Towards a three-dimensional cost-effective registration of the archaeological heritage

Archaeological practice within the European context of heritage management is facing huge challenges in ways of recording and reproduction of ex-situ preserved sites. As a consequence of the Valletta-treaty, numbers of archived images and drawings of excavated structures as prime sources of past human activity, are exponentially growing. Contrarily to portable remains however, their future study and revision is biased by the two-dimensional character of the recorded data, rendering difficult their future reconstruction for new study or public dissemination. A more realistic three-dimensional (3D) way of recording and archiving should be pursued. In this paper the possibilities for 3D registration of archaeological features are examined in a computer vision-based approach using the PhotoScan software package (Agisoft LCC). It proved to be a scientific and cost-effective improvement compared to traditional documentation methods. Advantages can be found in the high accuracy and straightforwardness of the methodology. The extraction of an orthophoto or a Digital Terrain Model from the 3D model makes it feasible to integrate detailed and accurate information into the digital archaeological excavation plan. The visual character of 3D surface modeling offers enhanced output-possibilities allowing a better documentation of in-situ structures for future research and a higher public participation and awareness for the archaeological heritage.     

Deletion/Substitution/Addition (DSA) model selection algorithm applied to the study of archaeological settlement patterning

This paper introduces GIS-based statistical methods for the study of settlement patterning in an archaeological context. The main aspect is an improvement over suboptimal stepwise statistical model selection procedures, with the introduction of a Deletion/Substitution/Addition (DSA) algorithm, a systematic model selection algorithm that provides an optimal model choice. The paper also introduces the combined use of Receiving Operator Characteristic (ROC) curves, and variable ranking as key tools aimed at an understanding of settlement patterning causation. An illustrative case study is provided whereby both a purely environmental and a mixed environmental/historical model (based on settlement hierarchy considerations) are investigated.     

The History of Knowledge and the Future of Knowledge Societies

The new field of the history of knowledge is often presented as a mere expansion of the history of science. We argue that it has a greater ambition. The re‐definition of the historiographical domain of the history of knowledge urges us to ask new questions about the boundaries, hierarchies, and mutual constitution of different types of knowledge as well as the role and assessment of failure and ignorance in making knowledge. These issues have pertinence in the current climate where expertise is increasingly questioned and authority seems to lose its ground. Illustrated with examples from recent historiography of the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, we indicate some fruitful new avenues for research in the history of knowledge. Taken together, we hope that they will show that the history of knowledge could build the expertise required by the challenges of twenty‐first century knowledge societies, just like the history of science, throughout its development as a discipline in the twentieth century, responded to the demands posed by science and society.     

Near-Infrared Aerial Crop Mark Archaeology: From its Historical Use to Current Digital Implementations

Even though most archaeologists are aware of the crop mark phenomenon and its possible archaeological nature, the information on its occurrence and specific character is, in most cases, obtained by imaging in the visible spectrum. After the Second World War, the occasional use of near-infrared (NIR) sensitive emulsions attributed this kind of invisible imaging with a great potential. However, archaeological NIR imaging always remained restricted due to several reasons not, at least, its complicated workflow and uncertain results. This article wants to delve deeper into the subject, looking at the conventional film-based approach of NIR aerial reconnaissance and its historical use in archaeological crop mark research, after which a current straightforward digital approach will be outlined. By explaining the spectral properties of plants and using examples of recently acquired NIR imagery in comparison with visible frames, it should become clear why the detection and interpretation of crop marks can benefit from low-cost digital NIR imaging in certain situations.     

Is there Nationalism after Ernest Gellner? An exploration of methodological choices*

Abstract. This paper explores the advance of the study of nationalism with particular reference to hitherto neglected methodologies. After suggesting what might be the lesson to be learned from Ernest Gellner's critique of Wittgensteinian linguistic philosophy, I set out some of the considerations and questions which guide my own attempt at a definition of nationalism after Gellner. These are essentially concerned with the function of meaning for ‘real people’, that is, with the substantiation of the nation through the study of ideologies and feelings, links between interest and identity, conditions of responsiveness and the differential success of mass mobilisation. In the remainder of the paper, I explore the benefit that may be achieved from adopting the methodologies of the so‐called Cambridge school of the history of political thought and of social representations in social psychology.     

Knowledge and Proximity

Over the years knowledge has come to be seen as crucial for economic progress, and proximity as conducive to knowledge exchange. As a result, knowledge-related processes are often considered as possible explanation of the spatial agglomeration of economic activities. However, knowledge and proximity are general concepts that have to be detailed before it is possible to specify the concrete mechanisms at work. Building on recent work that focuses on proximity, this paper develops a perspective in which proximity features as an enabling element, but no more than that, in ongoing processes of knowledge creation, transfer, absorption, and change. We argue that knowledge is to be viewed as activity and process, rather than object or commodity. Concentrating on “knowledge agents”—those engaged in knowledge-related processes, individuals and collectives—will be more productive than persisting to rely on the distinction between tacit and codified knowledge to explain spatial aspects of the economy. Finally, we argue that regions are different when it comes to the extent, and the way, they facilitate creation, transfer, and other knowledge processes. Contributions to local or regional economic development, whether through research or policy, have to take existing repertoires—patterns in collective knowledge—into account.     

Political propaganda in the Brabant Revolution: Habsburg ‘negligence’ versus Belgian nation-building

This paper explores the functioning of political propaganda during the Brabant Revolution, that is, during Belgium's contribution to the ‘Age of the Democratic Revolution’. More in particular, it examines the differences between royalist and patriot propaganda. Detailed reference to the political dialogue pamphlets of the time allows for the reconstruction of the first instance of (cultural) nation-building in Belgian history. In more general terms, the paper hopes to contribute to the argument for an historic and developmental approach to the study of nation, with particular attention for its multi-faceted and (potential) emancipatory functionality.     

Airborne laser bathymetry – detecting and recording submerged archaeological sites from the air

A new generation of airborne bathymetric laser scanners utilises short green laser pulses for high resolution hydrographic surveying in very shallow waters. The paper investigates its use for the documentation of submerged archaeological structures, introducing the concept of airborne laser bathymetry and focussing on a number of challenges this novel technology still has to face. Using this method, an archaeological pilot study on the northern Adriatic coast of Croatia has revealed sunken structures of a Roman villa. The results demonstrate the potential of this novel technique to map submerged archaeological structures over large areas in high detail in 3D, for the first time providing the possibility for systematic, large-scale archaeological investigation of this environment. The resulting maps will provide unique means for underwater heritage management.     

Mesh Is More—Using All Geometric Dimensions for the Archaeological Analysis and Interpretative Mapping of 3D Surfaces

In various disciplines, particularly those that utilise techniques developed in the geosciences, the display, analysis and interpretation of three-dimensional (3D) data is very important. This is also the case in archaeology. Irrespective of a site- or landscape-centred point of focus, archaeology deals with very complex surfaces and always examines traces of past human presence in three geometrical dimensions. Visualising these detailed geometric environments is not that much of an issue anymore; however, interactively interpreting and mapping them is still problematic. Despite the steady increase in technologies to create 3D models, there is still a serious lack of tools that allow for easy interaction with these models in a metrical and coordinate system-aware environment. As a result, most—if not all—interpretation workflows will first downscale 3D data to two-and-a-half-dimensional (2.5D) or 2D data sets, thus effectively discarding up to one geometrical dimension. To enable or enhance the perception of topographic characteristics in these geometrically compromised datasets, various visualisation techniques have been developed to artificially restore and enhance the data that was initially discarded. While these techniques work very well to enhance the remaining pertinent features present in such data sets, data downscaling can nevertheless irrevocably eliminate significant amounts of important archaeological information. Therefore, this paper outlines a new processing and interpretation pipeline for complex archaeological 3D surfaces that do not rely on downscaling of data, while also discussing several 3D-related concepts and issues along the way. More specifically, this article focusses on the generation of intelligently decimated, two-manifold triangular meshes and the subsequent geo-referenced 3D interpretative mapping of these surfaces. Furthermore, all applications can be considered low- and even no-cost, making this a readily implemented processing and interpretation workflow. Additionally, all software packages are easy to learn and flexible enough for implementation in any existing mixed software pipeline.     

Why Indians Vote: Reflections on Rights,Citizenship, and Democracy from a Tamil Nadu Village

This paper contributes to an empirical and theoretical understanding of democracy and political participation in India through an ethnographic study of the meanings attached to voting in rural Tamil Nadu. Based on a study of voting in a rural constituency during the 2009 national elections, the paper explores the variety of motivations that compel people to vote. It explores how voting is informed by popular understandings of rights and duties as citizens, programmatic policies and their local implementation, commitment to caste and party loyalties, and authority of charismatic leaders. The paper explores the roots of the political consciousness and rights awareness that underpin high levels of electoral participation. It suggests that elections form unique moments that allow ordinary people to experience an individual sense of citizenship and of democracy itself while at the same time allowing them to pursue projects of recognition, respect and assertion as members of communities. It is precisely this dual feature that makes voting so enduringly attractive to India's contemporary electorate.