Submit your paper to CAA, deadline Monday

The CAA is my favourite conference 🙂 And it will be hosted online from Cyprus this year. The deadline to submit your papers is Monday the 1st of March. So go ahead and submit those excellent papers on computational archaeology. You can find the full list of 35 sessions here, covering all possible topics. And I want to point out the following two sessions in particular:

S28. Computational modelling in archaeology: methods, challenges and applications (Standard)

S18. Urban Complexity in Settlements and Settlement Systems of the Mediterranean (Standard)

S28. Computational modelling in archaeology: methods, challenges and applications (Standard)

Convenor(s):
Iza Romanowska, Aarhus University
Colin D. Wren, University of Colorado
Stefani A. Crabtree, Utah State University 

The steady stream of publications involving archaeological computational models is a clear sign of the discipline’s dedication to the epistemological turn towards formal theory building and testing. Where hypotheses used to be generated verbally in natural language as possible explanations, they are now increasingly often expressed as GIS, agent-based modelling (ABM) or statistical models and meticulously tested against data. The session will showcase the breadth of applications, the ingenuity of researchers deploying new or adapted methods and the depth of insight gained thanks to computational modelling.

With increasing numbers of archaeologists becoming proficient in computer programming it seems that some of the technical and training-related hurdles are being overcome. In general, while some methods in archaeological computational modelling are well established and widely deployed, others (e.g., ABM) are still an emerging subfield with many exciting and fresh applications. 

 We will structure the session upon the three major questions: :

• The current landscape of computational modelling: what are the strong versus the weak areas? Are certain topics, time periods, types of questions more often modelled than others? If so, why is that?
• Potential areas for growth: what are the obvious methodological and archaeological directions for computational modelling? Are technical skills still an impediment for a wider adoption?
• Disciplinary best practice: the need for open science is well recognised among computational archaeologists, but are there other ways in which we can make it easier for members of other branches of archaeology to engage with the computational modelling?

We invite archaeological modellers to present their current case studies, discuss new methods and issues they have encountered as well as their thoughts on the role of computational modelling in general archaeological practice. Computational modelling is meant broadly here as any digital technologies that enable the researcher to represent a real-world system to test hypotheses regarding past human behaviour. 

S18. Urban Complexity in Settlements and Settlement Systems of the Mediterranean (Standard)

Convenor(s):
Katherine A. Crawford, Arizona State University
Georgios Artopoulos, The Cyprus Institute 
Eleftheria Paliou, University of Cologne 
Iza Romanowska, Aarhus University

The application of quantitative methods to the study of ancient cities and settlement networks has seen increased interest in recent years. Advances in data collection, the use of and integration of diverse big datasets, data analytics including network analysis, computation and the application of digital and quantitative methods have resulted in an increasingly diverse number of studies looking at past cities from new perspectives (e.g. Palmisano et al. 2017; Kaya and Bölen 2017; Fulminante 2019-21). This barrage of new methods, many grounded in population-level systemic thinking, but also some coming from the individual, agent-based perspective enabled researchers to investigate the structural properties and mechanisms driving complex socio-natural systems, such as past cities and towns (e.g. MISMAS; The CRANE Project; Carrignon et al. 2020). These advances have recently opened new possibilities for the study of cities and settlement systems of the Mediterranean, an area with some of the longest known records of urban occupation that could be key for studying a wide range of urban complexity topics (e.g. Lawrence et al. 2020) .

This session invites papers that deal with the applications of computational and digital methodologies, including agent-based modelling, network analysis, urban scaling, gravity and spatial interaction models, space syntax, GIS, and data mining. We look for a diverse range of studies on the interactions between cities, complex meshworks of information flow, simulations of social and socio-natural activities, as well as analyses of groups of cities and their environment (the ecosystem of resources) in the Mediterranean basin. We are especially interested in papers that use agent-based modelling to adopt a comparative and diachronic perspective to studying transformations and transitions of urban and settlement systems and works that focus on the area of Eastern Mediterranean, in particular. Potential topics of consideration include but are not limited to:

• Settlement persistence,
• Multi-scale spatial patterns within urban complexes and across settlements,
• Inter and/or intra urban settlement dynamics & interactions,
• Transitions and diachronic transformations of urban/settlement patterns,
• Urban network interactions and modelling,
• Urban-environmental processes; the impact of climate disturbances on cities and their resources,
• Formal analysis of cities development of time,
• Processes involved in urban centres formation and abandonment.

References:

S. Carrignon, T. Brughmans, I. Romanowska, (2020). Tableware trade in the Roman East: Exploring cultural and economic transmission with agent-based modelling and approximate Bayesian computation. PLoS ONE, 15, (11), e0240414. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240414

F. Fulminante (ed), (2019-21). Research Topic: Where Do Cities Come From and Where Are They Going To? Modelling Past and Present Agglomerations to Understand Urban Ways of Life. Frontiers in Digital Humanities https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/7460/where-do-cities-come-from-and-where-are-they-going-to-modelling-past-and-present-agglomerations-to-u#overview

H. Serdar Kaya and Fulin Bölen, (2017). ‘Urban DNA: Morphogenetic Analysis of Urban Pattern’, International Journal of Architecture & Planning, (5), 1, 10-41. DOI: 10.15320/ICONARP.2017.15

D. Lawrence, M. Altaweel, and G. Philip, (2020). New Agendas in Remote Sensing and Landscape Archaeology in the Near East: Studies in Honour of Tony J. Wilkinson. Oxford: Archaeopress.

A Palmisano, A. Bevan, and S. Shennan, (2017). Comparing archaeological proxies for long-term population patterns: An example from central Italy. Journal of Archaeological Science, (87), 59-72. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2017.10.001

Saad Twaissi, (2017). ‘The Source Of Inspiration Of The Plan Of The Nabataean Mansion At Az-Zantur Iv In Petra: A Space Syntax Approach’, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, (17), 3, 97-119. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1005494

MISAMS (Modelling Inhabited Spaces of the Ancient Mediterranean Sea), https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/108224/en

The CRANE Project (Computational Research on the Ancient Near East) https://www.crane.utoronto.ca/

Two networks sessions at CAA2020 in Oxford: submit your abstracts!

Can’t wait for CAA 2020 in Oxford! It will be a great event in a great place of course, but also because we will host two network sessions. So if you work on anything even remotely related to archaeology and networks, you will find a good place to present it at one of our sessions. Submit your abstracts!

S32. Archaeological network research 1: spatial and temporal networks

S33. Archaeological network research 2: missing data, cross-disciplinary collaboration and teaching networks

Submit abstracts here

Deadline: 31 October 2019

When? 14–17 April 2020

Where? Oxford

Session abstracts:

S32.  Archaeological network research 1: spatial and temporal networks (Standard)

Convenors:

Philip Verhagen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Humanities
Tom Brughmans, University of Barcelona
Aline Deicke, Digital Academy, Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz
Natasa Djurdjevac Conrad, Zuse Institute Berlin
Grégoire van Havre, Universidade Federal do Piauí
Philip Riris, University College London

Explicitly including spatial or temporal information in network research is something that has come naturally to archaeologists. Our discipline has a long tradition of spatial analysis and of exploring long-term change in datasets and past phenomena. These are two areas where archaeologists did not look towards mathematicians, physicists and sociologists for inspiration, but rather developed original network methods based on a purely archaeological tradition. As such, they are some of the most promising research topics through which archaeologists can make unique contributions to network science.

But recognition of these contributions has still to materialise due to a number of challenges. How can we ensure these archaeology-inspired approaches become known, explored and applied in other disciplines? How precisely do these spatial and temporal archaeological approaches differ from existing network methods? What existing spatial and temporal approaches in archaeology show equal potential for inspiring new network research?

The spatial phenomena archaeologists address in their network research are rather narrow and can be grouped into three broad categories: movement-, visibility-, and interaction-related phenomena. The aim of network techniques in space syntax focus on exploring movement through urban space, whereas least-cost path networks tend to be used on landscape scales. Neither of these approaches have equivalents in network science (Verhagen et al. 2019). Archaeology has a strong tradition in visibility studies and is also pioneering its more diverse use in network research (Brughmans and Brandes 2017). Most visibility network analyses tend to explore theorised visual signalling networks or visual control over cultural and natural features. Most network methods used for exploring interaction potential between past communities or other cultural features belong to either absolute or relative distance approaches: such as maximum distance network, K-nearest neighbours (sometimes referred to as proximal point analysis (PPA)), beta-skeletons, relative neighbourhood network or Gabriel graph. These, however, are derived from computational geometry and have a long tradition in network research and computer science. Moreover, this is a not a field in which archaeologists seem to push the boundaries of network science (with perhaps a few exceptions; Knappett et al. 2008).

There are a few commonalities between the archaeological applications of these movement, visibility and interaction networks. They tend to be network data representations of traditional archaeological research approaches (e.g. viewsheds, least-cost paths, urban settlement structure, community interaction), and they tend to be applied on spatially large scales with the exception of space syntax (inter-island connectivity, landscape archaeology, regional visual signalling systems). How can we diversify spatial archaeological network research? How can we go beyond making network copies of what archaeologists have done before and rather draw on the unique feature of network data (the ability to formally represent dependencies) to develop even more original spatial network techniques? This seems to us like an eminently possible task for archaeologists.

Despite being at the core of archaeological research, the use of temporal (or longitudinal) network data is common but incredibly narrow in archaeological network research. By far the most common application is to consider dating evidence for nodes or edges and to chop up the resulting networks into predefined categories that could have a typological, culture historical or chronological logic (e.g. artefact type A; Roman Republican; 400-300 BC). This process results in subnetworks sometimes referred to as snapshots, the structure of which are explored in chronological order like a filmstrip. A significantly less common approach is to represent processes of network structural change as dynamic network models (e.g. Bentley et al. 2005), or to represent dynamic processes taking place on top of network structures (e.g. Graham 2006).

This research focus of temporal archaeological network research is not at all representative of the diverse and critical ways archaeologists study temporal change. How can the archaeological research tradition inspire new temporal network approaches? How can the use of dynamic network models become more commonly applied? What temporal approaches from network science have archaeologists neglected to adopt? How can, for example, studies modelling the evolution of networks suggest explanations for the levels of complexity observed in past networks?

This session welcomes papers on archaeological network research including but not exclusive to these challenges. We also invite you to present your work on the topics of missing data, cross-disciplinary collaboration and teaching networks in the linked session ‘Archaeological network research 2’.

References

Bentley, R., Lake, M., & Shennan, S. (2005). Specialisation and wealth inequality in a model of a clustered economic network. Journal of Archaeological Science, 32(9), 1346–1356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2005.03.008

Brughmans, T., & Brandes, U. (2017). Visibility network patterns and methods for studying visual relational phenomena in archaeology. Frontiers in Digital Humanities: Digital Archaeology, 4(17). https://doi.org/doi.org/10.3389/fdigh.2017.00017

Graham, S. (2006). Networks, Agent-Based Models and the Antonine Itineraries: Implications for Roman Archaeology. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 19(1), 45–64. https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.2006.19.1.45

Knappett, C., Evans, T., & Rivers, R. (2008). Modelling maritime interaction in the Aegean Bronze Age. Antiquity, 82(318), 1009–1024. Retrieved from http://antiquity.ac.uk/Ant/082/1009/ant0821009.pdf

Verhagen, P., Nuninger, L. & Groenhuijzen, M. R. (2019). Modelling of pathways and movement networks in archaeology: an overview of current approaches. In: Verhagen, P., J. Joyce & M.R. Groenhuijzen (eds.) Finding the Limits of the Limes: Modelling Demography, Economy and Transport on the Edge of the Roman Empire. Cham: Springer, p. 217-249. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04576-0_11

S33.  Archaeological network research 2: missing data, cross-disciplinary collaboration and teaching networks (Standard)

Convenors:

Grégoire van Havre, Universidade Federal do Piauí – Department of Archaeology
Tom Brughmans, University of Barcelona
Aline Deicke, Digital Academy, Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz
Natasa Djurdjevac Conrad, Zuse Institute Berlin
Grégoire van Havre, Universidade Federal do Piauí
Philip Riris, University College London
Philip Verhagen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Humanities

New challenges emerge as network research becomes ever more common in archaeology: can we develop new network methods for dealing with missing archaeological data, how can cross-disciplinary collaborations be leveraged to make original contributions to both archaeology and network science, and how do we teach archaeological network research in the classroom?

Although a range of techniques exist in both archaeology and network science for dealing with missing data and data uncertainty, the fragmentation of the material record presents a challenge – made more explicit through the use of formal methods – that is hard to tackle. Much of the task of identifying network science equivalents of archaeological missing data techniques remains to be done, and there is a real need for identifying how archaeological approaches could lead to the development of new network mathematical and statistical techniques. But by far most pressing is the need to formally express data uncertainty and absence in our archaeological network research.

Like many other aspects of archaeological network research, this challenge should be faced through cross-disciplinary collaboration with mathematicians, statisticians and physicists. Archaeological network research has a great track record of such collaborations, but not all of them have been successful and not all archaeologists find it equally easy to identify collaborators in other disciplines. How can we facilitate the communication between scholars with different disciplinary backgrounds? How can we foster archaeological network research that holds potential contributions to archaeology as well as other disciplines? What events and resources should be developed to provide a platform for cross-disciplinary contact and collaboration?

Now that archaeological network research is slowly becoming recognised as an archaeological subdiscipline in its own right, the topic increasingly finds itself in the curriculum of postgraduate modules and summer schools. But this rapid growth is almost exclusively marked by research and has neglected the development of teaching resources and approaches. What resources are necessary? What lines of argumentation and case studies are particularly powerful for convincing students of the need to see network research as part of our discipline? Which foundations (e.g. data literacy, statistics, and more) have to be laid to facilitate the widespread adoption of formal methods in general into our research processes?

This session welcomes papers on archaeological network research including but not exclusive to these new challenges.  We also invite you to present your work on the topics of spatial and temporal networks in the linked session ‘Archaeological network research 1’.

 

CAA 2020 Oxford call for a networks session

Please see below the call for sessions for the CAA 2020 conference in Oxford. I will be attending and would love to co-chair a network research session. If anyone is interested in brainstorming with me about a possible network topic for the session and in co-chairing the session with me then please do get in touch in the coming days.

We are delighted to announce that the call for sessions for next year’s international Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology conference (CAA 2020) is now open.  The call for sessions and submission form can be found here:
Call for sessions – CAA 2020

The closing date for session submissions is 18th July 2019.  Full details regarding the call for sessions can be found at the link above.

The conference will take place from 14th to 17th April 2020 in Oxford, UK, hosted by the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford.  More details can be found in the following locations:

CAA2020 website: https://2020.caaconference.org/

CAA2020 on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CAA_2020

CAA2020 on Facebook: Security Check Required

Email the CAA2020 team at: caa2020@arch.ox.ac.uk

CAA networks session (S26) deadline 10 October

Submit your abstract before the 10 October deadline!

We invite abstracts for our session on archaeological network research (S26) at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology conference, Kraków 23-27 April 2019.

Deadline 10 October.

Submission link: https://2019.caaconference.org/call-for-papers/

Archaeological network research: formal network representation of archaeological theories

Paula Gheorghiade (Department of Art, University of Toronto)

Tom Brughmans (School of Archaeology, University of Oxford)

In this session we aim to discuss and encourage the explicit representation of archaeological theories as network data, and the explicit theoretical motivation of network science method selection.

Formal network science methods are increasingly commonly applied in archaeological research to study diverse aspects of past human behaviour. The vast majority of these applications concern the use of exploratory network analysis techniques to study the structure of a network representation of an archaeological dataset, which often lead to a better insight into the structure of the dataset, help identify issues or missing data, and highlight interesting or surprising data patterning.

Less common is the explicitly formulated theoretical motivation of exploratory network analysis tool selection. What tools are appropriate representations of my theorized assumptions? What tools violate my theoretical framework? Equally uncommon is the formal representation of archaeological theories (rather than archaeological data) as network data. What network data pattern do I expect to see as the outcome of a theorized process? What does a theorized past relational phenomenon look like in network terms?

Taking explicitly formulated theories rather than datasets as the starting point of archaeological network research is useful for a number of reasons. It forces the researcher to specify the theory that will enable its formal representation, and possibly improve or modify it through this process. It allows for understanding the behaviour and data predictions of a theory: in exploring the structure of the theorized relationships, the implications for processes taking place on theorized networks, and the evolution of theorized network structure. It facilitates the selection of appropriate network analytical tools that best express the theory or that are appropriate in light of the assumptions inherent in the theory. Finally, it allows for comparisons of data patterns simulated as the outcome of a theorized network process with archaeological observations, to evaluate the plausibility of the theory.

This session welcomes presentations on the following topics:

• Archaeological network research: applications, methods or theories

• Network representation of archaeological theories

• Testing archaeological theories with network science

• Using network configurations, motifs and graphlets for representing theories

• Exponential random graph modelling

• Agent-based network modelling

• Spatial network modelling

CAA UK 2018 Edinburgh CFP

The UK chapter of CAA hosts a conference each year, a perfect opportunity for UK-based researchers to get in touch with their community of computational archaeology practitioners. It’s been a very good place to showcase archaeological network research in the past, so send in those abstracts.

CFP deadline 23 February 2018.

The organisers of CAA-UK 2018 would like to invite papers and posters for the 2018 meeting, to be held in Edinburgh, at Augustine, 41-43 George IV Bridge, EH1 1EL. On the 26th-27th October.

The use of quantitative methods and computer applications in heritage is an ever-changing discipline, with new software becoming available and new processes being created every day.

We would like to invite the submission of papers and posters related to the general topics of quantitative methods and computer applications in heritage. Topics that could be covered include:

• Archaeogaming
• Data management
• Geophysics & Remote sensing
• GIS & Geospatial Analysis
• Integration of scientific and theoretical methods in computing
• Photogrammetry & 3D Recording
• Public Engagement
• Semantic web
• Social media
• Simulations
• Statistical methods
• Visualisation & 3D modelling
• Visualisation & Mixed Reality in Archaeology
• Website development in the heritage sector

Please note that this list is not exhaustive and we will consider submissions on any relevant topics.

Speakers will be allocated a maximum of 20 minutes for presentations. Please send your
abstracts to the organisers at: caaukedinburgh@gmail.com

The deadline for abstract submission is Friday 23rd February 2018.

Agents, networks and models: CFP for our CAA2018 session

We welcome abstracts from those studying the human past using tools from network science, agent-based modelling and other complexity science approaches.

What? A session at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Techniques in Archaeology (CAA) conference

CFP deadline: 22 October

When? 19-23 March 2018

Submission URL

Agents, networks and models: formal approaches to systems, relationships and change in archaeology

Iza Romanowska
Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain

Tom Brughmans
University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Benjamin Davies
University of Auckland, New Zealand

Even if much ink has already been spilled on the need to use formal, computational methods to represent theories, compare alternative hypotheses and develop more complex narratives, the idea is still far from being firmly established in archaeology.

Complexity Science, the study of systems consisting of a collection of interconnected relationships and parts, provides a useful framework for formalising social and socio-natural models and it is often under this umbrella term that formal models are presented in archaeology. It has a particular appeal for researchers concerned with humans, as it stresses the importance of individual actions and interactions, as well as relations between individuals and wider system elements. Archaeology is a discipline that studies long-term, large-scale shifts in social change, human evolution, and relationships with the environment; how these phenomena emerge through the actions and interactions of individuals are questions that lie at the heart of our interests. Complexity Science offers an arsenal of methods that were developed specifically to tackle these kind of mulitscalar, multifaceted research questions.

This session will provide a forum for archaeological case studies developed using Complexity Science toolkits as well as for more methodological papers. We invite submissions of models at any stage of development from the first formalisation of the conceptual model to presenting final results.

Possible topics include but are not limited to applications or discussions of the following approaches:

• Complexity science,
• Network science,
• Agent-based and equation-based modelling,
• System dynamics,
• Long-term change in social systems,
• Social simulation in geographical space,
• Complex urban systems, space syntax, gravity models.

Submit your work to the new CAA journal!

Finally those of us developing and applying computational techniques to the study of the human past have an appropriate place to publish our work. At last year’s CAA conference in Atlanta the new Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology was launched! A much needed journal on a topic that’s booming. It’s entirely open access and supports online data deposition. The journal has an open rolling call for papers: submit now!

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology (JCAA) publishes high quality, original papers that focuses on research on the interface between archaeology and informatics. This peer-reviewed journal provides immediate open access.

We now invite high quality papers on all the aspects of digital archaeology, including, – but not restricted to – databases and semantic web, statistics and data mining, 3D modelling, GIS, spatial analysis, remote sensing and geophysics, other field recording techniques, simulation modelling, network analysis and digital reconstructions of the past for consideration for publication in the Journal. Papers can be targeted towards scientific research, cultural heritage management and/or public archaeology.

We accept papers falling in one of the following four categories:

• Research articles, describing the outcomes and application of unpublished original research
• Case studies, expanding on the application of established technologies/methods to shed light on archaeological enquiries.
• Position papers, summarising and reflecting upon current trends in the application of established or new technologies, methods or theories.
• Reviews, covering topics such as current controversies or the historical development of studies as well as issues of regional or temporal focus.

Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Manuscript Preparation

Please refer to the Journal Information and submission instructions for Author about manuscript preparation: http://jcaa.ubiquitypress.com/about/submissions/
All manuscripts should be submitted online at:
http://jcaa.ubiquitypress.com/about/submissions/

Publication Frequency

The journal is published online as a continuous volume and issue throughout the year. Articles are made available as soon as they are ready to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays in getting content publicly available.

Article Processing Charge

JCAA is a full Open Access journal. Accepted papers will be published upon payment of a £300 Article Processing Charge. For APC waiver options, please contact the Editors.

For further information please refer to the JCAA website or contact the JCAA Editorial Team at journal@caa-international.org .

digiTAG2: Archaeological Storytelling and the ‘Digital Turn’

Source:  Dr. Sara Perry’s blog. By Sara Perry and James Taylor.

 

There is a perception of a divide between archaeological communities dedicated to different topics, and there definitely is quite a bit of miscommunication of research between theoretical and digital archaeology communities. This often leads to archaeologists taking an extreme and unconstructive stance towards the work done in other communities. In my opinion this is a total waste of energy that should be spent on more in-depth critical engagement with digital and theoretical archaeology. But there are very few initiatives that provide a platform for members of different communities to discuss their work in a constructive and friendly way; there is a need for such platforms that help us achieve better, richer ways of doing archaeology.

 

This is exactly the kind of necessary opportunity provided by digiTAG! One of the most popular sessions at CAA last year was not about networks (surprise surprise) but ‘digiTAG’: a cool new initiative stimulating cross-feritilization between communities predominantly concerned with digital (CAA) and theoretical (TAG) topics. A second session is now announced, to be held at TAG in Southampton on 19-21 December 2016. I strongly recommend attending or presenting at this session.

The following post on Dr. Sara Perry’s blog provides more information about the event. The session focuses on storytelling and the digital turn, which I find great topics for building bridges! Although I think the digital has been turning for a very long time in archaeology and has been ubiquitous in archaeological research for about the last two decades in some form or other. That said, I think there is a massive need for more original creative uses of digital methods that don’t just allow us to do what we did before faster and applied to more data, but that allow us to do entirely new things that push our knowledge of the past further. There is a lack of this in digital archaeology, and I don’t mind turning more in that direction.

I’m so pleased to announce that Dr James Taylor and myself will be hosting a follow-up to our successful first digiTAG (digital Theoretical Archaeology Group) event held in Oslo in the springtime. Sponsored by both TAG and the CAA (Computing Applications in Archaeology), digiTAG II will feature at the TAG UK conference in Southampton, 19-21 December, 2016.

Our aim through the digiTAG series is to deepen our critical engagements w digital media and digital methods in archaeology and heritage. digiTAG II seeks to focus our thinking specifically on digital tools as they are enrolled in creating stories about the past. To this end, we are looking for contributors to talk about, experiment with, involve or otherwise immerse us in their archaeological/heritage storytelling work.

Such storytelling work may entail innovating with:

• lab or excavation reports
• recording sheets
• maps, plans, section views, sketches, illustrations, and other forms of on-site visual recording
• collections and databases
• data stories or data ethnographies
• digital data capture (survey, photogrammetry, laser scanning, remote sensing, etc.)
• artefact or museums catalogues
• digital media forms (VR, AR, videogames, webpages, apps, etc.)
• books or manuscripts
• articles, zines, comics, news reports, art pieces
• audioguides, podcasts, music or sound installations
• maps, trails, panels, labels, guidebooks, brochures, and other forms of interpretation & interpretative infrastructure
• touch maps, handling materials/collections, tactile writing systems, 3d prints, models & more!

We welcome both traditional conference papers, as well as more experimental forms of (analogue or digital) argumentation, narrativising and delivery of your digiTAG II presentation. Please submit your abstracts (up to 250 words) tojames.s.taylor@york.ac.uk by 15 November.

We hope to hear from you & don’t hesitate to contact us with questions. The full CFP is copied below:

TAG and the CAA present…

digiTAG 2: Archaeological Storytelling and the ‘Digital Turn’

Session organisers:

Dr. James Taylor (University of York) – primary correspondant.

james.s.taylor@york.ac.uk

Dr. Sara Perry (University of York)

sara.perry@york.ac.uk

Abstract:

In April of 2016 the Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) teamed up with the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) conference to run a successful Digital TAG (digiTAG) session in Oslo, Norway. This session sought to question, challenge, appraise and reconceive the epistemological and research-oriented implications of the digital turn in archaeology, including its larger social, political and economic consequences.

That event, building on a long history of engagement with digital processes and digital media at both the TAG and CAA conferences, brought together 15 practitioners from around the world working in all domains of archaeology–from the lab to the field, from the museum to the classroom. Here they situated their (and others’) use of digital technologies within wider theoretical contexts, and with critical self-awareness, thereby opening up a space for rigorous evaluations of impact and reflections on overall disciplinary change. digiTAG 2 now aims to build upon the success of the first digiTAG, extending critical conversation about the discipline’s digital engagements at a finer-grained level in concert with a diverse audience of theoretical archaeologists.

However, digiTAG 2 seeks to narrow our discussion, in specific, on the concept of digital storytelling and the ramifications of the digital turn on larger interpretations of the past. Given the frequency and intensity with which digital media are now enrolled to structure, articulate, visualise and circulate information for the production of archaeological narratives, we invite participants to present papers that critically consider the impact of the digital turn upon archaeological interpretation and archaeology’s many stories.

Whether you direct your digital engagements at professional, academic or non-specialist audiences – whether you deploy digital tools for data collection, data analysis, synthesis, and dissemination or beyond – we ask, how are your stories affected? Does the digital enable new and different narratives? Does it extend or narrow audience engagement? When does it harm or hinder, complicate or obfuscate? And when – and for whom – does it create richer, more meaningful storytelling about the past?

To explore these questions, we encourage both traditional conference papers, as well as more experimental forms of (analogue or digital) argumentation, narrativising and delivery of your talk. Ultimately, digiTAG 2 aims to delve into the critical implications of archaeologists’ use of digital technologies on processes of knowledge creation.

Submit titles & abstracts (up to 250 words) to james.s.taylor@york.ac.uk by 15 November 2016.

Love sampling, stats and networks? (really?) Present at our CAA 2017 session in Atlanta!

The CAA call for papers and posters is now open until 28 October! The full list of sessions is published here. Among them you will notice a most awesomely appealing title: “Archaeological Networks: Uncertainty, Missing Data, and Statistical Inference”. Fancy nerding out on networks, stats and sampling? Then present a paper in the session Matt Peeples and myself will chair.

Archaeological Networks: Uncertainty, Missing Data, and Statistical Inference

Empirical studies of networks based on archaeological data are on a rapid rise. So far, the adoption of network methods from other fields has outpaced the development of new techniques and heuristics for dealing with the sometimes peculiar qualities of archaeological network data. Key among the issues faced by archaeologists interested in using networks are the impact of uncertainty and missing data on the properties of the networks we generate. We often must build networks based on an incomplete universe of nodes (because our units of analysis lack current archaeological information or have been destroyed) as well as incomplete information about the nodes we do have (due to sampling issues, different recording conventions, etc.). Further, we often have no consistent way to estimate how much information we are missing. The prevalence of such known unknowns and unknown unknowns suggest that we must carefully temper inferences drawn from networks defined using archaeological data. Importantly, all hope is not lost and these challenges are not unique to archaeology or network data alone. In this session, we ask contributors to explore the potential impact of missing data on empirical archaeological networks and/or test tools and approaches for identifying robust patterns in archaeological networks despite such challenges. Approaches may include, for example, the use of probabilistic estimates and sensitivity analysis already popular in many other areas of archaeological statistical analysis such as seriation or methods specific to network data drawing on the large body of research focused on estimating the shape and properties of so called “dark” networks (common in studies of covert organizations, epidemiology, and infectious disease). In addition, this session welcomes archaeological applications of network methods in general.

TomBrughmans

MattPeeples

CAA 2017 Atlanta call for sessions closes tomorrow

If you have not done so already, time to submit your session proposal for next year’s CAA conference in Atlanta.The deadline is the 26th of August, tomorrow. You can submit your session proposal here, and for more information about the workshop submission process see the CAA2017 website.

Network analysis at CAA NL-FL-DE in Ghent

It’s not often that I get to see network analysis as one of the themes in an archaeological conference! So I’m delighted to see it feature so prominently at this year’s joint meeting of the CAA Netherlands/Flanders and Germany joint meeting. I presented at the conference last year and can definitely recommend it. Do consider submitting an abstract or attending. There’s also a LIDAR workshop for those who are into that.

When? 24-25 November 2016

Where? Ghent, Belgium

Deadline Call for Papers: 1 September 2016

Joint Chapter Meeting CAA-DE and CAA-NL-FL 2016.

Ghent University, November 24th – November 25th, 2016

CAA Netherlands/Flanders is pleased to inform you that the 2016 Joint Chapter Meeting of CAA Netherlands/Flanders and CAA Germany will be held in in Ghent, Belgium, November 24–25, 2016, in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology of Ghent University and the Flemish Heritage Agency. This conference will be the fourth in a row after three successful conferences in Münster (2010), Groningen (2012) and Cologne (2014). Like in previous years, participation is not limited to members of both CAA chapters but open to all interested colleagues. Students are especially welcome to attend.

The aim of the CAA meetings is to bring together academic and commercial archaeologists with a particular interest in using mathematics and computer science for archaeological research. For the 2016 Joint Chapter Meeting of CAA, we kindly invite papers focussing on the following themes (for details see below):

• Statistical Analysis / Network Analysis in Archaeology
• Remote Sensing and Landscape Archaeology
• Digital Archaeology and the Wider Public
• Archival and Management of (3D) Archaeological Data

The conference will be preceded by a LiDAR-workshop (November 23rd, 2016). During this workshop, participants will learn what LiDAR data is, how to effectively work with LiDAR (e.g. by building digital elevation and surface models and by looking into different LiDAR visualisation and analysis techniques), and how to use it for archaeological research.

Location
The venue will take place in the Virginie Lovelinggebouw (VAC) in Ghent, located immediately next Ghent’s main train station (Gent-Sint-Pieters).
Address:
Virginie Lovelinggebouw (VAC)
Koningin Maria Hendrikaplein 70
9000 Gent
Belgium
http://www.vlaanderen.be/nl/vlaamse-overheid/virginie-lovelinggebouw-vac…

Programme
November 23rd, 14h – 18h: LiDAR workshop
November 24th, 09h – 18h: Conference
November 25th, 09h – 18h: Conference

Abstract Submission Guidelines
We welcome proposals for 20 minute papers on any of the above topics. Abstract in English should be sent to meeting2016@caanlfl.nl, by (September 1st, 2016). Abstracts will be considered by the committees of CAA NL/FL and CAA DE. Abstract should include name and surname, university, institute or company (if applicable), address and telephone number, e-mail, session for which is applied, and abstract text (max 500 words).

Prices

• Early bird registration: € 30 (students: € 20)
• Regular: € 40 (students: € 25)
• LiDAR workshop: € 10

Register early as space is limited.

Important Dates

• September 1st, 2016: Deadline for Abstract Submission
• October 1st, 2016: Notification of Acceptance
• September 15th, 2016 to October 30th, 2016: Early Bird Registration
• November 1st, 2016: Regular registration

Conference Topics
Statistical Analysis / Network Analysis in Archaeology
Archaeological research relies on large and diverse datasets. Directly analysing or comparing these datasets to detect meaningful trends or patterns is often not ‘easy’ or straightforward. Statistical and quantitative methods can provide valuable methods in this respect, when applied in a critical manner. Apart from such approaches, in recent years also network analysis has risen as a means for examining the structure of archaeological relationships and deciphering the complexity of archaeological datasets.
This session will explore the current state of the art of these methods, and showcase some best practices in applying these approaches to archaeological data.

Remote Sensing and Landscape Archaeology
Archaeology predominantly used to focus on the study of excavations results of ‘sites’, i.e. locations in the landscape with concentrations of past activities. The rise of ‘landscape archaeology’ and the widespread and ever increasing application of remote sensing methods since the 1980’s has shifted this focus to wider geographical frameworks, allowing for a more ‘holistic’ approach regarding the study of past activities in the natural and ‘cultural’ landscapes. In recent years, the amount, quality and resolution of remote sensing datasets (LiDAR, multi- and hyperspectral photography, geophysical techniques…) has increased enormously.
This session focuses on how to cope with these large amounts of remote sensing data and how an integrated and/or innovative approach of these technologies can lead to new insights of past landscapes.

Digital Archaeology and the Wider Public
In the last decades, there is a trend in the archaeological community to increase public awareness and involvement. Even though the connection with one’s past is very clear, public interest in archaeology remains limited.
Digital technologies increasingly introduce new possibilities of communicating with the public. This session focuses on how interactive, 3D and 4D technologies can help in communicating the results of archaeological research to a broad public, help to improve the awareness of archaeological research, and help to improve public engagement or participation in the archaeological community.

Archival and Management of (3D) Archaeological Data
In recent years, the practice of archaeological fieldwork evolved from two-dimensional pen and paper recordings over digital documentation towards full three-dimensional documentation. This challenges not only the application of new practices of fieldwork, but also the way these new digital archives are used and managed. Several problems arise, for example regarding the evolution of software, the durability of digital carriers and data formats. This session aims to deal with the challenges of new ways of data collection and analysis and the consequences for long-term data use, management, archiving and accessibility.

LiDAR-workshop
During this preconference workshop, participants will learn what LiDAR data is, how to effectively work with LiDAR (e.g. by building digital elevation and surface models and by looking into different LiDAR visualisation and analysis techniques), and how to use it for archaeological research.

CAA call for six Scientific Committee posts and four CAA committee posts

Subject: call for candidates for six open Scientific Committee posts and four open CAA committee posts

Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) invites applications for one of six open Scientific Committee posts. We also remind CAA members of our previous call for four open steering committee posts: outreach officer, treasurer, publication officer, bursary and student/low income officer.

From 2016 CAA will have a scientific committee to oversee the scientific quality of work presented at its conferences over the coming years. The work of the scientific committee will concern exclusively the scientific quality of the sessions, papers and posters. Candidates do not have to be current CAA members but have experience with the CAA community and conferences. Candidates must express an interest in the posts before 29 February 2016 by sending a CV and motivational statement demonstrating their experience with the CAA conferences to the CAA secretary. The tasks of the scientific committee are listed below. Please contact the CAA secretary if additional information is required.

The current treasurer and publication officer will stand down at CAA2016 in Oslo, the outreach and the bursary and student/low income officers are two new posts. Candidates must be CAA members and applications by all CAA members will be considered. CAA encourages in particular applications from female and non-European CAA members. The tasks associated with these posts are given below. Candidates must express an interest in the posts before 29 February 2016 by sending a motivational statement and CV to the CAA secretary. Please contact the CAA secretary if additional information is required. To become a CAA member, please visit our website.

CAA is a growing international community with an active membership of over 500 academics and professionals with a shared interest in archaeological computing. The CAA has organised annual international conferences since 1973 and has 14 national chapters spread across the globe. As an officer of CAA you will help carry on this strong tradition by coordinating CAA’s organisation throughout the year and by encouraging the continued growth of a diverse and inspiring community.

The outreach officer is a steering committee (SC) post (ex-officio member of the executive steering committee [ESC]) that will be filled by the most appropriate candidate selected by the CAA ESC from all received applications. The other three are ESC Officer posts. ESC officers are elected by CAA members at the Annual General Meeting for terms of three years, and each officer may hold their post for up to two terms. It is then however possible to be elected for a different post. Candidates must be able to commit an estimated equivalent of three weeks of full-time work spread throughout the year to CAA business. Candidates must also be able to attend the yearly conference and an ESC meeting at the conference venue (or sometimes via Skype) usually in December/January before the conference (financial assistance is available for this pre-conference meeting but not for the conference itself). The election of officers for these three posts will happen by CAA members during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) at CAA Oslo (29 March – 2 April 2016). If there are multiple candidates for a post, the candidates will be asked to give a short (2 minute) motivational statement at the AGM before the vote takes place.

Scientific committee (ScC)

Candidates for these posts have experience with the CAA community and conferences, but are not required to be CAA members at time of application. The ScC will consist of 13 individuals including a member of the local organising committee of the CAA conference and an ScC chair.

The tasks of the ScC include:

• The ScC is responsible for overseeing the scientific quality of session, paper and poster proposals, and has the final say on accepting or rejecting contributions.
• The ScC and its chair will perform their tasks in a consistent and transparent manner
• The role of the ScC is limited to the conference activities and it is not involved in the quality control of the publications (this is the responsibility of the Editorial Board).
• The ScC chair is responsible for allocating tasks to ScC members, for coordinating the activities of the ScC with those of the local organiser, and for communicating with the ESC.
• The local organiser is a member of the ScC and will communicate practical limitations of the conference (e.g. number of rooms, maximum number of parallel sessions, maximum number of sessions) with the ScC chair.
• The ScC and its Chair will work according to the published responsibilities and guidelines as approved by CAA members at the AGM.

Candidates interested in applying for these posts should send a short motivational statement demonstrating their experience with the CAA conferences and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016.

Outreach (NEW CAA steering committee post)

Candidates for this post will probably be young, creative and pro-active CAA members who have experience and interest in communication, social media, and outreach aimed at diversifying communities.

The tasks of this new post will include:

•          Actively encourage new areas of membership and the diversity of the CAA community
•          Share news, deadlines, advertising of CAA on selected social media and the CAA website
•          Responsible for all external communication of CAA, but not to the membership (which is done by the Membership Secretary)
•          Advise local organisers of social media strategies
•          Oversee our connection to and collaboration with other conferences and academic communities (UISPP, DH, TAG, WAC). Consultation on conference dates and venues with these communities
•          Provide an annual report of activities

Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016.

Bursary and student/low income officer (NEW CAA executive steering committee post)

The tasks of this new post will include:

•          Coordinate student/low-income bursaries
•          Chair the bursary committee
•          Coordinate handing out of bursaries
•          Coordinate Nick Ryan bursary
•          Coordinate the student/low-income representation
•          Liaise with local organisers regarding affordable fees/accommodation

The creation of this new ESC post is subject to the acceptance of a modified CAA constitution incorporating this post, which will be proposed at and voted on during the Annual General Meeting in Oslo before the officer’s elections.

Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016. Candidates are invited to get in touch with the current student/low income SC officer (John Pouncett, bursaries@caaconference.org) to find out more about the responsibilities and future duties.

Treasurer (CAA executive steering committee post)

The Treasurer deals with all financial activities of CAA, including:

• Keeping a detailed overview of finances
• All CAA related bills apart from those directly linked to conference organisation
• Organise annual auditing
• Managing bank accounts
• Primary contact for financial information regarding CAA
• Reporting all this to the officers and membership

The treasurer is also a member of the bursary committee, which is responsible for deciding which applicants will receive bursaries to attend the conference. Any incoming bursary application is decided by this committee on the basis of a set of rules, which will be published on the CAA webpage.

Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016. Candidates are invited to get in touch with the current treasurer (Axel Posluschny, treasurer@caa-international.org) to find out more about the responsibilities and future duties of the CAA treasurer.

Publication officer (CAA executive steering committee post)

The Publication Officer is responsible for ensuring and organizing the publication of the annual conference proceedings. S/he will be supported by an Editorial Board, consisting of other members of the SC, including co-opted ex officio members and the CAA Review College. Any member of CAA can be co-opted as an Editorial Board member by the ESC upon request from the Publication Officer.

Tasks of the publication officer include:

• Communication with publishers
• Communicating with and directing local organizers where it concerns the publication process
• Occasionally communicating with Editorial Board to discuss relevant issues
• Occasionally answering questions on publication issues from members
• Maintaining publication guidelines
• Maintaining Review College database and communicating with its members
• Digital archiving of Proceedings
• Continue the new publication plan for 2016 and beyond, including digital proceedings and the CAA journal

Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016. Candidates are invited to get in touch with the current publication officer (Philip Verhagen, publications@caa-international.org) to find out more about the responsibilities and future duties.

2-day ABM workshop

If you want to learn how to use networks in an ABM environment then join this free 2-day workshop. A lot of ABM related topics will be taught, including networks. So sign up! More info below and in this leaflet.

Agent-based modelling (ABM) has taken by storm disciplines from all corners of the scientific spectrum, from ecology to medical research and social sciences and it is becoming increasingly popular in archaeology.

Now it is your turn to give it go!

Learn how to use the simulation software and explore how this popular complexity science technique can complement your research. This two-day workshop will provide an introduction to ABM using NetLogo – an open-source platform for building agent-based models, which combines user-friendly interface, simple coding language and a vast library of model examples, making it an ideal starting point for entry-level agent-based modellers, as well as a useful prototyping tool for more experienced programmers.

For more details see the Workshop leaflet.

To secure a place please send an email to i.romanowska at soton.ac.uk<http://soton.ac.uk> expressing your interest and briefly describing your background and the reasons why you want to attend. The event is free of charge, but you need to register to the CAA conference. Please note that places are limited and early applications will be given preference.

If you are:
an undergraduate, master or PhD student in archaeology, anthropology, history or a similar subject, an early career researcher, a lecturer, a commercial archaeologists or a heritage specialist

and if
● you are interested in computational modelling and simulations, or
● you work on a complex problem which can only be solved by modelling, or
● your supervisor told you to ‘go an learn how to do simulations’, or
● your students seem to be doing some magic with computers and you want to
help them but don’t know the tools, or
● you have once heard of agent-based modelling so you want to check what is
the whole fuss about, then this workshop is for you!

What will you learn?
● the theory and practice of agent-based modelling;
● how to create an archaeological simulation;
● basic and intermediate programming skills in NetLogo;
● the modelling process, from finding the right research questions to publishing your groundbreaking results;
● how to make your code better, clearer and faster;
● NetLogo extensions incorporating GIS, network science, and stats.

Coding experience is NOT required.
You need to bring your own laptop.

Join the CAA! Call for candidates for four open CAA committee posts

I love the CAA and I thoroughly enjoy being able to give something back to this community by being CAA secretary. If you think this is a great community and are keen to be involved, consider applying for one of the open positions!

Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) invites CAA members to apply for one of four open committee posts: outreach officer, treasurer, publication officer, bursary and student/low income officer. The current treasurer and publication officer will stand down at CAA2016 in Oslo, the outreach and the bursary and student/low income officers are two new posts. Candidates must be CAA members and applications by all CAA members will be considered. CAA encourages in particular applications from female or non-European CAA members. The tasks associated with these posts are given below. Candidates must express an interest in the posts before 29 February 2016 by sending a motivational statement and CV to the CAA secretary. Please contact the CAA secretary if additional information is required. To become a CAA member, please visit our website.

CAA is a growing international community with an active membership of over 500 academics and professionals with a shared interest in archaeological computing. The CAA has organised annual international conferences since 1973 and has 14 national chapters spread across the globe. As an officer of CAA you will help carry on this strong tradition by coordinating CAA’s organisation throughout the year and by encouraging the continued growth of a diverse and inspiring community.

The outreach officer is a steering committee (SC) post (ex-officio member of the executive steering committee [ESC]) that will be filled by the most appropriate candidate selected by the CAA ESC from all received applications.

The other three are ESC Officer posts. ESC officers are elected by CAA members at the Annual General Meeting for terms of three years, and each officer may hold their post for up to two terms. It is then however possible to be elected for a different post. Candidates must be able to commit an estimated equivalent of three weeks of full-time work spread throughout the year to CAA business. Candidates must also be able to attend the yearly conference and an ESC meeting at the conference venue (or sometimes via Skype) usually in December/January before the conference (financial assistance is available for this pre-conference meeting but not for the conference itself). The election of officers for these three posts will happen by CAA members during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) at CAA Oslo (29 March – 2 April 2016). If there are multiple candidates for a post, the candidates will be asked to give a short (2 minute) motivational statement at the AGM before the vote takes place.

Outreach (NEW CAA steering committee post)

Candidates for this post will probably be young, creative and pro-active CAA members who have experience and interest in communication, social media, and outreach aimed at diversifying communities.

The tasks of this new post will include:

• Actively encourage new areas of membership and the diversity of the CAA community
• Share news, deadlines, advertising of CAA on selected social media and the CAA website
• Responsible for all external communication of CAA, but not to the membership (which is done by the Membership Secretary)
• Advise local organisers of social media strategies
• Oversee our connection to and collaboration with other conferences and academic communities (UISPP, DH, TAG, WAC). Consultation on conference dates and venues with these communities
• Provide an annual report of activities

Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016.

Bursary and student/low income officer (NEW CAA executive steering committee post)

The tasks of this new post will include:

• Coordinate student/low-income bursaries
• Chair the bursary committee
• Coordinate handing out of bursaries
• Coordinate Nick Ryan bursary
• Coordinate the student/low-income representation
• Liaise with local organisers regarding affordable fees/accommodation

The creation of this new ESC post is subject to the acceptance of a modified CAA constitution incorporating this post, which will be proposed at and voted on during the Annual General Meeting in Oslo before the officer’s elections.

Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016. Candidates are invited to get in touch with the current student/low income SC officer (John Pouncett, bursaries@caaconference.org) to find out more about the responsibilities and future duties.

Treasurer (CAA executive steering committee post)

The Treasurer deals with all financial activities of CAA, including:

• Keeping a detailed overview of finances
• All CAA related bills apart from those directly linked to conference organisation
• Organise annual auditing
• Managing bank accounts
• Primary contact for financial information regarding CAA
• Reporting all this to the officers and membership

The treasurer is also a member of the bursary committee, which is responsible for deciding which applicants will receive bursaries to attend the conference. Any incoming bursary application is decided by this committee on the basis of a set of rules, which will be published on the CAA webpage.

Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016. Candidates are invited to get in touch with the current treasurer (Axel Posluschny, treasurer@caa-international.org) to find out more about the responsibilities and future duties of the CAA treasurer.

Publication officer (CAA executive steering committee post)

The Publication Officer is responsible for ensuring and organizing the publication of the annual conference proceedings. S/he will be supported by an Editorial Board, consisting of other members of the SC, including co-opted ex officio members and the CAA Review College. Any member of CAA can be co-opted as an Editorial Board member by the ESC upon request from the Publication Officer.

Tasks of the publication officer include:

• Communication with publishers
• Communicating with and directing local organizers where it concerns the publication process
• Occasionally communicating with Editorial Board to discuss relevant issues
• Occasionally answering questions on publication issues from members
• Maintaining publication guidelines
• Maintaining Review College database and communicating with its members
• Digital archiving of Proceedings
• Continue the new publication plan for 2016 and beyond, including digital proceedings and the CAA journal

Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016. Candidates are invited to get in touch with the current publication officer (Philip Verhagen, publications@caa-international.org) to find out more about the responsibilities and future duties.

Present your archaeological networks at CAA Oslo!

Do you have something to say about the way network methods are used in archaeology? Maybe you have some networky research lying around somewhere, begging to be presented. Or maybe you just need an excuse to come to Oslo and hang out with awesome academics! These are all good reasons to submit a paper to our networks session at CAA 2016 in Oslo (although I prefer the first two reasons to the third)! Together with Mereke van Garderen and Daniel Weidele, I will chair a session that aims to work towards best practice in archaeological network science. Since network methods are still very new in our discipline, there is a need to explore how they can be usefully and critically applied and developed to lead to insights that could not have been gained through any other approach. We believe there is a need to develop guidelines for best practice for archaeological network science that will help archaeologists explore the potential use of network science techniques for achieving their own research aims. Come join us and add your thoughts to the discussion!

Deadline call for papers: 25 October 2015
Session code: S16
Abstract below
Dates conference: 29 March – 2 April 2016
More CFP info: CAA website 

For those interested in getting their hands dirty and learning how to use the awesome network science software Visone: we will also host a workshop at CAA Oslo!

Networking the past: Towards best practice in archaeological network science

Mereke van Garderen, Tom Brughmans, Daniel Weidele

The full diversity of network perspectives has only been introduced in our discipline relatively recently. As a result we are still in the long-term process of evaluating which theories and methods are available, the ‘fit’ between particular network perspectives and particular research questions, and how to apply these critically. How can network science usefully contribute to archaeological research by enabling archaeologists to answer important questions they could not have answered through other approaches? In what circumstances is the use of network science techniques appropriate? There is a need to address these questions by working towards guidelines to best practice in archaeological network science. This is a goal that should be achieved by a community of scholars in collaboration, drawing on the lessons learned from applying network science critically and creatively in a diversity of archaeological research contexts.

This session aims to build on the growing interest in and maturity of archaeological networks science to lay the foundations of guidelines for best practice in archaeological network science. It invites papers debating best practice in archaeological network science, addressing methodological and theoretical challenges posed by the archaeological application of network science, or presenting archaeological case studies applying network science techniques. It particularly welcomes papers presenting work in which the use of network science techniques was necessary and well theoretically motivated, and papers applying network science to exploring ‘oceans of data’.

CAA 2016 Call for papers open

The call for papers and posters for the Computer Application and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) conference held 29 March – 2 April 2016 in Oslo (Norway) is now open. Submission can be uploaded via CAA conference management system.  Abstracts can contain up to 300 words. The submission deadline is 25 October 2015. Oral papers will present new and ground breaking research within the session themes. Oral presentations are limited to 20 minutes, with an additional 5 minutes provided at the end of each paper for questions. Presentations must be prepared in a way that is self-contained and work on all operating systems. One person may present one oral paper, but may also be a co-author of multiple papers. Authors can present both an oral paper and a poster. We will organise a digital poster gallery, in addition to the traditional printed poster presentations.

The annual CAA Conference is one of the major events in the calendar for scholars, specialists and experts in the field of computing technologies applied to archaeology.

The 44th Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology Conference (CAA 2016) has been given the theme “Exploring Oceans of Data”, in reference to Norway’s maritime heritage. The conference will address a multitude of topics. Through diverse case studies from all over the world, the conference will showcase ground-breaking technologies and best practice from various archaeological and computer-science disciplines. Archaeological documentation is, to an ever greater extent, born digital. Together with decades of digitalisation of archive material, we now have deep oceans of digital information that can and should be explored. Rivers worth of large data sets come from 3D, GIS, LIDAR, as well as near surface geophysical prospection.

The conference will bring together hundreds of participants from around the globe, immersing delegates in parallel sessions, workshops, tutorials and roundtables. The conference will be held at the University of Oslo, Norway, from March 29th to April 2nd 2016.

We warmly welcome participants and contributors from every corner of the world to the beautiful capital city of Norway. The harbour city of Oslo houses the spectacular Viking ships, which bravely set sail into the deep oceans some 1200 years ago.

For general information about the conference: caa2016conference@khm.uio.no

Announcing the complex systems simulation CAA special interest group

The last CAA meeting in Siena saw the creation of a new special interest group in complex systems simulation. This new group will be of interest to network fans as well. The chairs Iza Romanowska, Florencia del Castillo and Juan Antonio Barceló have plans to organise sessions, workshops and networking events around the CAA conferences and independently. They will use the Simulatingcomplexity blog as well as their mailing list to keep you informed on their activities and to offer help to those who wish to apply complex systems simulation techniques to their work. Subscribe!

Want to know what it’s all about? A word from the chairs:

The staggering complexity of past societies is well recognised in archaeology. Human groups often built intricate social systems, which consist of numerous individual elements interacting with each other and with the environment and producing phenomena that are not easy to anticipate or understand using non-quantitative methods. The standard scientific answer to the challenges of investigating such systems is the large family of simulation techniques and the theoretical paradigm known as Complexity Science. In the last few years these approaches (agent-based and equation-based modelling, systems dynamics, cellular automata, network analysis etc.), have become increasingly popular among the practitioners of archaeological computing, suggesting that the time is right to bring this growing community together.

Therefore, the aim of the new Special Interest Group in Complex Systems Simulation is to provide a strong communication platform for present and future researchers working in the complex systems simulation domain. In particular, we will strive to:

• provide continuity to the sessions and workshops concerned with computational modelling at the annual CAA conference and beyond,
• organise, coordinate and inform the members of other events related to complexity science and simulation,
• organise events aimed at training future complex systems modellers and the general archaeological audience,
• define and promote good practices in archaeological computational modelling,
• and, in the long term, we hope to bring simulation and other complexity science methods into mainstream archaeological practice.

To join the SIG simply sign up to the mailing list and join us at the sessions and workshops dedicated to simulation and complexity science at CAA 2016 in Oslo!

— posted on behalf of SIG leaders Florencia del Castillo, Iza Romanowska and Juan Antonio Barceló

CAA Germany workshop next week

The German chapter of CAA is meeting for their sixth workshop next week. Registration is still open, although the tutorials are fully booked. Still, the programme looks very interesting, so if you can I do recommend attending the event.

When? 6-7 February
Where? Dresden, Germany
Registration
Programme

CAA Siena Bursary deadline TOMORROW

Happy new year everyone!

We would like to remind you that the deadline for bursary applications to attend the 2015 Computer Application and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology conference (CAA) in Siena is tomorrow (7 January 2015). We encourage everyone who qualifies for the bursaries to apply (students, early career researchers and low income professionals or those from less affluent regions).  Also please note that applicants  with  successful appeals  will  be provided with  a  discount code so  that  they  can  register  at  the reduced  conference  rate after the deadline for  early  bird  registration  has  expired (until 21st March 2015).

More information and the application form can be found here: http://caa-international.org/bursaries/

 We hope to be able to welcome many of you in Siena!

Tom

Come to our networks session and workshop at CAA2015 in Siena!

We would like to bring a session on archaeological network science at the 2015 Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) meeting in Siena (Italy) to your attention. We welcome papers describing archaeological applications of network science, with a particular focus on the treatment of space and time in these applications. Please find the abstract below for more details. The call for papers for CAA2015 is now open, the submission deadline is 20 November 2014. The full list of CAA2015 sessions can be viewed here. Papers can be submitted here.
We will also host a practical workshop at CAA2015: Introduction to exploratory network analysis for archaeologists using Visone (abstract below). Registration for this workshop will open at a later date.

Geographical and temporal network science in archaeology

Tom Brughmans and Daniel Weidele

Formal network techniques are becoming an increasingly common addition to the archaeologist’s methodological toolbox. Archaeologists have adopted these techniques mainly from the fields of social network analysis, physics and mathematics, where they have been developed and applied for decades. However, network science techniques for the analysis or visualisation of geographical and long-term temporal phenomena have seen far less development than those for social and technological phenomena. Conversely, archaeology has a long tradition of studying long-term change of socio-cultural systems and spatial phenomena, a research focus and tradition that is a direct consequence of the nature of archaeological data and our ambition to use it as proxy evidence for past human behaviour. We believe this spatial and temporal research focus so common in archaeology could inspire the development of innovative spatial and temporal network science techniques.
This session welcomes archaeological applications of formal network science techniques. It particularly encourages elaboration on the geographical and temporal aspects of applications. What are the implications of working on large time-scales for the use of network science techniques and the interpretation of their outputs? How can the study of long-term change of social systems inspire the development of innovative network science techniques? What advantages do geographical network approaches offer over other spatial analysis techniques in archaeology? How can the long tradition of studying spatial phenomena in archaeology inspire the development of innovative network science techniques?

Introduction to exploratory network analysis for archaeologists using Visone

Daniel Weidele and Tom Brughmans

Network science techniques offer archaeologists the ability to manage, visualise, and analyse network data. Within different archaeological research contexts, network data can be used to represent hypothesised past social networks, geographically embedded networks like roads and rivers, the similarity of site assemblages, and much more.
A large number of software programs is available to work with network data. Visone is one of them and offers a number of advantages:
• Free to use for research purposes
• A user-friendly interactive graphical user interface
• Innovative network visualisations
• Exporting publication-quality raster and vector files
• The incorporation of statistical modelling techniques
This workshop introduces the basics of network data management, visualisation and analysis with Visone through practical examples using archaeological research questions and datasets. The workshop is aimed at archaeologists with no required previous experience with network science.
Participants should bring a laptop with Visone installed (download Visone: http://visone.info/ )
Maximum 20 participants.