Blogs

mikeheyworth: Latest Govt view (in England) on heritage protection reform legislation: http://is.gd/f27Fi

mikeheyworth: "Archaeologists dig up 200-year-old skeleton of London's Moby Dick" (The Independent): http://is.gd/f27bO #archaeology

mikeheyworth: "Heritage Open Days 2010: Ten tours unlocking the wonders of archaeology" (from Culture 24): http://bit.ly/bKhimz #archaeology

mikeheyworth: The CBA's Hon Secretary Bob Sydes is appointed as York's new heritage renaissance officer: http://bit.ly/dxjq0c

mikeheyworth: V concerned to hear about closure of the Cambridge University aerial photograph library. No current access to collection. Safeguard needed..

mikeheyworth: Follow Historic Scotland officials giving evidence to Scottish Parliament committee today on historic environment bill via www.holyrood.tv

mikeheyworth: Quarterly meeting of regional HLF committee in Leeds today. More great projects to support across Yorkshire!

We are proud to announce the arrival of a new, exciting project in the Open Context database, co-authored by Levent Atici (University of Nevada Las Vegas), Justin S.E. Lev-Tov (Statistical Research, Inc.) and our own Sarah Whitcher Kansa.

Chogha Mish Fauna

This project uses the publicly available dataset of over 30,000 animal bone specimens from excavations at Chogha Mish, Iran during the 1960s and 1970s.The specimens were identified by Jane Wheeler Pires-Ferreira in the 1960s and though she never analyzed the data or produced a report, her identifications were saved and later transferred to punch cards and then to Excel. This ‘orphan’ dataset was made available on the web in 2008 by Abbas Alizadeh (University of Chicago) at the time of his publication of Chogha Mish, Volume II.

The site of Chogha Mish spans the time period from Archaic through Elamite periods, with also later Achaemenid occupation.  These phases subdived further into several subphases, and some of those chronological divisions are also represented in this dataset. Thus the timespan present begins at the mid-seventh millennium and continues into the third millennium B.C.E. In terms of cultural development in the region, these periods are key, spanning the later Neolithc (after the period of caprid and cattle domestication, but possibly during the eras in which pigs and horses were domesticated) through the development of truly settled life, cities, supra-regional trade and even the early empires or state societies of Mesopotamia and Iran. Therefore potential questions of relevance to address with this data collection are as follows:

1. The extent to which domesticated animals were utilized, and how/whether this changed over time
2. The development of centralized places
3. Increasing economic specialization
4. General changes in subsistence economy
5. The development of social complexity/stratification.

Publication of this dataset accompanied a study of data-sharing needs in zooarchaeology. Preliminary results of this study were presented as a poster titled: “Other People’s Data: Blind Analysis and Report Writing as a Demonstration of the Imperative of Data Publication”. The poster was presented at the 11th ICAZ International Conference of ICAZ (International Council for Archaeozoology), in Paris (August 2010), in Session 2-4, “Archaeozoology in a Digital World : New Approaches to Communication and Collaboration”. The poster presented at this conference accompanies this project.

• Note: there are now 17 projects represented in Open Context:

Project Description Primary People Keywords Chogha Mish Fauna Zooarchaeological observations from Prehistoric and Achaemenid levels at Chogha Mish, Iran. Levent Atici, Justin S.E. Lev-Tov, Sarah Whitcher Kansa Zooarchaeology, subsistence, economy, Early Bronze Age, Iranian Plateau, Elamite Khirbat al-Mudayna al-Aliya Investigations of an Early Iron Age site in a semi-arid zone in west-central Jordan Bruce Routledge, Benjamin Porter pastoralism, economy, agriculture, Southern Levant, Semi-Arid, Kerak Plateau, Jordan, Iron I, Early Iron Age, subsistence Dove Mountain Groundstone Analysis of groundstone finds from the Dove Mountain Project in the Tucson Basin Jenny Adams Southwest, Pioneer Period, Sedentary Period, Hohokam, Early Agricultural, Groundstone, Arizona, Archaeology Bade Museum Tell en-Nasbeh Collection at the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology Aaron Brody Israel, Palestine, Southern Levant, Judah, Near East, Biblical Archaeology, Archaeology, Iron Age, 1st Millennium, 4th Millennium, Early Bronze, Town, Tomb, Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine San Diego Archaeological Center Collections maintained by the San Diego Archaeological Center San Diego Archaeological Center historical archaeology, San Diego, California, Spanish colonial, Mexican, finds catalog, education, cultural resource management, archaeological collections Presidio of San Francisco Ongoing investigations of El Presidio de San Francisco and other archaeological resources at the Presidio of San Francisco Presidio Archaeology Lab (Presidio Trust) historical archaeology, presidio, San Francisco, California, Spanish colonial, Mexican, US Army, education Aegean Archaeomalacology Mollusk Shells in Troia, Yenibademli, and Ulucak: An Archaeomalacological Approach to Environment and Economy in the Aegean Canan Çak?rlar Anatolia, Aegean, bronze age, chalcolithic, mollusks, Archaeomalacology, subsistence, economy, environment Petra Great Temple Excavations Brown University Excavations at the Great Temple of Petra, Jordan Martha Sharp Joukowsky Religion, Hellenistic, Jordan, Roman, Roman Empire, Archaeology, Architecture, Nabateans, Nabatean, Petra Iraq Heritage Program Overview of the Global Heritage Fund’s conservation work in Iraq Global Heritage Fund, Alexandria Archive Institute Meopotamia, Cultural Heritage, Conservation, Assyria, Sumer, Babylonia, Documentation, Sumer, Archaeology, Iron Age, Early Bronze Age, Early Dynastic, World Heritage Lake Carlos Beach Site, 1992 and 1996 Descriptions and provenience information for 7837 artifacts State of Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Recreation, Minnesota State Parks Cultural Resource Management Program staff, State of Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Recreation Corneal Ulceration in South East Asia Epidemiology and Etiology of Corneal Ulcers in South India Mathuiah Srinivasan, John P. Whitcher ophthalmology, India, public health, infections disease, eye, public health, developing world Harvard Peabody Mus. Zooarchaeology Harvard Peabody Museum Zooarchaeology Laboratory Reference Collection Richard Meadow, Levent Atici archaeology, reference collection, zoology, zooarchaeology, archaeology, specimen, bone Hazor: Zooarchaeology Zooarchaeological observations for Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Hazor, Israel Justin Lev-Tov archaeology, Iron Age, Late Bronze Age, Near East, Excavations, Hazor, Biblical archaeology, subsistence Hayonim: Micromorphology Paul Goldberg archaeology, Mousterian, geology, Middle Paleolithic, Kebaran, Epi-Paleolithic, Israel, Levant, Micromorphology, Geology, Cave, Deposition Geissenklosterle: Micromorphology Paul Goldberg archaeology, Aurignation, geology, Upper Paleolithic, Europe, Germany P?narba?? 1994: Animal Bones Analysis of faunal remains from prehistoric contexts at P?narba?? in central Turkey Denise Carruthers archaeology, Epi-Paleolithic, Neolithic, Near East, Anatolia, Turkey, zooarchaeology, Pinarbasi, 9th millennium, agriculture, foraging, hunting Domuztepe Excavations Excavations of a Late Neolithic site in south-central Turkey Stuart Campbell, Elizabeth Carter Archaeology, Halaf, Neolithic, Near East, Excavations, Domuztepe, 7th millennium, Village

• Note no. 2: this post is cross-posted from the Heritage Bytes blog.

mikeheyworth: RT @mooregroup: Archaeology & the Global Economic Crisis http://www.ace-archaeology.eu/fichiers/25Archaeology-and-the-crisis.pdf

mikeheyworth: Awaiting the arrival of the Director of Archaeology Scotland for a day of discussions on collaboration and mutual support

mikeheyworth: A museums strategy for Wales 2010-15: http://is.gd/eXbom

mikeheyworth: RT @FSHampshire: Looking for an archaeologist - we've something to dig up on our 11th century estate! #archaeology #england

mikeheyworth: RT @cortsims: Help needed to uncover iron working site in Scotland #archaeology http://is.gd/eUOHE

mikeheyworth: RT @GGAT: You asked for it, so you got it! Unfinished Celtic Manor Archaeology now live http://www.ggat.org.uk/celtic_manor/cm_index.html

mikeheyworth: "Digging up the past is still the preserve of the sandalled and eccentric, which is as it should be" http://bit.ly/9MVc3b < I beg to differ!

mikeheyworth: Excellent round up of museum-related news in the latest NMDC newsletter: http://is.gd/eSRh5

mikeheyworth: Heading to meeting of the Advisory Committee for our online archaeology bibliography - major upgrade now imminent: http://is.gd/eSPfs

mikeheyworth: RT @Heritage_: Save the date! This week DCMS confirmed Sec of State Jeremy Hunt will speak at our Heritage Day at The Banqueting House 8 Dec

mikeheyworth: My 1000th tweet! Only one thing to say: please join the CBA and support our work to deliver Archaeology for All - http://www.britarch.ac.uk

While dabbling in digital music software and technologies, I came across this interesting set of posts in The Halls of Valhalla blog. It turns out that the author, an audio software engineer, was originally trained as an archaeologist… “The study of ancient acoustics, or archaeoacoustics, covers a variety of sonic phenomena of the prehistoric world, from research into early musical instruments such as bone flutes and percussion instruments, to the possibility of whether grooves in pottery could have recorded sounds from thousands of years ago. … Iegor Reznikoff has studied the location of Paleolithic art in European caves, and has found a strong correlation between the presence of art or distinctive markings in a given location, and the quality of the resonance in those locations.”

At the major temple complex (900-600 BC) of the Peruvian archaeological site of Chavín de Huántar, John Rick (Stanford University) has “put forth a provocative theory: that the structures at Chavín were used in rituals where the dominant ‘priests’ (or whatever class was in power) relied on sensory manipulation, in combination with hallucinogenic drugs, to reinforce the perception that they had supernatural authority. … The stone passages known as galleries have very unique sonic characteristics, where sounds are difficult to localize. Within these galleries, Rick recently excavated a number of decorated trumpets, carved from the Strombus conch:”

“The ritual would have begun, most likely, by ingesting a hallucinogenic powder or a liquid extracted from the San Pedro cactus. As the Chavín subjects walked through the dark, cramped halls, the sound of Strombus trumpets echoed around them from some unseen source. Water roared through canals beneath their feet (or, strangely, overhead), producing a heavy percussion amplified by the drugs. Mirrors placed in ventilation ducts to reflect the sun poured brilliant shafts of light into the subterranean hallways, only to be ‘turned off,’ thrusting the occupant into blackness as dark as obsidian. By the time the subjects emerged from the chambers, staggering and stunned, their perspective had been altered forever. The unmistakable impression: somebody powerful was in charge.”

So where does this all link up with the digital world? Well, Stanford U’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics performed research at the archaeological site. They developed specialized equipment such as a “Configurable Microphone Array with Acoustically Transparent Omnidirectional Elements”:

“The reverb time increases as a function of the number of turns between the source and the receiver, with sources several gallery turns away from the receiver having a longer perceived reverb time. The reverberation in the Chavín galleries is characterized by dense and energetic early reflections, and low inter-aural cross-correlation. All 3 of the galleries have a quick onset, where the reverberation reaches Gaussian statistics within 20 milliseconds of the initial impulse. The quick build to Gaussian (i.e. random) statistics, and the low amount of cross-correlation between the left and right ears, is responsible for the strange sonic characteristics of the galleries, where it is difficult to localize where a signal is coming from in the absence of a direct signal.” You can read more about their findings at the Chavín de Huántar Archaeological Acoustics Project website. Finally, here’s a nice example of how the conch trumpets mentioned sound inside one of the galleries at the site:

Tito la Rosa performing in Chavin de Huantar, Peru 2008. from otoplasma on Vimeo.