Reading this first sentence is easy, it is making it to the next sentence and then the next and the next, until the end that will be the challenge. For some, the words will be too raw, too real, too personal, too disturbing – don’t read. For everyone else, all I can say is that […]
November 14, 2013
I have updated these videos for Scotland’s Community Heritage Conference. I had originally posted this on November 14th, 2013 but has since gotten better software and more experience. So I digitally remastered the videos (makes me sound like a movie studio). It should be a more enjoyable viewing experience. As part of the conference there was […]
November 5, 2013
This is the page the launched the 2013-2014 Blogging Archaeology Blog Carnival. Don’t know what it is? Read on. The event is over and has accumulated in a wonderful book: It is Open Access i.e. FREE to Read. You can download it here: Blogging Archaeology. It is a great resource to learn about blogging […]
September 30, 2013
‘He hated to leave while the party was still going on’ is what Kent V. Flannery would have put on his tombstone. That line is from his ‘On the Resilience of Anthropological Archaeology’ paper. It includes such other gems as, ‘It’s Trotsky’s birthday, dickhead’ and ‘Three archaeologists on the Michigan faculty—Bob Whallon, Henry Wright, and […]
September 27, 2013
Apologies for the late post on this, I have been very busy. About a week ago was ask a curator day on twitter. This is were anyone could ask questions about museums and a range museum via their twitter accounts would respond. An amazing idea and it is well worth replicating in archaeology. If you […]
September 8, 2013
Sometimes you see things that just make you think ‘you have got to be kidding me’. In this case it was the ‘women’s trowel by archtools’ (not posting a link because they don’t deserve the link juice to boost their stores google search rank). @DrKillgrove posted a response to this last week in her great […]
June 27, 2013
Yesterday it was announced that English Heritage was getting the ax and the government was cutting all funding. This was put with a slightly nicer spin of look at the good bye money we are sending. The press release is pretty bad but it does state that, ‘Under current plans, the new charity will be […]
June 26, 2013
For months now the Heritage Sector in England has been bracing for the budget news for English Heritage and it has finally come. It might be one of the bravest faces being put on by EH I have seen as the government has done more than cut the budget, they have cut English Heritage. Here […]
June 3, 2013
I have spent some time on arrowhead collecting forums and have been told by some collectors that it is legal to hunt arrowheads on Federal land in the US. This is only for arrowheads as all other forms of collecting/looting (depending on your views) are illegal on Government land. The law (more on that below) […]
May 5, 2013
This is not a long post, just a link and this sentence- “The two images below show the same archaeological site, the ancient city of Apamea, in Syria, firstly as captured by Google Earth on 20th July 2011, and then on 4th April 2012.”
March 27, 2013
I have written about crowd sourcing a couple of times here and here and here. Sometimes a bit skeptical as I am not sure how much it differs from traditional methods of raising funds for archaeology. Though skepticism aside archaeology does need funding. If you have a chance you can check out two new projects […]
March 6, 2013
A project I have been working on for the last couple of months just went live an hour ago, it’s one of the reasons my posting here as been so erratic. I have been working on creating a service to provide continual professional development and it even comes with access to research journals. Over the […]
February 28, 2013
One of the last CAAUK videos, one on GIS too: Ulla Rajala (University of Cambridge) Philip Mills (University of Leicester) This paper builds on the theoretical tools labelled the ‘ceramiscene’ in Mills and Rajala (2011a). This is a means of characterising a ceramic landscape utilising a hierarchical version of the elements (Nodes, Pathways, Edges, Districts […]
February 27, 2013
One of the last presentations from CAAUK: Giovanni Murru, Marco Fratarcangeli and Tommaso Empler (Sapienza University of Rome) We present a framework for the interactive 3D visualization of archaeological sites on handheld devices using fast augmented reality techniques. The user interface allows for the ubiquitous, personalized and context-aware browsing of complex digital contents, such like […]
February 25, 2013
Yesterday, I had the great privilege to participate in the second CRM archaeology podcast. It had many great participants: Serra Head- Archy Fantasies, Russell Alleen-Willems- Diachronic Designs, Bill White – Succinct Research, Eric Kansa – Open Context, and Chris Webster-DIGTECH LLC Some great discussions about “do developers hate archaeology?” and Open Access. It you get […]
February 25, 2013
From the CAAUK conference, Erik via Google Hangouts. Erik could not make it to the UK so he presented all of his work via a Google Hangout. You can listen and see his slides: Erik Champion (DIGHUMLAB DK and Aarhus University) Academic discourse presupposes a vast domain of related background knowledge, a certain learnt yet […]
February 24, 2013
#CAAUK presentation from Thames Discovery: Nathalie Cohen and Courtney Nimura (Thames Discovery Programme) In 2010, the Thames Discovery Programme website, designed and hosted by L – P : Archaeology, won the British Archaeological Award for ‘Best Representation of Archaeology in the Media’. This short presentation will examine the development of the project website, discuss the […]
February 24, 2013
A must watch video from #caauk: Helena Demetriou (University of Southampton) This paper looks at how we can use current interactive touch screen technologies to help bridge the gap between archaeological artefacts and the viewer, enabling us to move towards a new educational paradigm. By developing a digital object handling session that runs on a […]
February 24, 2013
#CAAUK excellent presentation about sharing data: Henriette Roued-Cunliffe (Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich) I was inspired by the call for papers asking for practical uses of data sharing which show how researchers are actually using large collections of data to move archaeological knowledge forward. In 2007 I researched data interoperability for my MSc dissertation under the […]
February 24, 2013
Another great presentation from #CAAUK Matteo Romanello (German Archaeological Institute, Berlin / Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London) In this paper I will present an interoperability use case that was developed in the framework of DARIAH-DE, the German branch of the EU-funded Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH). The use case […]
February 24, 2013
Next video from CAAUK Michael Charno (Archaeology Data Service) Funded by JISC, the SWORD-ARM project enhances the ADS’s ingest process through the creation of the ADSeasy system which streamlines data management, contributes to the creation of more efficient workflows, and allows for more effective project and archive management. Through ADSeasy depositors can more effectively create […]
February 24, 2013
Another great presentation from CAAUK: Stephen Stead (Southampton University and Paveprime Ltd) Cloud computing has become the common term used by many manufacturers to describe their products and services. Everything is now “Cloud” or “Cloud ready” but what exactly does this mean and what are the implications to cultural heritage computing? Many organisations are looking […]
February 24, 2013
The keynote speech from Mark Lake (University College London) This paper will discuss some of the key themes raised in the recent ‘World Archaeology’ issue on the theme of Open Archaeology. It seems indisputable that there is now very real momentum towards greater willingness to share interpretations, data and software, but although technological developments are […]
February 23, 2013
Chiz’s presentation from the first day of CAAUK: Edit: from chiz- Link to my original blog post on digital registers which has a bit more detail on the pros and cons: http://urban-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/electronic-site-registers-way-forward.html Chiz Harward (Urban Archaeology) For the last 40 years the excavation of urban sites has increasingly been characterised by the use of single […]
February 23, 2013
Another video from the first day of CAAUK: Peter Rauxloh (Museum of London Archaeology) This paper takes the Day of Archaeology held in 2012 and the hosting of CAA by a commercial unit for the first time as its stimulus, to present a whistle-stop tour of some of the smaller and large challenges faced when […]
February 23, 2013
Next presentation from CAAUK: From CAAUK 2013- http://www.lparchaeology.com/caauk/ Rebeka Vital (Shenkar College of Design and Engineering, Department of Interior Building and Environment Design, Ramat Gan, Israel) Architectural survey is an evolving field in architecture that has been affected the past decade by the technological advancements in the field of 3D laser scanning. In order to […]
February 23, 2013
First presentation from CAAUK: From the CAAUK 2013 Conference- http://www.lparchaeology.com/caauk/ Armando Trujillo, Université de Paris The Teuchitlán people are one of the oldest known cultures in western Mexico and their beginnings date back to the Preclassic period (400 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.). This civilisation was regional in size, and its societal structure allowed for the […]
February 23, 2013
Today I was at the CAAUK 2013 conference, and what seems like a recurring theme for me and conferences I am videoing the presentations. Here is the introduction to the day and more videos to follow:
February 5, 2013
Marc posted this message on his blog Archaeology Dude. If anyone is in the Pennsylvania area or would just like to help out, I am sure they would appreciate it. Hello Everyone, I know that we are still aways off from Brownsville Archaeology Month in May, but the Mon/Yough Chapter for the Society for Pennsylvania […]
January 8, 2013
Archaeologist for Hire posted a really great review of the current state of TV and Archaeology last week, if you have a chance check it out. Some highlights: It is a universal truth that the state of historically-themed nonfiction television shows is truly abysmal. Perhaps at an all-time low? Depending on the day I’d probably […]
January 6, 2013
Via David Connelly I came across this great video about how to use QGIS for archaeologists. For those who don’t know QGIS is open source i.e. free to use GIS program. I use it myself and it is an excellent program. Actually, it is pretty basic but plugins and the ability to use GRASS GIS […]
January 4, 2013
A little while ago, I wrote that tDAR was allowing anyone to upload archaeology (some anthropology) data for free till the end of 2012. As it turns out this deal is still open for a little while longer. tDAR sent out an email yesterday letting everyone know that there a few more weeks of free […]
January 3, 2013
Possibilities is what fiction and history is made of…. Probabilities is what science is made of. –Donald H Smith, NMAC listserv The last couple weeks has seen an increased attention to pseudoscience relating to archaeology and a whole range of theories, mostly because of the whole Mayan 2012 “end of the world” stuff. It is […]
December 30, 2012
I have spent the last few days working with tDAR. It is “an international digital archive and repository that houses data about archaeological investigations, research, resources, and scholarship. tDAR provides researchers new avenues to discover and integrate information relevant to topics they are studying. Users can search tDAR for digital documents, data sets, images, GIS […]
December 13, 2012
Just saw this yesterday from tDAR: Just 20 days left!! Upload your archaeological information FREE to tDAR!! by Leigh Anne on December 12, 2012 The opportunity to upload resources for free to tDAR will end on December 31st. Can you catch up with some of our super-users? Barbara Stark has uploaded nearly 4,000 archaeological records […]
November 15, 2012
From the Museum of London a great presentation at the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference: Abstract: Vote For Me – Interactive Ways to Digitally Engage Audiences with Archaeology The Museum of London’s Archaeological Archive & Research Centre (LAARC) is the largest of its kind in the world, storing records for over 8,500 excavations and over five […]
November 15, 2012
One of the last presentations, and my second, at the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference: Abstract: When digital engagement costs you nothing: making websites in minutes In 2010, the BBC reported that it cost the UK Government £105 million over three years to create and run one of its websites, businesslink.gov.uk. Most archaeologists, regardless of affiliation, […]
November 15, 2012
One of the last presentations of the conference, a very interesting looking at Inca knots and Twitter at the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference: Abstract: From Khipu Knots to Instant Tweets Transition to the New Media Platforms in Archaeology Just as 15th century Andean culture underwent a dramatic shift when forced to switch from khipu binary […]
November 15, 2012
A presentation on the subject of Open Access in Archaeology, something that is near and dear to my heart, at the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference: Abstract: Publishing in archaeology: Open Access and the REWARD project Publishing in archaeology is evolving along with trends in open access, open data and the semantic web. The open access […]
November 14, 2012
For anyone interested in how DigVentures has been doing here is a great video from the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference: Abstract: Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained: DigVentures and Flag Fen Lives In July 2012, DigVentures hosted Europe’s first-ever crowdfunded and crowdsourced excavation at the internationally significant Bronze Age site at Flag Fen (www.digventures.com). Adopting and adapting […]
November 14, 2012
Cara, from Archaeology Scotland, presents some great work they are going at Adopt-a-Monument, at the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference: Abstract: Let’s Get Digital, Digital! Adopt-a-Monument and Digital Engagement Adopt-a-Monument is a five year scheme which encourages communities to take a lead role in conserving and promoting their local heritage. We help with a variety of […]
November 13, 2012
Another great second day presentation about the barriers to digital engagement: Abstract: Not All Archaeology is Equal Barriers to Participation in Archaeology Online Within Public Archaeology in the UK, there has been a critical cultural shift towards awareness of the benefit of public engagement through the Internet. Recent developments have seen these media used for contributions […]
November 13, 2012
Made it to the second day of the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference. Very interesting talk about integrating technology into field projects: Abstract: Integrating Technology into the Trench The Virtual Environments for Research in Archaeology Project at Roman Silchester Increasingly more work is being done to integrate information technology into archaeological systems. In this paper we […]
November 12, 2012
A bonus presentation from the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference. This presentation was not on the original schedule but added at the last minute. The project is so new that it does not even have an official name, I just call it the Ur Project.
November 12, 2012
Almost done, editing all of the videos from the first day of the Digital Engagement in Archaeology conference. Here is a video that makes me weep for joy about what archives are going: Digital Artifact Ecosystems: The “Internet of Things” in Archaeology The information value inherent in archaeological material conventionally serves the needs of research, and […]
November 11, 2012
For those interested in Archaeological Apps here is a great presentation from the Digital Engagement in Archaeology conference: Abstract: Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Archaeological Apps as Interpretation Tools A Case Study Concerning the Streetmuseum Londinium App While museums have been utilizing user-owned smartphones as interpretation devices for several years, archaeological sites are just starting to […]
November 10, 2012
One of the great afternoon sessions from the first day of the Digital Engagement in Archaeology: From the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference- http://digitalengagementinarchaeology.wordpress.com/ Abstract: The Portable Antiquities Scheme and its impact on the public The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) began in 1997 and encourages the voluntary recording of archaeological objects discovered by members of […]
November 10, 2012
The next video from the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference. This almost finishes out the morning sessions for the first day: From the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference- http://digitalengagementinarchaeology.wordpress.com/ Abstract: Impact of the Archaeology Data Service (ADS) A Study and Methods for Enhancing Sustainability The paper will discuss the progress of an ongoing ADS project […]
November 10, 2012
From the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference- http://digitalengagementinarchaeology.wordpress.com/ The Next Generation of Archaeology Public Engagement When a Website, Facebook Group, Twitter Account, etc. No Longer Performs The 1990s saw the rise of the internet which was followed by every project, academic department and company having its own webpage. This was followed by the Facebook crazy […]
November 10, 2012
Matt Law’s great presentation of his and Colleen’s paper at the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference. You can also follow his work here and Colleen’s here. After fifteen years of hosting millions of user-built webpages, in April 2009 Yahoo announced that they would be shutting down their United States Geocities webpages. Geocities was once the […]
November 10, 2012
Another great presentation from the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference: An Emerging Research Framework for Studying Public Engagement with Digital Archaeology Resources As a young field, Public Engagement with Archaeology (PEA) — both digital and physical — has largely been practised by subject matter specialists and guided by practice informed by personal experience and observation […]
November 9, 2012
Here is the next presentation from the Digital Engagement in Archaeology conference: Digital Audiences – A Few Lessons from Arts Council Research More information available here- http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/research-and-data/digital-opportunities/ The digital research programme was a three-year investigation to understand the impact of digital technology on how the public perceive, understand and engage with the arts. The research […]
November 9, 2012
This was the very first presentation from the Digital Engagement in Archaeology Conference. If you are looking to get funding from HLF you will want to watch this. Abstract: Making it simpler – access, archives and archaeology The focus of this paper will be on changes to HLF’s policies and practice, announced in HLF new strategic […]
October 20, 2012
I just saw on Past Horizons that Time Team is getting the axe. For those who have never lived in the UK, Time Team was a TV show that undertook excavations all across the UK that was on the air for 20 years. Chances are a copycat version of the show has probably been aired […]
October 10, 2012
Sorry, all for the lack of consistent blogging of late. Last week, after 2 years and 2 weeks in Edinburgh I turned in the pre-submitting paper work for my PhD (see pic). So my life has been very busy as of late, finishing up the last of my chapters, avoiding the mail bombs from my […]
September 25, 2012
A few weeks back I saw this post on Savage Minds, The journalist calls the anthropologist, and have been meaning to write this post ever since. I suggest you read ‘The journalist calls the anthropologists’. I would not be surprised if many of archaeologists feel the same way as this anthropologists. Judging by the comments […]
September 19, 2012
Sometimes you see something on the web that just makes you do a double take. I just had one of those moments. I saw a post saying: Association for Archaeology and Anthropology – selling/buying genuine artefacts. Interested in genuine Byzantine jewellery? Ever collected arrowheads from different cultures? So I clicked on the linked and you […]
July 3, 2012
The University of Birmingham has decided to close down its archaeology department. Here is a video on the subject: In all seriousness it looks like a hatchet job. The staff and students are fighting back- We would like to bring to the archaeology communities attention the imminent closure of The Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity […]
April 14, 2018
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