Institute for Digital Archaeology

The Institute For Digital Archaeology (IDA) is a private organization which has collaborated with academics and projects at Harvard University, the University of Oxford (UK), and Dubai's Museum of the Future. It was founded in 2012 by its current executive director, Roger Michel. The IDA seeks to redefine the field of archaeology by fusing traditional methods with advanced digital image capture, processing and printing technologies. The organization promotes this new discipline of Digital Archaeology through conferences, publications, interactive internet resources and an extensive range of workshops and certificate programs offered in collaboration with its educational partners. In all of its work, the IDA encourages the crowd-sourcing of research through the use of open-access databases and other forms of information sharing.

In 2015, the IDA achieved wide international acclaim, including a cover story in the November 11, 2015 issue of Newsweek, for its Million Image Database program aimed at preserving cultural heritage objects and architecture in the conflict zones of the Middle East.

IDA aims

In collaboration with its global partners, the IDA promotes cultural heritage preservation and a wider understanding and appreciation of the ancient world. In his address at the World Government Summit in Dubai on 8 February 2016, Michel described the IDA's goals:

"It is our intention to provide an optimistic and constructive response to destructive threats to history and heritage. We hope to highlight the potential for the triumph of human ingenuity over violence by offering innovative options for the stewardship of objects and architecture from our shared past. We also hope to provoke thoughtful dialogue about the significance of heritage material. In particular, we hope that visitors to our photographic archives and reconstruction sites will consider the role of physical objects in defining their history and weigh carefully the question of where precisely history and heritage reside. Finally, we hope to raise awareness of the human cost of lost heritage and enlist a new generation of scholars, students and volunteers to assist in efforts aimed at historical preservation and study."

Current projects

Marsoulas Caves with NYU and The University of Toulouse

In 2015, in collaboration with Carole Frtiz and Giles Tosello of The University of Toulouse, Ben Altshuler of the IDA made the first-ever high resolution scans of paleolithic paintings and inscriptions in the Marsoulas Cave in the south of France. Using RTI, Altshuler was able to reveal significant, previously unknown features of this important 13,000-year-old rock art site.[1] The results will be published in the Spring, 2016 edition of the Journal of Digital Archaeology.

Corpus of Ptolemaic Inscriptions

Starting in 2013, the IDA began updating Oxford's Corpus of Ptolemaic Inscriptions. Many of the inscriptions, numbering 450 items and dating from 323 – 30 BCE, have eroded over time. It will be the first “full picture of the Greek epigraphy of the Ptolemaic period”.[2][3]

The Million Image Database Program

After a number of important ancient structures, including the 2000-year-old temple of Baal Shamin in Palmyra, Syria, were destroyed in 2015 by Islamic State (IS) militants,[4] the IDA announced its plans to establish a digital record of historical sites and artifacts.[5][6][7][8]

To accomplish this goal, the IDA, in consultation with UNESCO, will deploy 5,000 3D cameras to partners in the Middle East.[9] The cameras will be used to capture 3D scans of local ruins and relics.[10][11][12] The IDA has established a goal of capturing one million images by the end of 2015 and five million images by the end of 2016.[13] All of the images in the Million Image Database will be open-access and so available to anyone.

Francesco Bandarin, Assistant Director-General for Culture at UNESCO has praised the IDA for its photo-documentation efforts: "The documentation of cultural heritage in areas affected by conflict or natural disasters, including through the use of new digital technologies, is a critical step to preserve the memory of our past and mitigate the risk of possible damage or loss of precious cultural assets. Initiatives such as the Million Image Database project by the Institute for Digital Archaeology, which is based on the support of numerous volunteers on the ground, also testify to the importance attributed to their cultural heritage by local communities."

As part of its Million Image Database project, the IDA has also proposed a series of local reconstructions of defaced or destroyed structures using large scale 3D printing and machining technology to commence in 2016.[14] To date, reconstruction projects have been announced for London, New York City and Dubai.

Palmyra recreation

The organisation's first monumental scale reconstruction, a recreation of Palmyra, Syria's lost Triumphal Arch, will be unveiled on Trafalgar Square in London, England on 19 April 2016. This project is the subject matter of a documentary by BBC2.

Past projects

The Philae obelisk at Kingston Lacy

In October and November 2014, Ben Altshuler of the IDA, in association with Alan Bowman and Charles Crowther of Oxford's Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents (CSAD), made reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) scans of the Philae obelisk at Kingston Lacy. The team recovered significant, previously illegible Greek and Egyptian inscriptions.[15][2]

The Parian Marble at the Ashmolean Museum

In 2013, Ben Altshuler oversaw the RTI imaging of the Parian Marble at the Ashmolean Museum. Hellenistic in origin, the Parian Marble is the earliest Greek chronological table detailing events of historical importance, specifically from 1582 BC to 299 BC. The scans revealed significant, previously illegible text.[2]

The Vatican Library

The Institute for Digital Archaeology headed a project to transcribe a recently discovered, palimpsested text of Menander's lost comedy The Wet-Nurse in the Vatican Library. Ben Altshuler assisted a team that included Nigel Wilson of Oxford University and Michael Phelps of EMEL by providing technical and epigraphic support in the transcription process. The project yielded a forthcoming edition of the poem to be published by the Vatican Publishing House in 2016.

APA Oral History Project

In 2013-2014, the IDA, in collaboration with Ward W. Briggs (until 2011 Carolina Distinguished Professor of Classics and Louise Fry Scudder Professor of Humanities at the University of South Carolina), recorded dozens of hour-long oral histories featuring leaders in the field of classics over the past 50 years. These were premiered at the 2014 American Philological Association. The IDA is now committed to adding further oral histories at the rate of approximately ten per year.[2]

Database of Classical Scholars with University of South Carolina

In partnership with Ward Briggs, the IDA has also created an online database of biobibliographies of noted deceased classical scholars from the eighteenth-century to the present.[2]

Partners

Publications

External links

References

  1. ↑ "British Museum - Events - Film - Marsoulas, the forgotten cave". British Museum.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 http://digitalarchaeology.org.uk/projects
  3. ↑ "Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents: Corpus of Ptolemaic Inscriptions". ox.ac.uk.
  4. ↑ Coghlan, Tom; Moody, Oliver (28 August 2015). "High-tech plan to save ancient sites from Isis". The Times. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  5. ↑ Sean Higgins. "Oxford Deploying 5,000 Modified 3D Cameras to Fight ISIS". sparpointgroup.com.
  6. ↑ Sputnik (2 September 2015). "Protecting History: The Digital Project Preserving Artifacts From ISIL Ruin". sputniknews.com.
  7. ↑ "The digital race against IS". BBC Radio 4 "Today" programme. BBC. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  8. ↑ Rosenfield, Karissa (1 September 2015). "Harvard and Oxford Take On ISIS with Digital Preservation Campaign". Arch Daily. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  9. ↑ Mackay, Mairi (31 August 2015). "Indiana Jones with a 3-D camera? Hi-tech fight to save antiquities from ISIS". CNN. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Alanna Martinez. "Can 3-D Imaging Save Ancient Art from ISIS?". Observer.
  11. ↑ "Scientists to flood Middle East with 1,000s of 3D cameras to ‘save’ ancient sites from ISIS". RT English.
  12. ↑ Martin, Guy (31 August 2015). "How England's Institute Of Digital Archeology Will Preserve The Art Isis Wants to Destroy". Forbes. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  13. ↑ Los Angeles Times (2 September 2015). "As Islamic State destroys antiquities, a rush to get 3-D images of what's left". latimes.com.
  14. ↑ "The Million Image Database Project: A ‘Flood’ of 3D Cameras to Turn the Tide Against ISIS Vandals". 3DPrint.com.
  15. ↑ http://www.space.com/27835-philae-obelisk-and-lander-revealing-secrets-with-digital-tech.html)
  16. ↑ "Institute for the Study of the Ancient World". Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.
  17. ↑ "UNESCO". UNESCO.
  18. ↑ "The Friends of Herculaneum Society". ox.ac.uk.
  19. ↑ "Department of the Classics". harvard.edu.
  20. ↑ "Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents". ox.ac.uk.
  21. ↑ "The Iris Project". irisproject.org.uk.
  22. ↑ "East Oxford Community Classics Centre". eoccc.org.uk.
  23. ↑ "Kallos Gallery". Kallos Gallery.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, April 25, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.