Digital approaches and the ancient world

Classical studies, ancient history, classical archaeology: it can all do with more digital approaches! These are thriving disciplines that address challenging questions and through a wealth of diverse data types. But they are not always perceived as being on the forefront of theoretical and methodological innovations. Time to change that!

This themed issue of the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies titled ‘Digital Approaches and the Ancient World’ promises to do just that. Consider sending in a paper by the deadline of January 31 2016.

*Digital Approaches and the Ancient World*

A themed issue of the _Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies_

Editors:

Gabriel Bodard (University of London) gabriel.bodard@sas.ac.uk

Yanne Broux (KU Leuven) yanne.broux@arts.kuleuven.be

Ségolène Tarte (University of Oxford) segolene.tarte@oerc.ox.ac.uk

Call for papers:

We invite colleagues all around the world and at all stages of their careers to submit papers on the topic of “Digital Approaches and the Ancient World” to a themed issue of the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. The topic is to be construed as widely as possible, to include not only the history, archaeology, language, literature and thought of the ancient and late antique Mediterranean world, but also of antiquity more widely, potentially including, for example, South and East Asian, Sub-Saharan African or Pre-Columbian American history. Digital approaches may also vary widely, to include methodologies from the digital humanities and information studies, quantitative methods from the hard sciences, or other innovative and transdisciplinary themes.

Papers will be fully peer reviewed and selected for inclusion based not only on their research quality and significance, but especially on their ability to engage profoundly both with classics/history academic readers, and scholars from digital or informatic disciplines. We are keen to see papers that clearly lay out their disciplinary and interdisciplinary methodological approaches, and present and interpret the full range of scholarly and practical outcomes of their research.

We encourage the use of and direct reference to open online datasets in your papers. BICS is not currently an open access publication, but self-archiving of pre-press papers is permitted, and the editors believe in the transparency and accountability that comes with basing scientific work on open data.

To submit an article to this themed issue, please send your full paper of 4,000–8,000 words in Microsoft Word doc, docx or rtf format, to <gabriel.bodard@sas.ac.uk>, along with a 150 word abstract, by January 31, 2016. You do not need to follow BICS style for the initial submission, but please note that the final version of accepted articles will need to be formatted to adhere to our style guide (http://www.icls.sas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/STYLE-V15.pdf).

If you have any questions about this issue, please feel free to contact any of the editors informally.

Special networky issue Archaeological Review Cambridge

Networks are so hot right now in archaeology! I know of three archaeological journals publishing special issues on the topic very soon (will reveal this to you in later posts). Archaeological Review of Cambridge is the first of these to appear with a special issue titled ‘Social Network Perspectives in Archaeology’, edited by Kathrin Felder and Sarah Evans. The issue includes an editorial, a number of interesting papers, a reflective piece by Carl Knappett and some book reviews. I also published a paper in it titled ‘The roots and shoots of archaeological network analysis: A citation analysis and review of the archaeological use of formal network methods’. I will be introducing some pieces of this paper in future posts. For now, here is the contents of the special issue:

Social Network Perspectives in Archaeology
Issue 29.1, April 2014

Theme Editors: Sarah Evans and Kathrin Felder

Introduction
Making the connection: Changing perspectives on social networks
Sarah Evans and Kathrin Felder

The roots and shoots of archaeological network analysis: A citation analysis and review of the archaeological use of formal network methods
Tom Brughmans

Population genetics and the investigation of past human interactions
Hayley Dunn

Eruptions and ruptures — a social network perspective on vulnerability and impact of the Laacher See eruption (c. 13,000 BP) on Late Glacial hunter-gatherers in northern Europe
Felix Riede

Expanding social networks through ritual deposition: A case study from the Lower Mississippi Valley
Erin Nelson and Megan Kassabaum

‘Extending the self ’ through material culture: Private letters and personal relationships in second-century AD Egypt
Jo Stoner

Play-things and the origins of online networks: Virtual material culture in multiplayer games
Angus Mol

Reflection
The network approach: Tool or paradigm?
Francesca Fulminante

Commentary
What are social network perspectives in archaeology?
Carl Knappett

Book Reviews
Edited by Mat Dalton

Computational Approaches to Archaeological Spaces
Edited by Andrew Bevan and Mark Lake Beaudry and Travis G. Parno
Reviewed by Peter Alfano

Cities and the Shaping of Memory in the Ancient Near East
By Ömür Harmanşah
Reviewed by Georgia Marina Andreou

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial
Edited by Sarah Tarlow and Liv Nilsson Stutz
Reviewed by Michaela Binder

Network Analysis in Archaeology: New Approaches to Regional Interaction
Edited by Carl Knappett
Reviewed by Beatrijs G. de Groot

The Origins and Spread of Domestic Animals in Southwest Asia and Europe
Edited by Sue Colledge, James Connolly, Keith Dobney, Katie Manning and Stephen Shennan
Reviewed by Sarah Elliott

The Archaeology of Kinship
By Bradley E. Ensor
Reviewed by Philipp Y. Kao

Matters of Scale: Processes and Courses of Events in the Past and the Present
Edited by Nanouschka M. Burström and Fredrik Fahlander
Reviewed by Hannah L. McBeth

Cultural Heritage and the Challenge of Sustainability
By Diane Barthel-Bouchier
Reviewed by Belinda C. Mollard

The 48th IIPP Annual Conference on the Veneto Region, held in Padua on 5–9 November 2013
Reviewed by Elisa Perego

Humans and the Environment: New Archaeological Perspectives for the Twenty-first Century
Edited by Matthew I.J. Davies and Freda Nkirote M’Mbogori
Reviewed by Rachel Swallow

Special issue Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory: The Connected Past

This is a quick reminder of the 23rd June deadline for extended abstracts for The Connected Past special issue of the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. The call for submissions to this special issue is now open. So don’t hesitate any longer and send us that awesome networky paper you have been working on! As you can gather from the CFP below, we want to have a focused special issue with solid case studies that illustrate how network analysis can be useful in archaeology. However, we are really keen to publish really innovative approaches, things that have not been tried before by archaeological network analysts. We look forward to reading your abstracts!

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Connected Past: critical and innovative approaches to networks in archaeology

A special issue of Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory

Edited by: Anna Collar, Tom Brughmans, Fiona Coward and Barbara Mills

Over the last decade the number of published archaeological applications of network methods and theories has increased significantly. A number of research themes deserve further exploration, however. How do particular archaeological research contexts drive the selection and adaptation of formal network methods from the wide range of existing approaches? What is the role archaeological data can play in network methods? What are the decisions we are faced with when defining nodes and ties, and what assumptions underlie these definitions? How can our theoretical approaches be expressed through formal methods incorporating empirical data? Are network theories and methods compatible? How can materiality be incorporated within existing network approaches? How can we deal with long-term network evolution within archaeological research contexts?

This special issue aims to illustrate through innovative and critical archaeological case studies that these problems can be overcome, and that by doing so the role of archaeological network analysis within the archaeologist’s toolbox will become better defined.

This special issue invites well-developed archaeological case studies in which a network-based method is formulated as the best approach to an archaeological research question. A key conviction of this special issue is that theoretical and methodological concerns should be raised through practice. As such, papers are expected to either develop a critical and detailed archaeological analysis through commonly applied network-based approaches, or to illustrate how archaeological research contexts can require the development or adoption of innovative network techniques. Such a collection of case studies will illustrate that the network is not an end-product; it is a research perspective that allows one to ask and answer unique questions of archaeological relevance.

Please send extended abstracts (1000 words) to connectedpast@soton.ac.uk by 23 June 2013.

Notification of acceptance: July 2013.

Submission of full papers for peer-review to guest editors: 22 September 2013.

Submission of revised papers for peer-review to JAMT: 24 November 2013.

Please note that the acceptance of extended abstracts and peer-review by guest editors is not a guarantee that the paper will be published in the special issue. Individual papers will have to successfully go through the JAMT peer-review process before publication can be guaranteed.