The call for papers for the next annual meeting of CAA-UK to be held in Oxford on 21st and 22nd March 2014 has been announced and can be found here.
The website for CAA-UK, Oxford 2014 will be launching soon.
We’ve been taking an ‘archive’ of all of the #caauk tweets since early January using Martin Hawksey‘s TAGSExplorer. You can view the user tag cloud and search the archive via the explorer here. Thanks to everyone who tweeted and participated remotely!
We have uploaded all of our photos from CAA-UK 2013 to a new Flickr Group pool for CAA-UK. All of the ‘official photography’ was done by Meredith Wiggins and released under a CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported license.
For those that had a hard time keeping up with the tweet stream for the conference – you’re in luck! Kayt Armstrong graciously ‘live tweeted’ over the two days, and put together a helpful Storify of all of the tweets from the event.
If you missed out on CAA-UK 2013, be sure to check out the programme for links to the online videos of each presentation. Each link contains the original paper abstract as well as video hosted on YouTube. The conference introduction and keynote are also included. They are currently trickling in, and being uploaded as soon as they are available.
The filming and post-processing was done courtesy of Doug Rocks-Macqueen who graciously volunteered his services. The videos can also be found linking through Doug’s blog.
Doug Rocks-Macqueen setting up to film CAA-UK 2013
Hembo Pagi, James Miles and Elena Kotoula (Archaeological Computing Research Group (ACRG), University of Southampton)
The demonstration will show how to collect accurate Reflectance Transformation Imaging [1] datasets. We will highlight the potential that this technique has within archaeological analysis through past examples of datasets generated by the Archaeological Computing Research Group at the University of Southampton. Furthermore we will also discuss the use of microscopic RTI [2], multispectral RTI [3] and transmitted RTI [4]. These three methods add to the potential of this technique and add the level of detail that can be analysed.
[1] Reflectance Transformation imaging allows for the enhancement in an objects surface, making ephemeral, difficult to photograph features visible. The method relies on a fixed camera and a fixed object with a series of images taken at differing light positions.
[2] Microscopic RTI, captured either with the Highlight RTI method or with a microscopic RTI dome, combines the advantages of close up photography and photomicrography with those of RTI. It allows for the recording of the shape and topography of the various components of artefacts at a microscopic scale. It meets conservation needs for limited human-object interaction, high quality and affordable visual analysis, microscopic levels of detail and advanced documentation.
[3] Multispectral RTI follows the same principle as a normal RTI but instead is captured with a UV-VIS-IR modified DSLR camera and adequate filters, illuminated by an infrared light source from different angles to produced infrared images. The synergy of RTI and Infrared imaging results in an enhanced methodology for non-destructive examination of antiquities and works of art and leads to different views of excavated artefacts, as well as painted works of art, which can be used for documentation, presentation, communication and research purposes.
[4] Transmitted RTI dataset is as series of images captured with transmitted illumination in the visible or the infrared spectral region. This methodology is inspired by transmitted photography, a set up proposed for conservation documentation of translucent materials, canvas paintings, mounded papyri, photographic material, and works of art on paper or archival material. Transmitted RTI provides an enhanced RTI visualization, complementary to reflected RTI.
The ACRG demonstration will take place during lunch on 23 Feb. (Saturday) at the conference venue. For more information, the demonstrators can be reached via the following contact details:
Stuart Eve (University College London, L – P : Archaeology)
One of the great challenges in archaeology is reconstructing past perception and social behaviour. Some pioneering archaeologists have attempted to explore these issues through the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), however, their approaches have almost exclusively been based on vision, and analysis confined to the computer laboratory. At the opposite end of the spectrum, other equally pioneering archaeologists have sought to explore the ancient landscape through the use of phenomenology – conducting their research within the landscape itself. To these scholars, computer analysis away from the landscape is anathema and totally at variance with their objectives.
The opportunities offered by the new technology of Augmented Reality provide a way to combine the strengths of a computer-based approach (reproducibility, experimentation, computer reconstruction) with archaeological phenomenology (embodied experience in the field).
Augmented Reality allows the melding of the virtual world with the real world, via the use of a head-mounted display or a handheld device, such as an iPad. Sights and sounds can be provided to the user via the interface to enable them to see into the past and to experiment with possible reconstructions and encounters with the past, in-situ.
Due to a couple of speaker changes, we have had to amend the event timetable. Friday’s schedule of speakers has been rearranged to fit the new lineup and speaker topics. Please make sure you consult the timetable when making your plans for the conference, as importantly the conference now begins at 1:00pm on Friday, 22 February.
CAA International