Preserving Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age
Sending Out an S.O.S.
Edited by
Nicola Lercari [+–]
University of California, Merced
Nicola Lercari is an Associate Professor of Heritage Studies at the University of California,
Merced. His scholarship exposes the fundamental role that digital and geospatial technologies play in investigating and protecting sites of cultural significance, archaeological excavation/museum collections, data, and information that describe and document our planet’s cultural diversity. From 2011-2017, he investigated the UNESCO World Heritage site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, innovating the application of remote sensing and digital archaeology methods to the investigation, interpretation, and dissemination of this important Neolithic site. Lercari participates in the international research initiative Proyecto Regional Palenque and is the principal investigator of the Fort Ross Cultural Trail project developed in collaboration with California State Parks. He was a Co-Principal Investigator for the University of California (UC) Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
Merced. His scholarship exposes the fundamental role that digital and geospatial technologies play in investigating and protecting sites of cultural significance, archaeological excavation/museum collections, data, and information that describe and document our planet’s cultural diversity. From 2011-2017, he investigated the UNESCO World Heritage site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, innovating the application of remote sensing and digital archaeology methods to the investigation, interpretation, and dissemination of this important Neolithic site. Lercari participates in the international research initiative Proyecto Regional Palenque and is the principal investigator of the Fort Ross Cultural Trail project developed in collaboration with California State Parks. He was a Co-Principal Investigator for the University of California (UC) Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
Willeke Wendrich [+–]
University of California, Los Angeles
Willeke Wendrich holds the Joan Silsbee Chair in African Cultural Archaeology and is a
professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Digital Humanities in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. She has worked for 30 years in Egypt and currently directs an archaeological project in Ethiopia, with a strong focus on ethnoarchaeology and community archaeology. From 2012 to 2016, she was the Director of the Center for Digital Humanities, and presently she directs the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the online UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, a Board member of the Institute for Field Research, and an Academic Board member of the famous Museo Egizio in Turin. She published widely on the social context of craft production and especially on basketry and basket makers. Some of her publications: Egyptian Archaeology (Wiley Blackwell 2010), Archaeology
and Apprenticeship(University of Arizona Press, 2012), and The Desert Fayum Reinvestigated (CIoA Press, 2017). She was a Co-Principal Investigator for the UC Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Digital Humanities in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. She has worked for 30 years in Egypt and currently directs an archaeological project in Ethiopia, with a strong focus on ethnoarchaeology and community archaeology. From 2012 to 2016, she was the Director of the Center for Digital Humanities, and presently she directs the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the online UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, a Board member of the Institute for Field Research, and an Academic Board member of the famous Museo Egizio in Turin. She published widely on the social context of craft production and especially on basketry and basket makers. Some of her publications: Egyptian Archaeology (Wiley Blackwell 2010), Archaeology
and Apprenticeship(University of Arizona Press, 2012), and The Desert Fayum Reinvestigated (CIoA Press, 2017). She was a Co-Principal Investigator for the UC Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
Benjamin W. Porter [+–]
University of California, Berkeley
Benjamin W. Porter is an Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley’s Near Eastern Studies Department, and is a curator and former director of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Porter is an Anthropologist who specializes in Middle Eastern Archaeology. He investigates how past Middle Eastern and Mediterranean societies built resilient communities and institutions in arid and semi-arid zones. He directs field archaeology projects in Jordan at the Iron Age capitals of Dhiban and Busayra. He also co-directs a museum collections project at the Hearst Museum, researching evidence from Peter B. Cornwall’s 1941 expedition to Bahrain and Eastern Saudi Arabia. He was a Co-Principal Investigator for the UC Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
Margie M. Burton [+–]
University of California, San Diego
Margie M. Burton is a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego, and was formerly Program Manager for the Center for Cyber-Archaeology and Sustainability and for the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology.
Thomas E Levy [+–]
University of California, San Diego
Thomas Levy is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Judaic Studies at the University of California,San Diego (UCSD) where he holds the Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaelogy of Ancient Israel and Neigboring Lands. With over thirty years of archaeological field experience in Israel and Jordan, Levy’s current research focuses on the Iron Age historical archaeology of Edom in southern Jordan. He is Associate Director of the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3) at UCSD’s California Insitute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). Levy is editor of Archaeology, Anthropology and Cult: The Sanctuary at Gilat, Israel (Equinox Publishing, 2006) and co-editor, with Thomas Higham, of The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating: Archaeology, Text and Science (Equinox Publishing, 2005). His most recent book, with his wife Alina and the Sthapathy brothers of Swamimalai is Masters of Fire: Hereditary Bronze Casters of South India (German Mining Museum, 2008). Levy is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In late August 2015, international media outlets and cultural institutions reported that the Islamic State beheaded the Syrian scholar Khaled al-Asaad and destroyed the 1st-century CE Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria. The world was horrorstruck. Apart from the human tragedy, archaeologists and the international communities were shocked by the wanton destruction of ancient remains that had survived for millennia. However, warfare and ideological destruction contribute just a fraction of the ongoing devastation of our forebears’ traces. This book brings attention to the magnitude of the silent loss of cultural heritage occurring worldwide and the even more insidious loss of knowledge due to the lack of publication and preservation of original data, notes, plans, and photographs of excavated archaeological sites. Highlighting a growing sense of urgency to intervene in whatever way possible, this book provides readers with a non-technical overview of how archaeologists and other stakeholders are increasingly turning to digital methods to mitigate some of the threats to at-risk cultural heritage. This volume is a gateway to enhancing the scale and reach of capturing, analyzing, managing, curating, and disseminating cultural heritage knowledge in sustainable ways and promoting collaboration among scholars and stakeholder communities.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
A Sense of Urgency [+–]
University of California, Merced
Nicola Lercari is an Associate Professor of Heritage Studies at the University of California,
Merced. His scholarship exposes the fundamental role that digital and geospatial technologies play in investigating and protecting sites of cultural significance, archaeological excavation/museum collections, data, and information that describe and document our planet’s cultural diversity. From 2011-2017, he investigated the UNESCO World Heritage site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, innovating the application of remote sensing and digital archaeology methods to the investigation, interpretation, and dissemination of this important Neolithic site. Lercari participates in the international research initiative Proyecto Regional Palenque and is the principal investigator of the Fort Ross Cultural Trail project developed in collaboration with California State Parks. He was a Co-Principal Investigator for the University of California (UC) Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
Merced. His scholarship exposes the fundamental role that digital and geospatial technologies play in investigating and protecting sites of cultural significance, archaeological excavation/museum collections, data, and information that describe and document our planet’s cultural diversity. From 2011-2017, he investigated the UNESCO World Heritage site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, innovating the application of remote sensing and digital archaeology methods to the investigation, interpretation, and dissemination of this important Neolithic site. Lercari participates in the international research initiative Proyecto Regional Palenque and is the principal investigator of the Fort Ross Cultural Trail project developed in collaboration with California State Parks. He was a Co-Principal Investigator for the University of California (UC) Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
University of California, Los Angeles
Willeke Wendrich holds the Joan Silsbee Chair in African Cultural Archaeology and is a
professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Digital Humanities in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. She has worked for 30 years in Egypt and currently directs an archaeological project in Ethiopia, with a strong focus on ethnoarchaeology and community archaeology. From 2012 to 2016, she was the Director of the Center for Digital Humanities, and presently she directs the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the online UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, a Board member of the Institute for Field Research, and an Academic Board member of the famous Museo Egizio in Turin. She published widely on the social context of craft production and especially on basketry and basket makers. Some of her publications: Egyptian Archaeology (Wiley Blackwell 2010), Archaeology
and Apprenticeship(University of Arizona Press, 2012), and The Desert Fayum Reinvestigated (CIoA Press, 2017). She was a Co-Principal Investigator for the UC Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Digital Humanities in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. She has worked for 30 years in Egypt and currently directs an archaeological project in Ethiopia, with a strong focus on ethnoarchaeology and community archaeology. From 2012 to 2016, she was the Director of the Center for Digital Humanities, and presently she directs the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the online UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, a Board member of the Institute for Field Research, and an Academic Board member of the famous Museo Egizio in Turin. She published widely on the social context of craft production and especially on basketry and basket makers. Some of her publications: Egyptian Archaeology (Wiley Blackwell 2010), Archaeology
and Apprenticeship(University of Arizona Press, 2012), and The Desert Fayum Reinvestigated (CIoA Press, 2017). She was a Co-Principal Investigator for the UC Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
This opening chapter describes the goals and themes of the book. It reflects on historical and contemporary ideas about ‘at-risk’ cultural heritage and how the recent and rapid developmental trajectory of digital tools in archaeology has, together with geopolitical and environmental crises, re-framed a sense of urgency about archaeology heritage preservation. The chapter also previews the book’s structure, its five areas of focus, and the content of the following chapters.
Part 1: Data Collection
University of California, Los Angeles
Willeke Wendrich holds the Joan Silsbee Chair in African Cultural Archaeology and is a
professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Digital Humanities in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. She has worked for 30 years in Egypt and currently directs an archaeological project in Ethiopia, with a strong focus on ethnoarchaeology and community archaeology. From 2012 to 2016, she was the Director of the Center for Digital Humanities, and presently she directs the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the online UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, a Board member of the Institute for Field Research, and an Academic Board member of the famous Museo Egizio in Turin. She published widely on the social context of craft production and especially on basketry and basket makers. Some of her publications: Egyptian Archaeology (Wiley Blackwell 2010), Archaeology
and Apprenticeship(University of Arizona Press, 2012), and The Desert Fayum Reinvestigated (CIoA Press, 2017). She was a Co-Principal Investigator for the UC Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Digital Humanities in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. She has worked for 30 years in Egypt and currently directs an archaeological project in Ethiopia, with a strong focus on ethnoarchaeology and community archaeology. From 2012 to 2016, she was the Director of the Center for Digital Humanities, and presently she directs the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the online UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, a Board member of the Institute for Field Research, and an Academic Board member of the famous Museo Egizio in Turin. She published widely on the social context of craft production and especially on basketry and basket makers. Some of her publications: Egyptian Archaeology (Wiley Blackwell 2010), Archaeology
and Apprenticeship(University of Arizona Press, 2012), and The Desert Fayum Reinvestigated (CIoA Press, 2017). She was a Co-Principal Investigator for the UC Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
This chapter is a meditation on the intersection between at-risk cultural heritage and digital data projects focusing on Egypt’s cultural landscapes. It takes a broader perspective than other chapters and is related to the book’s theme of community archaeology and critical approaches to heritage preservation. By discussing the loss of lives, built heritage, and cultural landscapes in Egypt both in historic times and after the Arab Spring, this chapter further frames the sense of urgency in preserving sites and archaeological data in the Near East and the importance of digital/cyber archaeology methods and workflows presented in other chapters. It vividly brings home the need to document and protect at-risk cultural heritage and the challenges this presents for archaeologists and other stakeholders. It also makes an important connection between the main theme of at-risk cultural heritage and sharing archaeological data with worldwide and non‐academic stakeholders, collaborators, and audiences as both an ethical and professional responsibility for contemporary archaeology.
3. Global Heritage, Knowledge Provenance, and Digital Preservation: Defining a Critical Approach [+–]
University of California, Merced
Anaïs Guillem Department of Anthropology and Heritage Studies, University of California,
Merced.
Merced.
University of California, Merced
Nicola Lercari is an Associate Professor of Heritage Studies at the University of California,
Merced. His scholarship exposes the fundamental role that digital and geospatial technologies play in investigating and protecting sites of cultural significance, archaeological excavation/museum collections, data, and information that describe and document our planet’s cultural diversity. From 2011-2017, he investigated the UNESCO World Heritage site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, innovating the application of remote sensing and digital archaeology methods to the investigation, interpretation, and dissemination of this important Neolithic site. Lercari participates in the international research initiative Proyecto Regional Palenque and is the principal investigator of the Fort Ross Cultural Trail project developed in collaboration with California State Parks. He was a Co-Principal Investigator for the University of California (UC) Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
Merced. His scholarship exposes the fundamental role that digital and geospatial technologies play in investigating and protecting sites of cultural significance, archaeological excavation/museum collections, data, and information that describe and document our planet’s cultural diversity. From 2011-2017, he investigated the UNESCO World Heritage site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, innovating the application of remote sensing and digital archaeology methods to the investigation, interpretation, and dissemination of this important Neolithic site. Lercari participates in the international research initiative Proyecto Regional Palenque and is the principal investigator of the Fort Ross Cultural Trail project developed in collaboration with California State Parks. He was a Co-Principal Investigator for the University of California (UC) Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
This chapter takes a critical look at whether and how digital techniques ‘preserve’ cultural heritage. By shifting the focus of the at-risk heritage discourse from high-visibility destructions of sites in Afghanistan and the Near East to a global-scale non-mediatized loss of archaeological and historic sites in the name of progress, urban and economic growth, this chapter emphasizes the importance of thorough documentation of provenance for digital cultural heritage objects and a linked open data approach to connect cultural heritage with different communities of interest. The authors point to the potentials presented by crowdsourcing and citizen science in promoting heritage awareness and preservation. The authors also address the sense of urgency in preservation discussed in the volume. They investigate new digital methods and technology that not only generate documentation data on ancient ruins and historic buildings in case of material loss or decay but also critically attempt to track the provenance of information and knowledge describing these heritage places and represent the underlying scientific processes that contribute to their preservation.
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Geneviève Lucet Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México.
México.
This chapter critically discusses the complexity of identifying, protecting, and documenting Mexico’s diverse cultural heritage that contributed to forming the national identity and collective memory in post-colonial time. By discussing various efforts and challenges entailed in protecting pre-Hispanic settlements and historic colonial centers, this contribution provides a critical lens into understanding the sense of urgency related to the protection of this diverse cultural heritage and the important role assigned to its architectural and archaeological documentation. More specifically, this chapter discusses how new digital recording methods provide a more complete, accurate, and objective representation of Mesoamerican architecture than previous analog methods. The author’s work in Mexico provides examples of enhancing the preservation of at-risk Mesoamerican architecture by developing documentation standards that proved to be less dependent upon the surveying’s subjective quality. The chapter concludes that new digital documentation records that follow cutting-edge standards regarding data capture and digital documentation preservation provide a viable contribution to addressing the sense of urgency in protecting cultural heritage.
5. From the Field to the CAVE: A Workflow for Collecting, Storing, and Sharing Archaeological Data [+–]
University of California, San Diego
Brady Liss Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego.
University of California, San Diego
Ho Jung Yoo UC San Diego Library, University of California, San Diego.
Aegean University, Rhodes
Ioannis Liritzis is a professor of Archaeometry and Physical Sciences at the Aegean University, Rhodes, Greece & Visiting Distinguished Professor at Henan University, China, Key Research Institute of Yellow River Civilization and Sustainable Development & Collaborative Innovation Center on Yellow River Civilization of Henan Province. A fellow of the European Academy of Sciences & Arts (Saltzburg), Liritzis is specialized in Natural Sciences in Archaeology- Cultural Heritage-Geoenvironment, and his research is of multidisciplinary nature. Amongst his innovative research are surface luminescence dating, obsidian hydration dating, and contributions in interdisciplinary fields of geosciences, solar-terrestrial phenomena, and cultural heritage issues. Honorary Professor (Rhodes University, S.Africa; Samara State Academy of
Culture and Arts ), Honorary Fellow (Edinburgh University). Has received numerous distinctions and Archaeometry Awards. Editor in Chief/ Member of Editorial Boards of many journals.
Culture and Arts ), Honorary Fellow (Edinburgh University). Has received numerous distinctions and Archaeometry Awards. Editor in Chief/ Member of Editorial Boards of many journals.
University of California, San Diego
Margie M. Burton is a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego, and was formerly Program Manager for the Center for Cyber-Archaeology and Sustainability and for the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology.
University of California, San Diego
Thomas Levy is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Judaic Studies at the University of California,San Diego (UCSD) where he holds the Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaelogy of Ancient Israel and Neigboring Lands. With over thirty years of archaeological field experience in Israel and Jordan, Levy’s current research focuses on the Iron Age historical archaeology of Edom in southern Jordan. He is Associate Director of the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3) at UCSD’s California Insitute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). Levy is editor of Archaeology, Anthropology and Cult: The Sanctuary at Gilat, Israel (Equinox Publishing, 2006) and co-editor, with Thomas Higham, of The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating: Archaeology, Text and Science (Equinox Publishing, 2005). His most recent book, with his wife Alina and the Sthapathy brothers of Swamimalai is Masters of Fire: Hereditary Bronze Casters of South India (German Mining Museum, 2008). Levy is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
This chapter describes the digital workflow from archaeological data collection in the field to permanent storage in the UCSD Library and dissemination via VR environments that UCSD, as the lead campus for the Catalyst project, designed and field-tested at sites in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. This contribution has a particular emphasis on at-risk cultural heritage and its preservation in those areas of interest and presents results of applying the digital methods at the Late Bronze Age site of Kastrouli, Greece.
Part 2: Data Analysis
Sapienza-Università di Roma
Arianna Campiani is affiliated with the Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità at Sapienza-Università di Roma.
Cardiff University
Ashley Lingle School of History, Archaeology, and Religion, Cardiff University
University of California, Merced
Nicola Lercari is an Associate Professor of Heritage Studies at the University of California,
Merced. His scholarship exposes the fundamental role that digital and geospatial technologies play in investigating and protecting sites of cultural significance, archaeological excavation/museum collections, data, and information that describe and document our planet’s cultural diversity. From 2011-2017, he investigated the UNESCO World Heritage site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, innovating the application of remote sensing and digital archaeology methods to the investigation, interpretation, and dissemination of this important Neolithic site. Lercari participates in the international research initiative Proyecto Regional Palenque and is the principal investigator of the Fort Ross Cultural Trail project developed in collaboration with California State Parks. He was a Co-Principal Investigator for the University of California (UC) Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
Merced. His scholarship exposes the fundamental role that digital and geospatial technologies play in investigating and protecting sites of cultural significance, archaeological excavation/museum collections, data, and information that describe and document our planet’s cultural diversity. From 2011-2017, he investigated the UNESCO World Heritage site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, innovating the application of remote sensing and digital archaeology methods to the investigation, interpretation, and dissemination of this important Neolithic site. Lercari participates in the international research initiative Proyecto Regional Palenque and is the principal investigator of the Fort Ross Cultural Trail project developed in collaboration with California State Parks. He was a Co-Principal Investigator for the University of California (UC) Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
This chapter reports on data collection methods and 3D technologies employed at Çatalhöyük (Turkey). It explains how the data can be used in combination with GIS to assess the condition of archaeological earthen architecture visually and to strategize conservation interventions to help preserve it. The authors illustrate how an extensive and diverse corpus of at-risk earthen architecture information collected at Çatalhöyük was analyzed and finally integrated into a GIS platform to spatially visualize, comprehend and assess the state of preservation of the site and its threats. The authors then explain why a comprehensive approach to analyzing at-risk mudbrick architecture is important for conservators: (1) it aids in identifying which buildings require immediate intervention, and (2) establishes a foundation for future evaluation of the conservation actions undertaken. The detailed spatial understanding of the conservation issues that affect mudbrick walls in large earthen sites allows archaeologists and conservators to reflect on best practices for diversified data collection at an intra-site level.
University of California at Berkeley
Rita Lucarelli is Assistant Professor of Egyptology at the University of California, Berkley, USA. She specializes in the religions of ancient Egypt, demonology, and magic in the Near East, and the funerary culture and literature of ancient Egypt. She has held positions at the University of Verona, Bonn University, University of Bari, and she was a visiting research scholar at the Italian Academy of Advanced Studies of Columbia University (2009) and at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World of New York University (2012). She is the author of The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen: Ancient Egyptian Funerary Religion in the 10th Century BC (Brill, 2006), and co-editor of Herausgehen am Tage: Gesammelte Schriften zum altägyptischen Totenbuch (with Marcus Müller-Roth and Annik Wüthrich; Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012).
University of California, Berkeley
Kea Johnston Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley.
This chapter discusses the importance of digital data capture techniques such as digital photogrammetry for expanding access to texts carved on Egyptian sarcophagi by creating collections of digitized large mortuary objects. Such large objects are often stored in museum warehouses and not easily shared with scholars and the public. By providing a thorough explanation of the digital techniques and results of the “Book of the Dead in 3D” project at UC Berkeley, this chapter highlights the significance of conducting text analysis on the 3D models of the coffins by creating interactive annotations–including text transcription and translation of the magical spells–on the digital models themselves. This kind of embedded metadata is critical to scholars of Egyptology. The case study presented–the sarcophagus of Psamtik in the collections of the Phoebe Hearst Museum at Berkeley–describes in detail the technique of digital photogrammetry combined with custom programming to create the annotated 3D models.
University of California, Berkeley
Adam G. Anderson is the Academic Coordinator of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and a Data Science Lecturer and Digital Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.
By describing the case study of a large collection of Assyrian tablets, this chapter illustrates the benefits of digital curation and textual analysis for re-establishing the missing context of looted and unprovenienced ancient artifacts. It tackles the main theme of heritage at-risk from a different perspective than other chapters in the book. The author details the creation of an ontological structure for data analysis using digital curation methods combined with innovative machine learning and network analysis and visualization techniques. The result is an important new research tool for scholars focusing on reinterpreting ancient Assyrian cuneiform writing from unprovenienced texts.
Part 3: Data Curation
University of California Los Angeles
Deidre Brin, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California Los Angeles.
This chapter provides a detailed description of the DIG Data Publication Initiative (DIG), which was partially supported by the Catalyst project. DIG is the UCLA Cotsen Institute’s new effort to establish an archaeological digital data publication service. The DIG team is not attempting to construct or maintain preservation services or a repository, and instead partners with institutions with this expertise and these services. By directly referencing the best practices and standards of the Linked Open Data movement, this chapter complements the section of the book on digital publication/data dissemination/data curation. This contribution is of interest to specialized and non-specialized readers, especially because it describes DIG as a fruitful collaboration between a university library and an academic unit.
Arizona State University
Francis P. McManamon Center for Digital Antiquity School of Human Evolution and Social
Change and, Arizona State University Libraries, Arizona State University.
Change and, Arizona State University Libraries, Arizona State University.
Arizona State University
Leigh Anne Ellison is affiliated with the Center for Digital Antiquity School of Human Evolution and Social Change and, Arizona State University Libraries, Arizona State University.
Using examples hosted by the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) to illustrate good curation practice, this chapter discusses the problematics of archaeological data curation, management, and preservation as one of the main challenges that archaeology and heritage-related disciplines face in the 21st century. It presents a fact-based discussion of how archaeological data is typically produced in the U.S. and discusses internationally-accepted guiding principles such as the FAIR Principles and the DCC curation lifecycle and other best practices. The chapter defines and addresses relevant themes for this volume: What is digital data curation? Why is archaeological data curation important? Following a description of the work that tDAR and other digital repositories/institutions (e.g., Archaeological Data Service and OpenContext) spearhead to respond to the issue that data produced by older or current archaeological investigations are difficult or impossible to discover, access, and use/re-use, two examples from the American Southwest (the Pueblo Grande and the Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP)) are presented to demonstrate repository solutions for at-risk data sets.
Part 4: Data Presentation
11. CollectionSpace at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology: A Strategic Information Platform [+–]
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
Benjamin W. Porter is an Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley’s Near Eastern Studies Department, and is a curator and former director of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Porter is an Anthropologist who specializes in Middle Eastern Archaeology. He investigates how past Middle Eastern and Mediterranean societies built resilient communities and institutions in arid and semi-arid zones. He directs field archaeology projects in Jordan at the Iron Age capitals of Dhiban and Busayra. He also co-directs a museum collections project at the Hearst Museum, researching evidence from Peter B. Cornwall’s 1941 expedition to Bahrain and Eastern Saudi Arabia. He was a Co-Principal Investigator for the UC Office of the President’s Research Catalyst Award that funded the research discussed in this volume.
University of California, Berkeley
Michael T. Black is affiliated with the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.
This chapter traces the interesting history of digital collections management systems at museums generally and specifically at UC Berkeley’s Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. It relates challenges encountered, including financial obstacles, issues that arise with the development and adoption of new technologies, and the need to satisfy different users and stakeholders. By providing an introduction to methods of curation/collection management in museums and discussing related issues that museums face on a day-to-day basis, as well as the historical background of contemporary information curation and digital platforms, this chapter offers a real-world case study of the volume’s theme of digital data curation and presentation. The authors pinpoint a major shortcoming in traditional collection management systems: the lack of “quick, accurate, and comprehensive information retrieval” and present their work on digital collection management through the platform CollectionSpace to address this problem. The chapter also presents a critical discussion of digital collection management systems’ sustainability– building and maintaining public-facing information and collections–at a university museum. It reflects on the lessons learned by staff and museum directors over the museum’s centennial history.
University of California San Diego
Jürgen P. Schulze, Qualcomm Institute, University of California San Diego.
University of California San Diego
Glynn Williams Qualcomm Institute, University of California San Diego.
University of California San Diego
Connor Smith Qualcomm Institute, University of California San Diego.
University of California San Diego
Philip P. Weber, Qualcomm Institute, University of California San Diego.
University of California, San Diego
Thomas Levy is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Judaic Studies at the University of California,San Diego (UCSD) where he holds the Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaelogy of Ancient Israel and Neigboring Lands. With over thirty years of archaeological field experience in Israel and Jordan, Levy’s current research focuses on the Iron Age historical archaeology of Edom in southern Jordan. He is Associate Director of the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3) at UCSD’s California Insitute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). Levy is editor of Archaeology, Anthropology and Cult: The Sanctuary at Gilat, Israel (Equinox Publishing, 2006) and co-editor, with Thomas Higham, of The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating: Archaeology, Text and Science (Equinox Publishing, 2005). His most recent book, with his wife Alina and the Sthapathy brothers of Swamimalai is Masters of Fire: Hereditary Bronze Casters of South India (German Mining Museum, 2008). Levy is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
This chapter describes the hardware and software design of the CAVEkiosk–the first large-scale immersive Virtual Reality environment intended for public use–developed at UC San Diego as part of the Catalyst project. It discusses how the authors collaborated to build new CAVEkiosks at four UC campuses linked by the high-speed Pacific Research Platform to share research data and imagery from at-risk sites around the world, specifically Greece, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Turkey. The authors present technical concepts in a way that is understandable to the lay reader and the proposed audience for the volume. This contribution provides a solid literature background for topics presented in other chapters. It introduces readers to Virtual Reality (VR) technology, which is now widely used in archaeology and museums to represent sites and artifacts for scholarly and public-facing purposes.
Part 5: Data Inspiration
University of California, San Diego
Thomas Levy is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Judaic Studies at the University of California,San Diego (UCSD) where he holds the Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaelogy of Ancient Israel and Neigboring Lands. With over thirty years of archaeological field experience in Israel and Jordan, Levy’s current research focuses on the Iron Age historical archaeology of Edom in southern Jordan. He is Associate Director of the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3) at UCSD’s California Insitute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). Levy is editor of Archaeology, Anthropology and Cult: The Sanctuary at Gilat, Israel (Equinox Publishing, 2006) and co-editor, with Thomas Higham, of The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating: Archaeology, Text and Science (Equinox Publishing, 2005). His most recent book, with his wife Alina and the Sthapathy brothers of Swamimalai is Masters of Fire: Hereditary Bronze Casters of South India (German Mining Museum, 2008). Levy is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
University of California, San Diego
Margie M. Burton is a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego, and was formerly Program Manager for the Center for Cyber-Archaeology and Sustainability and for the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology.
This closing chapter provides a detailed description of the goals of the UC multi-campus research initiative At-Risk Cultural Heritage and the Digital Humanities and a comprehensive review of each campus’ contribution to the project. The project results constitute the core of this edited book. Among its most notable outcomes, this project successfully leveraged new digital technologies to virtually safeguard some of the world’s most at-risk objects and places. This chapter discusses how this was achieved by taking a transdisciplinary approach that engaged students and fostered long-term collaboration among UC campuses and local communities, and national and international research partners. The project’s success can be measured by the many organizations that have expressed interest in sharing data and connecting with and acquiring the project’s new technologies and applications.
