of submerged archaeological sites quickly, cost‐effectively and, most importantly, to a high level of geometric accuracy remains a huge challenge in underwater archaeology. This paper describes a system that takes geo‐referenced stereo imagery from a diver‐propelled platform and combines it with mapping techniques widely used in the field of robotic science to create high‐resolution 2D photo‐mosaics and detailed 3D textured models of submerged archaeological features. The system was field tested on the submerged Bronze Age town of Pavlopetri off the coast of Laconia, Greece, in 2010. This paper outlines the equipment used, data collection in the field, image processing and visualization methodology.     

Variable Residential Density: Optimum Traffic Density and City Size

In this paper we derive the optimal allocation of land between transportation and housing uses in an outer ring of a circular city, where the net population density is a constant, an exponent-decaying, or a power-decreasing function. We are also able to show that, under these circumstances, at no point in the optimal solution is all the land allocated to transportation use, proof that is, unlike previous work, independent of the solution of the same problem in the inner ring (Central Business District).     

Paleolithic Art: A Cultural History

In this article we review the history of the terms and ideas that have been used to conceptualize Paleolithic art since the end of the 19th century. Between 1900 and 1970, prehistoric representations were typically divided into two main groups: parietal art (including rock and cave art) and portable (or mobiliary) art. This classification gave rise to asymmetrical attitudes about Paleolithic images. In particular, many portable and nonfigurative representations were overlooked while a small number of cave paintings were praised for their realism. Although the portable/parietal division has remained a popular divide among archaeologists, in the last 30 years increasing numbers of specialists have crossed the boundaries established by these categories. They have developed new frameworks within which more kinds of images are meaningfully approached and incorporated into the analysis of Paleolithic art and symbolism. The emergence of new approaches to Pleistocene imagery is the result of a number of interrelated processes, including the globalization of Paleolithic art studies, the impact of new discoveries, and the development of new approaches to art, images, and symbolism.     

Mobile Communities: The Gathering and Sorting of Sheep in Skútustaearhreppur, Northeast Iceland

This paper concerns the mobilities associated with the gathering and sorting of sheep within the community of Skútustarearhreppur, northeast Iceland in the recent historic period. It examines the relationships between people, animals, and landscape in terms of their movements. It presents an argument based on examining the mobilities on the surface and in the depths of a continual, in-the-making landscape, and considers the dwelling of farmers and their movements in attending to sheep as both place-forming and identity-forming processes. I present a hypothetical gathering and sorting of sheep based on historical and archaeological sources and explore the relations that are formed on-the-move.