Archaeological Perspective Research Articles

Attention is All They Need: Exploring the Media Archaeology of the Computer Vision Research Paper

Research papers, in addition to textual documents, are a designed interface through which researchers communicate. Recently, rapid growth has transformed that interface in many fields of computing. In this work, we examine the effects of this growth from a media archaeology perspective, through the changes to figures and tables in research papers. Specifically, we study these changes in computer vision over the past decade, as the deep learning revolution has driven unprecedented growth in the discipline. We ground our investigation through interviews with veteran researchers spanning computer vision, graphics, and visualization. Our analysis focuses on the research attention economy: how research paper elements contribute towards advertising, measuring, and disseminating an increasingly commodified "contribution." Through this work, we seek to motivate future discussion surrounding the design of both the research paper itself as well as the larger sociotechnical research publishing system, including tools for finding, reading, and writing research papers.

Correction: Archaeological Perspectives on the Norwegian-Dutch Timber Trade (1500–1700 CE)

Correction: Archaeological Perspectives on the Norwegian-Dutch Timber Trade (1500–1700 CE)

The Sun Is in Your Hand(held): mediating solar imaginaries and technological ambivalence

ABSTRACT This paper adopts a media archaeological perspective to excavate the social, technical, and ecological protocols embedded within videogames with the goal of imagining engaged users and alternative futures centred around photovoltaic technologies. We begin by dissecting the media lineages and infrastructures that are entwined with the development of mobile media. Then, we turn to the regime of planned obsolescence and address how eco-critical modding practices have flourished as a response. Using these theories as a provocation, we summarize the workshops and game jam we facilitated in the summer of 2022 as part of Concordia University’s Solar Media Collective. Through these theoretical and practical explorations, we arrive at the clash between the optimism of solarpunk and the apathy of technological ambivalence. In our concluding discussion, we reflect on the realities of modding and DIY practices, closing with proposals for new (imaginary) research avenues.

The Jerusalem pilgrimage road in the second temple period: an anthropological and archaeological perspective

The pilgrimage to the Second Temple included ceremonial elements of strong spiritual significance that elevated the participants to spiritual exaltation. This ceremonial process began with the first steps pilgrims took from their homes towards Jerusalem and concluded when they reached the Temple. This article presents the ceremonial element of the pilgrimage in light of archaeological and anthropological research, integrated with historical sources and with reference to the topography of Jerusalem and its surroundings (including the use of geographic information systems). These tools are used to retrace the path that pilgrims walked and present what the pilgrimage meant for them. The article also investigates whether the physical act of walking can shape the pilgrimage experience and, if so, how this occurs. It is also argued that the main approach to the Temple Mount for Jewish pilgrims led from the south (via the Kidron and Hinnom valleys), and that the construction of this route was designed with geophysical and architectural details meant to enhance the spiritual experience of the pilgrims.

Archaeological Perspectives on the Norwegian-Dutch Timber Trade (1500–1700 CE)

AbstractDuring the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Dutch Republic heavily relied on imported timber for the construction of its cities, dikes, and ships. This timber originated from the Baltic Sea, the German Rhineland, and the "Little East," but primarily from the coastal areas of southern Norway. This article examines the archaeological remains of the timber trade between the Dutch Republic and Norway, emphasizing the study of material culture recovered from archaeological excavations and dendrochronology to complement historical sources from the era.

A multidisciplinary approach for the evaluation of the archaeological heritage of Borbona (Rieti, Italy)

The area of Borbona (Rieti, Italy) has been sparsely researched from a historical and archaeological perspective. In order to obtain new data on unexplored areas, a systematic study was carried out combining archaeological explorations, photogrammetric surveys and geophysical prospections. All data was stored in a Geographic Information System, which enabled spatial analysis and the creation of thematic maps. The aim of the research was to discover the unknown territory and trace its origins. The project identified ancient habitats and significant Roman architectural fragments. The research aims to pass on the history and culture of Borbona to future generations and promote a sense of belonging. The protection of historical heritage and archaeologically endangered areas as well as the enhancement and promotion of existing cultural assets are fundamental measures to increase the attractiveness of the land in the present and preserve its identity in the future.

In the Bowels of the Volcano. Lethal violence in the dissemination of AMAZIGH groups to the Canary islands

The island of Lanzarote is marked by a scarce preservation of skeletal remains of the Libyan-Berber populations that inhabited there between the beginnings of the Common Era and the Norman Conquest in the 15th century. This is an anomalous situation for people that lived uninterruptedly on the island for about 1400 years. The recent study of the few available human bones is providing transcendental data for the knowledge of the ways and conditions of life and, especially, of conflicts involving physical violence. The aim of this paper is to analyse the evidence of bone trauma in two individuals, male and female respectively, and to discuss the cause of their deaths. The results indicate the male was repeatedly stabbed, with a kind of dagger that could not be manufactured in the Canary Islands due to the absence of metal ores. This suggests a form of deadly violence unknown among the indigenous population. In contrast, the traces observed in the female individual, consisting of several energetic blows to the skull, are in line with the lethal violence practices of the Canarian indigenous populations, albeit executed to an extreme degree. Both cases display patterns of lesions revealing different forms of violence of significant interest for the comprehension of the conflicts and historical contexts in which they occurred. Apart from the lethal injuries themselves, the early chronology of the remains and the type of weapons used provide new data to explore the initial stages of the island's stable colonisation. For this same reason, it is a good opportunity to reflect on the expressions of violence among mainland Amazigh populations, scarcely known from an archaeological perspective, based on the behavioural models they bring to the islands.

Migration flows and concrete walls: an archaeological perspective on early migrant detention facilities. The C.P.T “Regina Pacis” (Italy, Puglia)

ABSTRACT Over the last few decades, Italy has been at the forefront of mass migration flows. Starting from the late 1990s, facilities for the detention and expulsion of undocumented migrants have been established. In this paper, we analyse one of the earliest examples of such structures in the Mediterranean: the former temporary holding facility (or C.P.T. Centro di Permanenza Temporanea) ‘Regina Pacis’ located in south-eastern Italy. In 1997, the structure was repurposed into one of the largest C.P.T in Italy until its closure in 2005. Through an approach that combines archaeology and ethnography, we aim to understand the role that material culture played in subjugating and controlling the life of the migrants, attempting to evaluate, at the same time, the impact that the facility had on its hosting community.

Perspective of forensic archaeology

Perspective of forensic archaeology

Re-examination of the Pre-Qin History of the Records of the Historian and Sima Qian’s View of Historiography from the Archaeological Perspective

In recent years, the remarkable development of archaeology, especially the excavation and publication of pre-Qin and Qin-Han documents, has provided new materials and opportunities for the study of ancient history and deepened the understanding of the Records of the Historian. Comparison of the excavated materials and the contents of the Records of the Historian reveals mutual corroboration, as well as discrepancies and doubts, prompting the academic community to reassess the research results of pre-Qin history and the academic history of the Records of the Historian. This article focuses on the pre-Qin part of the Records of the Historian, combining literature and archaeological data to explore its authenticity, and comparing the records of the Historian with the excavated data to discuss the origin of the Qin people, the harsh system and the death of the Qin, etc. The author also analyzes the life of Sima Qian and his academic and political environment, aiming to comprehensively re-conceptualize the history of the pre-Qin period and the scholarly value of the Records of the Historian and Sima Qian.

Lejja archaeological site, Southeastern Nigeria and its potential for archaeological science research

In 2017/2018, two seasons of archaeological surveys were undertaken in Lejja, southeastern Nigeria. The aim of the archaeological field work was to systematically sample the area to locate archaeological sites, scatters of artefacts, features; and to characterize and record these findings. A particular objective was to identify sites with different typological or chronological characteristics and to then select representative examples for further investigation and excavations. This paper thus focuses for the first time; on the general knowledge of the archaeological signatures in addition to iron working that abound at the Lejja site from an archaeological perspective. We aimed to identify sites with evidence of iron production and sites with other characteristics of human habitation to compare inter-site variation. Using ethnoarchaeological studies, archaeological surveys and excavations, sixteen new sites were identified stretching from iron smelting sites to domestic/habitation sites and ancestral sites. We utilized both a systematic transect and an opportunistic approach to locate and map the archaeological sites encountered. The focus of the study was on thirteen key villages in Lejja southeastern Nigeria. Analysis of data shows that there seem to be distinct areas on the landscape for habitation and metal working respectively. However, it is unclear as yet what this distinction represents in terms of social organization, particularly whether they represent one community with different activity sites or two communities with distinct identities or indeed a more complex temporal and spatial patterning.

Maak een vuist als je geen hand hebt. Inclusiviteit in (pre)historische jeugdromans

The one-handed hero: Inclusiveness in historical fiction for childrenHaving grown up with a sister in a wheelchair meant that I took this normalcy into the fictional world of the past. So when I crossed paths with Drem in Rosemary Sutcliff’s 1958 novel Warrior Scarlet, he was to me just a boy with one functional arm. It was not until much later that I realised he was one of the very few protagonists in historical fiction with a disability. A lack of inclusiveness is problematic, first, when it comes to readers identifying with the physical condition of the hero(ine) and, second, because, from an archaeological perspective, the proportion of healthy people in historical fiction seems improbably high, while the representation of people with a disability is often stereotyped. Maybe archaeologists should provide authors of historical fiction with a more informed description of the past.

Remaking the Late Holocene Environment of Western Uganda: Archaeological Perspectives on Kansyore and Later Settlers

AbstractArchaeological and environmental research by an international and interdisciplinary team opens new perspectives into the settlement histories of Kansyore, Early Iron Age, and Bigo period peoples in the once forested regions of the Ndali Crater Lakes Region (NCLR) of western Uganda. The research examines the role of Kansyore agropastoralists and their Early Iron Age and Bantu-speaking contemporaries in remaking a once forested environment into a forest-savannah mosaic from circa 500 BC to the end of the first millennium AD. Archaeological settlement and subsistence evidence is examined within a framework of social interaction of Sudanic speakers with Bantu speakers, drawing on historical linguistics and environmental studies to arrive at a new synthesis of late Holocene history in western Uganda. This perspective also unveils the significance and chronology of Boudiné ware, a long enigmatic ceramic tradition that we identify as contemporary to Transitional Urewe and deeply influenced through social interactions with those making Kansyore ceramics and inhabiting the same landscape. Using archaeological evidence from fifteen sites and multiple burials spanning from 400 to 1650 calAD, new views of ceramic histories, lifeways, and symbolic values are revealed, including Bigo period settlements that arose in what was an environmental refugium beginning in the early fourteenth century AD. This research also shows that the Kansyore of the forested region east of the Rwenzori Mountains had greater affinities to late Holocene archaeological evidence from western Equatoria, in the southern South Sudan, and Kansyore Island, Uganda, than it does to the Kansyore in eastern Kenya.

Garden Cities of yesterday, roots of urban sustainability?

Ebenezer Howard is one of the foundational figures of town planning. His Garden Cities of To-morrow envisions a Utopian synthesis of the urban and the rural to enhance the well-being of residents, in contrast to the industrial megalopolis of the late 19th century. While realized Garden Cities took many forms different from Howard’s original layout, this is the one we find in the urban roots of the deep past. About 4350 BCE we see the formation of large, circular, decentralized settlements in what is today central Ukraine. Elsewhere, in the Brazilian Amazon between 1200 and 1600 CE, we see a transformation of the jungle into a vast park landscape filled with clusters of circular settlements, with horticultural land-use in between them. In addition to similarities in planning, these past settlements also involve the social aspect of countering inequality and fostering freedom and cooperation. This paper explores the possibility of Garden Cities in the past and the implications of decentralized ‘rurban’ landscapes from the deep history perspective of archaeology.

발해 서경(西京)에 관한 고고학적 검토

This study aims to identify the location of the West capital(西京), especially among the 5京15府62州 of Balhae, focusing on archaeological material data, and to examine the timing of the contrast. Studying Balhae's 5京 is important in that it not only identifies Balhae's relations with China but also identifies Balhae's efficient local governance, and clearly understands the symbolism and history of Balhae's kingship. This study seeks to examine the location of Balhae the West capital(西京) from an archaeological perspective. Among the many materials left behind by the Balhae people, roof tiles, especially various pattern attributes and production techniques, were identified, so the location of 西京 was determined through the setting of the year, locality, and aspects of international exchange. The Imgang(臨江) has been considered the most influential location of the West capital(西京) is known to have relics and sacred sites from the Balhae period. However, due to the lack of actual reports of excavated artifacts and remains, no specific verification of Balhae's relics was made, nor was the shape or structure of the site verified during the Balhae period. On the other hand, the Jian(集安) is the second capital of Goguryeo was found to have excavated the roof tiles of Balhae, similar roof tiles from 上京城, 西古城, and 八連城. Based on this, the location of the Balhae West capital(西京) was determined archaeologically. As a result of analyzing the tiles excavated from the ruins of Balhae, it was possible to judge the location of Balhae the West capital(西京) as the area of the Jian(集安), not the area of the the Imgang(臨江). Front Roof-Tile from the Balhae period, which are excavated in the Jian(集安) region centered on the national inner fortress, can be called the Jian(集安) because the same tile was not excavated in other regions. Through these Balhae front Roof-Tile, it is possible to estimate the regional characteristics of tiled buildings that are different from the areas where the royal palace was located in the West capital(西京) area centered on the Jian(集安). Heart-shaped tiles with strong independence of Balhae are thought to change from complex unit patterns to simple unit patterns depending on the period. Among the heart-shaped tiles, the tile, which has a heart pattern+center pattern, is believed to have been produced after 9C after Balhae transferred from 東京城 to 上京城. This suggests that 9C was the time when buildings linked to state power were installed and the West capital(西京), centered on the Jian(集安). It is difficult to know exactly when the West capital(西京) of Balhae was installed, but it is judged that at least at the 9C stage, the Jian(集安) area was functioning as the West capital(西京) of Balhae.

The Impact of Religion on the Status of Women in Ancient Egypt

The study of ancient Egyptian religion and femininity in today's academic world has become increasingly sophisticated and comprehensive, but there are still some gaps. This paper explores the impact of religion on women's status in ancient Egypt. Through case studies and literature review, the author analyses the positive impact of religion on women's status in ancient Egypt and the limitations that still exist from the perspectives of cognitive archaeology and femininity. As discussed and analysed, it can be seen that women in ancient Egypt did not have access to higher power and status due to the lack of educational opportunities and the domestic duties they had to undertake, but on the bright side, the existence of the religion in ancient Egypt and its widespread worship guaranteed women's religious participation and allowed them to gain power and status in the religious sphere, which in turn gradually extended their well-being in the practical sphere.

Testing scale-dependent temporal and spatial biases in relative chronology using AMS 14C dating: A case study of Early–Middle Cucuteni-Tripolye sites in Southeastern Europe

Aiming at developing a syncretic chronology for Eneolithic sites in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine, this paper tests the hypothesis that relative material culture sequences will be preserved within lower-order taxonomic units and collapse within higher-order units. We examine relative sequences for sub-groups of the Cucuteni-Tripolye cultural complex (ca. 5050–2950 BCE) using Bayesian sequencing of extant and newly obtained radiocarbon dates. The traditional archaeological perspective holds that the space-time expansion of this cultural complex occurred in rapidly disseminated horizons, with little cross-regional variability in dating. Absolute dating efforts from the 1960s–2000s did little to clarify the situation, especially in the upper section of the Dniester river valley in Ukraine, where numerous older radiometric 14C dates present an improbably early chronology for sites of the Early and early Middle Tripolye periods (Tripolye A and BI). Here we present 21 new AMS 14C dates from early settlements in Southwestern Ukraine and Moldova, with results dating to the latter half of the fifth millennium and the beginning of the fourth millennium BCE. Eschewing the concept of monolithic horizons, we compile both old and new data into regionally distinct sequences, enabling a more nuanced examination of material synchronization and cross-regional settlement dynamics.

The Media Characteristics and Subject Boundaries of Metaverse Art

ABSTRACT Digitization is the primary form of Metaverse art, making the Metaverse digitally re-enable the unfolding of art. First, as a digital art form, non-fungible token (NFT) art acts as a media technology object for digital subjects to seek an identity. It opens the potential to reflect on image ontology and image copies. Second, the development of Metaverse art is closely related to its media characteristics. The exploration of the attributes of Metaverse media can be divided into two approaches. One approach is to examine the characteristics of Metaverse media from the perspective of media archaeology and its association with cinema and games. The second approach lies in elucidating the temporal mechanism of modernity rooted in Metaverse media and rethinking the prominence and intervention of an “algorithmic timeline” in real time. Finally, the mediating properties of digital image ontology and the Metaverse’s temporal and spatiotemporal folding correspond to the two main characteristics of immersion and interactivity in a virtual space, which not only reflects the generation of an “external subject” but also triggers a crisis in the identification of the subject with the mirror image.

Plastic pollution: archaeological perspective on an Anthropocene climate emergency

ABSTRACT Plastic pollution is a global phenomenon offering a vivid illustration of the scale of anthropic impacts on the environment, a key characteristic in defining the Anthropocene. Plastic pollution not only contributes to the current climate crisis but is also accentuated by extreme events caused by climate change. The scale and omnipresence of the issue of plastic pollution makes it a relevant object of study for archaeologists, as well as an object of concern for heritage and archaeological sites marked by plastic pollution. In this paper, I advocate for an archaeological consideration of plastic pollution, by exploring plastics as artefacts (through visual analysis and archaeological science), as chronological markers in the stratigraphy and eventually as components of waste landscapes. While the issue of plastic pollution can be studied archaeologically, I argue that it must be considered by archaeologists, especially as natural and cultural heritage sites are threatened by the presence of plastic pollution.

Growth and decline of a sustainable city: A multitemporal perspective on blue-black-green infrastructures at the pre-Columbian Lowland Maya city of Tikal

The New Urban Agenda’s call for long-term visions in urban planning fails to recognise that ‘long-term’ implies different longevities depending on context of assessment. Compared to other social sciences, archaeological approaches add rigour to envisioning urban sustainability over several centuries and millennia. The archaeology of the pre-Columbian Lowland Maya urban tradition is an interesting case because data have been used to support conflicting arguments about Maya urban sustainability. We suggest that these contradictions can be partly explained by: (1) sustainability being ambiguously defined, (2) subsets of the urban system being expected to indicate the behaviour of other subsets or of the entire system, and (3) processes being evaluated using different timescales. Drawing on 1500 years of urban history at Tikal, this paper examines how archaeological perspectives add depth of reflection and unfold critical assumptions of the meaning of ‘long-term’ and ‘sustainability’ concealed in self-explanatory notions. We outline the development and longevity of urban settlement at Tikal and analyse the blue-black-green (water, soil, vegetation) infrastructures that sustained urban metabolism and sponsored basic urban functions. Our analyses contribute new insights on the challenges associated with future sustainability transitions over varying temporal scales. The diversity of past and present urban systems and infrastructural initiatives cannot be fitted within a single narrative of urban sustainability, however, and much research is required to examine how blue-black-green infrastructures can support transformative change of aggregated human population zones struggling with potable water scarcity, soil degradation, and habitat and biodiversity loss.