Innovation festival SESSION: academic and early career research - what's new?

 

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Timetable - see below for abstracts

PresentationsChair: Cara Jones, CIfA

Innovating archaeological survey: integrating AI, computer vision, people, and practice
Lucy Killoran, University of Glasgow & Historic Environment Scotland

The application of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision based processes of analysis to archaeological survey is a fast-growing field of research. If successfully integrated with contemporary practice, these processes offer a potential solution to the issue of a rapidly increasing volume of high-resolution remote sensing data sets, which far outstrips current capacity for manual assessment. Potential benefits of this would be to discover and monitor many more archaeological sites and also, pressingly, to understand and mitigate the impacts of environmental risk and climate change. However, many issues raised by the latest generation of technological changes remain unresolved. This presentation will outline a research project which forefronts the critical consideration of contemporary survey workflows as an important stage in the ethical integration of automated systems with professional practice. The presentation will also provide information on opportunities for input to the project.

Density analysis of findspots in East Anglia: forming a model for identifying potential new sites at risk from coastal erosion
Phoebe Ronn, MSDS Marine

Erosion is threatening known sites up and down the coasts of the UK, in all probability there is an abundance of currently unknown sites also at risk. Using East Anglia- an area of alarmingly high levels of coastal erosion- as a case study, density analysis of findspot spatial data can be used to identify areas with high potential to contain previously unknown sites. This methodology could be used to target areas for further research before valuable archaeological resources are lost to coastal erosion.

Building Roman Britons: The Role of Stone and Ceramic Building Material Industries in Developing Romano-British Identities at Bath
Owen Kearn, Bournemouth University

This project is analysing the understudied stone and ceramic building materials from the Roman Baths at Bath, UK. These materials are being integrated and contrasted with pre-Roman resource use in the hinterland of Bath to create a wider holistic understanding. Roman building stone, brick and tile have been neglected in comparison to other forms of Roman material culture. When studied, they are invariably considered in isolation by different specialists even when used together in the same buildings. Moreover, as the Romans were the first to intensively exploit stone and fired ceramic building materials in Britain, these are investigated without reference to pre-Roman stone or ceramic use in the same regions. The aims of much research has thus been focussed on understanding only the movement, supply and economics of these materials.

This project is taking a different approach. By analysing the stone, brick and tile from the Roman Baths at Bath together I aim to apply modern techniques of scientific analysis to these materials, integrating them to produce a dynamic new understanding of construction and supply at the complex. By comparing these with pre-Roman resource use in the Bath hinterland, a holistic understanding of changing resource use in the area will be developed. In this way, I will investigate how Roman building materials, industries and architecture emerged in the region, assessing the extent to which they integrated local knowledge and communities and how these contributed to forming composite Romano-British identities in the hinterland of Bath.

Atomic Archaeology?  Using Gamma Radiation Surveying Techniques for Mapping Sub-Surface Deposits
Victoria Robinson, University of Reading

The use of geophysics in the field of archaeology is well established.  It is understood that no single geophysical technique can be ubiquitously applied to all scenarios.  Rather, the optimal strategy is selected from the ‘toolbox’ of available technologies, accounting for the properties of anticipated target(s), surrounding substrate and nearby infrastructure.  This research project aims to determine whether the use of gamma radiation surveying techniques, which are widely used in the nuclear industry, could contribute to the existing ‘geophysical toolbox’.

Radiation surveys have been undertaken at two sites of archaeological interest.  A pilot study was undertaken at ‘Site A’ – located 20 km northeast of Reading.  More comprehensive surveys were completed at Silchester Roman Town.  All surveys were completed using ‘Groundhog’; a portable gamma detection system developed and owned by Nuvia Limited.  Surveys were undertaken along 1 metre transects at a walking speed of 1 metre per second.  This facilitated collection of one measurement per square metre.  Data was presented in the form of heatmaps which could be overlaid on existing magnetometry data for comparison.

Initial results are promising, with some survey data showing clear differences in concentrations of naturally occurring radioactivity within targets and surrounding substrate.  Results from the survey at Site A yielded two anomalies that corresponded with magnetometry data.  At Silchester, clear radiation anomalies that aligned with features in extant magnetometry data were found in two of the four sites surveyed.  Findings suggest that gamma radiation surveying techniques may be capable of contributing to archaeological prospection in some cases.  Further investigations are planned.  This includes expanding on the Silchester surveys by using a larger vehicle-mounted Groundhog system and surveying other archaeological sites with different geologies and target types.

Decolonising Archaeology: Nationalistic Agendas in the Balkans and the Study of Tumulus Cemeteries
Ermelinda Trinder, Staffordshire University

The Balkans have historically been described as a ‘nationalistic ticking-time bomb’ and, since the 1930s to the present-day, archaeology has often been exploited to feed theses nationalistic agendas. Tumulus cemeteries and their artefacts have been distorted by media, politicians and scholars to prove, trace and legitimise the origin of their ancestors. This ‘ours’ against ‘yours’ approach has resulted in creating borders, building fences and closing routes of communication. The excavation of Himara tumulus in Albania (2018-2020) is an example of how these nationalist agendas remain strong and are evident to this present day.

In my research I explore how Bronze and Iron Age societies in Albania perceived, experienced, and celebrated life and death. This research seeks to identify the reasons, beyond the ethnic identity of its builders, that contributed in transforming tumulus cemeteries from burial sites into Eternal Living Monuments. I argue that tumulus cemeteries had a pivotal role in creating communal memories, bringing societies together and helping individuals and communities deal with death. I also consider how sensorial affects such as sound, sight, touch, feel, sweat and physical movement played a significant part in the healing process of societies whose identities and lives were raptured by death.

In this paper I demonstrate how the decolonising of archaeology from nationalistic agendas can allow us to connect on a human level with prehistoric societies who experienced death and loss. The study of tumulus cemeteries are a powerful reminder to the media, politicians and scholars to how archaeology can be used for crossing borders, knocking down fences, building highways of communication and learning to heal together.

What should be ‘new’?
Perry Gardner, University of Durham

After three years of PhD research and almost a decade of ‘volunteering’ reflections on the vital importance of co-produced research/project delivery as the means to rebuild the place of archaeology as a public good ( not just recreational ‘edutainment’) and stake archaeology’s claim to be a uniquely forward looking path to employment in multiple sectors.

Additional information
Registration will close one hour prior to the start of the event. The Zoom link will also be sent out to all registrants one hour prior to the start of the event.

Contact us
If you have any questions at all or require any assistance in registering or accessing this event, please contact the CIfA Events team: conference@archaeologists.net