On Monday 8th April CAA2024 will host a full day of workshops for participants. These will take place at the conference venue, the OGGB Building at the University of Auckland. In order to participate, you will need to confirm your attendance in the conference registration form. All workshops have a limited number of attendants, and are on a first come first serve basis. If you do not get into the workshop you would like, we will have a waitlist, so please make sure to email if you need to pull out of a workshop.
Instructions for workshop preparation will be sent to you by the workshop organizers.
There are eight workshops available.
W2: GigaMesh – 3D Artifact Documentation with the GigaMesh Software Framework (Half day)
W3: ADAF – a user-friendly tool for Automatic Detection of Archaeological Features (Half day)
W4: Information Session on Arches Cultural Heritage Data Management Platform (Half day)
W5: Data Modeling and Controlled Vocabulary Management using Arches (Half day)
W6: CRMarchaeo Workshop: a stepping stone to FAIR practice (Full day)
W7: Photogrammetry methods (Full day)
W8: Chronological modelling with ChronoLog: theory and practice (Full day)
W2: GigaMesh – 3D Artifact Documentation with the GigaMesh Software Framework
NOTE: This workshop is currently at capacity, if you select it on registration you will be added to a waitlist
Florian Linsel, Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Computer Science, AG eHumanities & FCGLab
Half day workshop – Morning
Maximum 12 attendees
Description: The widespread adoption of 3D-acquisition devices, especially those using Structured-Light-Scanning (SLS) and photogrammetry, has revolutionized the digitization of archaeological artifacts, greatly benefiting excavations and archives. This workshop offers a comprehensive program to demonstrate working with the resulting 3D meshes.
The workshop focuses on the analysis and documentation of 3D datasets using the GigaMesh Software Framework. Developed by the Forensic-Computational-Geometry-Laboratory (FCGL) at Martin Luther University of Halle, GigaMesh offers tools for processing 3D data, primarily in the Stanford-Polygon (PLY) format. Practical applications include rapid calculation of profile lines for ceramic sherds as vector drawings in XML-based Scalable-Vector-Graphics (SVG) format, rollouts of decorated vessels, and visualization of small features. The workshop will also cover data inspection and cleaning to ensure high-quality open data publications. Participants will also be introduced to the latest developed GigaMesh tools (Release 2023-06-22) and features, such as automatic orientation of lithic artifacts.
After completion, archaeologists will be well-equipped to establish or improve their 3D-acquisition-based documentation pipelines similar to our own research (Linsel et al. 2023) and our long-term users like the Honduras excavation of the Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures (KAAK) at the DAI Bonn (Fecher et al. 2020). This workshop will enable archaeologists to use advanced 3D technologies to document, analyze, and publish artifacts in their research.
Information for Participants: Participants can bring their own archaeological data to develop research questions firsthand, but all data must be sent in advance to ensure accuracy and to evaluate the scope of the research question.
Requirements: To ensure successful participation, attendees are strongly encouraged to bring their own laptops running Linux or Windows, as GigaMesh is primarily developed for Linux (e.g. a recent version of Ubuntu) and Windows.
W3: ADAF – a user-friendly tool for Automatic Detection of Archaeological Features
NOTE: This workshop is currently at capacity, if you select it on registration you will be added to a waitlist
Žiga Kokalj and Nejc Čož, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), and Nejc Čož
Half day workshop – Afternoon
Maximum 10 attendees
Description: The rapid development of image analysis techniques and the increasing availability of high-quality airborne laser scanning data (ALS, lidar) are encouraging the use of machine learning in archaeology. The ADAF tool consists of two Jupyter notebooks, one for training (creating specific machine learning models) and one for automatic recognition of archaeological features. While the training part is time-consuming and requires suitable hardware, the recognition part can be done on any modern laptop. This workshop aims to provide participants with hands-on experience with the software and enable them to use it independently for their own projects. We will cover the basics of deep learning in archaeology, the installation, explain all components of the training part and run the detection process. The currently implemented model is optimised to detect three classes of Irish archaeology (barrows, enclosures, ringforts), but you can also input your own model. The software requires minimal interaction and no prior knowledge of machine learning techniques, which greatly increases its accessibility to the archaeological community.
Requirements: Participants should bring their laptop and have an internet connection to download all the requirements and data. We will provide a link to download everything before the workshop starts. You can bring your own (ALS) data. The software is tested to run on Windows.
W4: Information Session on Arches Cultural Heritage Data Management Platform
Annabel Lee Enriquez, Getty Conservation Institute
Half day workshop – Morning
Maximum 100 attendees
Speakers:
Annabel Lee Enriquez and Nina Young, Getty Conservation Institute
Rachel Ford and Mei Nee Lee, Heritage Unit Auckland Council
Description:
Arches (www.archesproject.org) is an open-source data management platform freely available for organizations worldwide to install, configure, and extend in accordance with their individual needs and without restrictions on its use. Arches was originally developed for the cultural heritage field by the Getty Conservation Institute and World Monuments Fund. Due to the complex and varied nature of cultural heritage data, and to promote interoperability and sustainable data practices, Arches has been developed as a standards-based, comprehensive and flexible platform that supports a wide array of uses. The Arches Project has an established international community of developers, service providers, heritage organizations and specialists that collaborates, shares ideas and resources, explores solutions, and provides guidance and support. This session will cover the following topics:
- An overview of management of heritage data in Arches, including international data standards, data modeling, controlled vocabularies, creating and editing data, and integration with external web services and GIS applications
- System design and capabilities, geospatial layers, enhanced searching functionality, and reporting
- Arches deployment considerations including platform installation and legacy data import, configuration and localization tools, and customization of the platform through the integrated Arches Designer
- The forthcoming Arches for Science to manage heritage science data
- The Arches open-source community, including how to participate
- A case study on the experience of Auckland Council in implementing Arches.
- How Arches is being implemented by a range of other heritage organizations and projects around the world, including Historic England for archaeological impact assessment in Greater London, numerous Arcadia-funded projects recording endangered archaeology across the Global South, and the Swedish Institutes in Rome, Athens, and Istanbul recording excavation activities over many decades.
W5: Data Modeling and Controlled Vocabulary Management using Arches
Annabel Lee Enriquez, Getty Conservation Institute
Half day workshop – Afternoon
Maximum 50 attendees
Description: For those who have attended the Arches Information Session or have previous experience with the Arches Cultural Heritage Data Management Platform, this workshop highlights how Arches can accommodate an organization’s or project’s use case through data modeling and controlled vocabulary management with no coding via interface tools within Arches.
Learning objectives of the workshop include:
- Learn how to model data within Arches using the Arches Designer, including how to incorporate semantic metadata and controlled vocabularies
- Examine examples of data models (or resource models) from existing Arches implementations
- Learn how to manage and organize controlled vocabularies within Arches using the Arches Reference Data Manager
- Learn how to use Arches Modeling Resources, including the Package/Project Library, to find and leverage the modeling work of others in the Arches community to create your own models
- Understand the role of the Arches Resource Modeling Working Group and how you can be involved in the Arches community as it relates to data modeling
- Learn about the latest developments regarding the new Arches Reference Data Manager, which will include many enhancements and new features for the management of controlled vocabularies.
W6: CRMarchaeo Workshop: a stepping stone to FAIR practice
Stephen Stead, Paveprime Ltd and Open University, and Jane Jansen, National Historical Museums in Sweden and Intrasis
Full day workshop
Maximum 25 attendees
Description: In this workshop, we will explore how to use CRMarchaeo, an extension of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM), for the purpose of linking a wide range of existing documentation from archaeological excavations.
When working with archaeological data deposited in archives in different eras and by different organisations using ever-evolving recording methodologies, a recurrent problem is being able to systematically access elements of the record without immersing oneself in the recording milieu of each of the original deposits. This high intellectual cost must be paid by each scholar wishing to work on the records of a particular archaeological investigation and so effectively creates a barrier to extensive reuse of archived data. The FAIR data principles require “that all research objects should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) both for machines and for people” (Wilkinson et al. 2016). One approach to making data FAIRly accessible while reducing the effort to a single “intellectual act” is to map to a “lingua franca”, such as CRMarchaeo.
The CRMarchaeo extension has been meticulously designed to promote a shared understanding of how to formalise the knowledge extracted from the observations made by archaeologists. It provides a set of concepts and properties that allow clear explanation (and separation) of the observations and interpretations made, whether in the field or during post-excavation phases.
The participants of the workshop will work through a series of case studies that reflect different excavation documentation practices: from 1950s style day books through to context recording sheets and extend to database and computer-aided design (CAD) combinations and advanced integrated, object-oriented database/geographic information systems (GIS) like Intrasis.
The aim is to explore archetypical solutions and provide attendees with hands-on experience of mapping actual documentation practice to CRMarchaeo. This can then be applied to their own or archive documentation, both current and historical, in their own institutions or archives and lead to integrated reusable composites being available for both internal and external use. We will also demonstrate how to use the CRMinf extension to document the background to alternative interpretations and reinterpretations.
W7: Photogrammetry methods
NOTE: This workshop is currently at capacity, if you select it on registration you will be added to a waitlist
Michael Rampe, Rampe Realistic Imaging Pty Ltd, Pedestal 3D Pty Ltd, Macquarie University
Full day workshop
Maximum 15 attendees
Description: This workshop will consist of two parts. The morning session will be demonstration-based and work through a range of modern photogrammetry approaches for a range of subjects from the micro and objects up to fieldwork, buildings and boats. This will include theoretical underpinning, photography and imaging methods and a lot of custom know-how on how to approach a scan.
In the afternoon, participants will have the opportunity to get out into the field and apply some of the lessons to the digitisation of whatever we can find. During the conference, the presenter will then process and curate the participant’s data and share the results with the convocation on Pedestal 3D®.
The presenter has years of experience delivering professional photogrammetry services through Rampe Realistic Imaging Pty Ltd, developed the Pedestal 3D® platform for web publishing and analysis of 3D data and runs a successful internship training program at Macquarie University in Sydney Australia. Examples from all of these ventures will be discussed and analysed.
Requirements: Bring a good camera if you can. Bring your phone as a minimum.
W8: Chronological modelling with ChronoLog: theory and practice
Eythan Levy, University of Bern
Full day workshop
Maximum 20 attendees
Description: This workshop will present the foundations of ChronoLog, a free tool for building chronological models, testing their consistency, and computing tight, checkable, chronological estimates. These models consist of a network of entities (e.g. archaeological strata, ceramic periods, historical reigns) connected by a set of synchronisms. The tool allows users to modify the data in the model and assess on-the-fly the impact of these updates on the overall chronology. ChronoLog also allows users to add radiocarbon determinations to their models, and to convert the model automatically to an OxCal Bayesian radiocarbon model. This feature allows archaeologists with no knowledge of the OxCal specification language to build complex Bayesian models on their own, with just a few clicks of the mouse. ChronoLog is freely available for download at https://chrono.ulb.be. For more details on ChronoLog, a user manual is available on the ChronoLog website. For additional details, see the bibliography below, especially Levy et al. 2021 (Journal of Archaeological Science), and Levy et al., in press (Proceedings of CAA 2021).
The workshop will start with a general introduction to ChronoLog, its basic principles, and its main functionalities. The second part of the session will be devoted to practical modelling exercises, which users will do on their own laptops. In these exercises, users will first learn how to build chronological models by themselves, based on a wide set of archaeological and historical data. They will then explore how ChronoLog can serve as a useful tool for archaeological cross-dating. This part will also present the use ChronoLog as a front-end to OxCal for building Bayesian radiocarbon models. In the final part of the workshop, participants will be invited to present their own data sets, and will be assisted in the modelling of these datasets using ChronoLog.
Requirements: Participants should bring their laptop, and have an internet connection to download the ChronoLog app at https://chrono.ulb.be or, alternatively, download the app before the start of the workshop. Participants are also encouraged, if they have not already done so, to create an OxCal account at https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal/.
References:
E. Levy, G. Geeraerts and F. Pluquet, in press. “ChronoLog: a Tool for Computer-assisted Chronological Modelling.” Proceedings of the 48th International Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA 2021)
E. Levy, I. Finkelstein, M.A.S. Martin and E. Piasetzky, 2022: “The Date of Appearance of Philistine Pottery at Megiddo: A Computational Approach.” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 387, pp. 1-30
E. Levy, E. Piasetzky, A. Fantalkin and I. Finkelstein, 2022: “From Chronological Networks to Bayesian Models: ChronoLog as a Front‐end to OxCal.” Radiocarbon 64, pp. 101-134
E. Levy, E. Piasetzky and A. Fantalkin, 2021: “Archaeological Cross-dating: A Formalized Scheme.” Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13, pp. 1-30
E. Levy, G. Geeraerts, F. Pluquet, E. Piasetzky and A. Fantalkin, 2021: “Chronological Networks in Archaeology: a Formalised Scheme.” Journal of Archaeological Science 127, pp. 1-27
G. Geeraerts, E. Levy and F. Pluquet, 2017: “Models and Algorithms for Chronology”, in S. Schewe, T. Schneider and J. Wijsen (eds), Proceedings of The 24th International Symposium on Temporal Representation and Reasoning (TIME 2017), Dagstuhl, pp. 13:1-13:18