Archaeology and Archaeological Information in the Digital Society

185 Pages·2018·1.844 MB·English

by  Isto Huvila

Archaeology and Archaeological
Information in the Digital Society
‘This collection of papers by information scientists and archaeologists offers many
new insights into what it means to study the past within today’s digital world.
Focussingonhowcomputersimpactontheproductionofknowledgeandthesocial
context of digital archaeology, this book raises important issues that should be of
centralconcerntoallofusinterestedinarchaeologyandwhatitmeanstopracticeit.’
GaryLock,UniversityofOxford
Archaeology and Archaeological Information in the Digital Society shows how the
digitisationofarchaeologicalinformation,toolsandworkflows,andtheirinterplay
with both old and new non-digital practices throughout the archaeological infor-
mation process, affect the outcomes of archaeological work, and in the end, our
generalunderstandingofthehumanpast.
Whereasmostoftheliteraturerelatedtoarchaeologicalinformationworkhasbeen
basedonpracticalandtheoreticalconsiderationswithinspecificareasofarchaeology,
thisinnovativevolumecombinesandintegratesintra-andextra-disciplinaryperspec-
tivestoarchaeologicalwork,lookingatarchaeologyfromboththeinsideandoutside.
With fields studies from museums and society, and pioneering new academic
research, Archaeology and Archaeological Information in the Digital Society will interest
archaeologistsacrosstheboard.
IstoHuvilaholdsthechairininformationstudiesattheDepartmentofALM(Archival
Studies,LibraryandInformationScienceandMuseumsandCulturalHeritageStudies)
at Uppsala University, Sweden and is adjunct professor (docent) in information
managementatA˚boAkademiUniversity,Finland.Hisresearchfocusesoninformation
and knowledge management, organisation and documentation, and social and par-
ticipatoryinformationpractices.Hehaspublishedbroadlyonthesetopicsaswellas
socialmedia,ancienthistoryandarchaeology.HereceivedaMAdegreeincultural
historyattheUniversityofTurkuin2002andaPhDdegreeininformationstudiesat
A˚boAkademiUniversity,Finlandin2006.

Archaeology and
Archaeological Information
in the Digital Society
Edited by Isto Huvila
Firstpublished2018
byRoutledge
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Contents
List of figures vii
List of tables x
List of contributors xi
Acknowledgements xiv
List of abbreviations xvi
Introduction 1
ISTO HUVILA
1 Digital archaeological data for future knowledge-making 14
€
LISA BORJESSON AND ISTO HUVILA
2 Knowledge production with data from archaeological
excavations 37
€
DANIEL LOWENBORG
3 3D models and knowledge production 54
NICOLO(cid:2) DELL’UNTO
4 From storing to storytelling – archaeological museums and
digitisation 70
BODIL PETERSSON (TEXT), IN COLLABORATION WITH
CAROLINA LARSSON (ILLUSTRATIONS AND
TECHNICAL EXPLANATIONS)
5 On the potentials and limitations of digital mediation of
archaeological information 106
PER STENBORG
6 Ecology of archaeological information work 122
ISTO HUVILA
vi Contents
7 Archaeological information work and the digital turn 143
ISTO HUVILA, LISA BO€RJESSON, NICOLO(cid:2) DELL’UNTO,
DANIEL LO€WENBORG, BODIL PETERSSON AND PER STENBORG
Epilogue 159
ISTO HUVILA
Index 162
Figures
2.1 An illustration of how the decision tree algorithm subdivides
the axes of the dataset until each branch contains only one type
of class (Nilsson, 2016) 47
3.1 Simulation of part of the excavation sequence performed in
Uppa˚kra (2015–2016). The 3D models imported into the system
were used by the archaeologists in support of the interpretation
of the materials and contexts 63
3.2 Three-dimensional model of the plaster head installation created
after the intervention of the conservation team. The 3D model
was realised using Agisoft Photoscan 1.2.6. The photographic
acquisition campaign was made at the conservation
laboratory at C¸atalho¨yu¨k 64
3.3 Three-dimensional GIS of the north excavation area at
C¸atalho¨yu¨k, which displays a virtual simulation of several
buildings, spaces and features documented by image-based 3D
reconstruction techniques since 2013 (A). Once aligned, the
3D model of the plaster head installation, created after the
intervention of the conservation team, was added as a 3D layer
to the system, in order to be visualised in spatial relation with
the building (B). Detail of the plaster head (before the
intervention of the conservation team) as identified in the
3D model of the building previously realised by the team (C).
Detail of the building in spatial relation with the 3D model
realised after the intervention of the conservation team (D) 65
4.1 At the Castle Centre in Vordingborg, Denmark, inside
the Goose Tower, there is a projection on the wall with an
ongoing battle and information about it from a more technical
point of view 76
4.2 In the exhibition, Medieval Massacre, at the Historical
Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, there is a projection of the
battle on one of the walls, accompanied by a surround
sound experience 78
viii Figures
4.3 In the Medieval Massacre exhibition, the bones with visible
injuries are displayed in a glass case next to the screen animations,
which show how the injuries happened 79
4.4 At the Kongernes Jelling exhibition, Denmark, the ‘Pepper’s ghost’
technique is used to show a small silver beaker and stories
around it; the original is exhibited in Copenhagen 80
4.5 O¨sterlen Museum created a motion capture experience that made
it possible for the visitor to experience a dance with petroglyphs
appearing on stone slags in a nearby Bronze Age grave cairn 84
4.6 O¨sterlen Museum also provided a storytelling room with soft
mats on the floor, where you could sit to watch and listen to
stories relating to Bronze Age cosmology and sun worship 85
4.7 At Moesgaard Museum, Denmark, the Bronze Age theme with
storytelling and cosmology also appeared, this time with the aid
of projections close to the ceiling, where a simulated starry sky
was made as a backdrop for the stories and projections of typical
Bronze Age symbols 86
4.8 At the museum, Kongernes Jelling, the visitor could go to Valhalla
with the aid of motion capture 87
4.9 At Moesgaard Museum, Denmark, in the Iron Age exhibition,
you are in one of the rooms surrounded by screens and suddenly
you appear in the middle of an Iron Age battle, with both sights
and sounds 88
4.10 At the Colosseum exhibition, they had a 3D display where you
could experience life in the theatre 91
4.11 At O¨sterlen Museum, there was a traditional method of fact
display in the form of a ‘wishing well’, where you could find
out things about the Bronze Age period and different aspects
of it 92
4.12 Bronze Age expert Flemming Kaul greets visitors at the
Moesgaard Museum Bronze Age exhibition via a screen where
he (and other researchers and museum staff) meets the visitor
eye to eye and starts speaking when the screen text is touched
below him 94
4.13 In the outdoor environment surrounding the Danish Castle
Centre, Denmark, a visitor could walk among ruins and point
a device towards them to see the buildings appear in full scale 95
4.14 Jelling rune stone projection inside the Kongernes Jelling
Museum (A), and the original stone in its outdoor glass case
on the church yard next to the museum (B) 95
4.15 Facial reconstructions in wax of Vikings from (A) Stockholm
and (B) Trelleborg, both in Sweden 96
4.16 ‘The research process road map within heritage and
archaeology’ (Ch’ng et al., 2013, p. 353; text relating to
Fig. 18.1 is used here) 101
Figures ix
5.1 The original torque during scanning at the Swedish Historical
Museum in Stockholm 2008 111
5.2 A physical copy of the torque produced from the digital data
acquired by scanning in 2008. This picture shows the copy
on display at Lo¨do¨se Museum in 2009 112
5.3 Copies of the objects of the Vittene treasure on display at
A˚saka-Bjo¨rkes hembygdsfo¨rening in 2016. These copies
were produced from the datasets collected in 2008 113
5.4 Two examples of Santare´m phase pottery belonging to the
Brazilian collection at the Museum of World Culture.
From Nimuendaju´ 2004 113
5.5 A figurine (ocarina) photographed in 2010 for subsequent
3D-modelling 114
5.6 A 3D-model of the figurine on display at the project homepage 115
5.7 Comparison of the number of hits from Brazil and Sweden
on the ‘Cultivated-Wilderness’ website in the month of
November over five consecutive years (2012–2016) 116
5.8 Monthly statistics of the number of hits from Brazil and
Sweden on the ‘Cultivated-Wilderness’ website for the period
January 2012 to December 2016 117
5.9 A local family outside Santare´m examining pottery fragments
together with project members 117
6.1 Ecology and warrants of information work and its infrastructures.
Developed on the basis of an earlier model published in
Huvila (2009) 133
6.2 Making and taking information 135
6.3 Making and taking on the level of interlinked (soft) systems 137