The ERC ‘Roman Empire of 2000 Cities’ Project
Prof. J. Bintliff (University of Edinburgh)
Abstract:
“I think most of us have a good idea of what ancient Roman towns looked like: a central square or Forum with public offices and a market, well-built domestic dwellings in formal blocks or insulae, and an efficient orthogonal street plan, maybe city walls, a theatre and an amphitheatre. Civilisation in other words!
But if we look deeper, a number of central questions have long remained little researched, even unknown. For example, how many cities were there in the Roman Empire at any one time, and what exactly did they do, beyond having plentiful baths and circuses for leisure, a market for citizens to buy things, and a forum to enact council business and legal transactions. To answer these questions, a European project was proposed, very ambitiously to solve these central questions, for an urban network that underpinned the entire structure of the Roman world: for in fact we know that the central bureaucracy in Rome was very small, so that the everyday management of the Empire was primarily delegated to the provincial cities and their dependent territories, into which the entire empire was divided.
The European Research Council-funded, EMPIRE OF 2000 CITIES PROJECT was created by ancient historian Professor Luuk de Ligt in Leiden University and he kindly invited me to co-direct the project as the archaeological specialist. It employed five PhD students and three Postdoctoral researchers. There was also an additional PhD student, Peter de Graaf, researching the internal transformation of towns in Roman Italy in Republican to Early Imperial times. The core group of eight researchers was given each a major region of the Early Roman Empire and their task was to delve into all the historical, inscriptional, coinage and archaeological evidence for urban centres, thus creating with the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) a complete gazetteer with source information for each town, including size, public buildings, coinage if minting, official status and preceding history. One of the main aims was the most accurate map of cities for the period around 200 AD. A second aim was to analyze the distribution and function of these cities, by comparison with preceding Greek urbanism.”
GIS strategies for archaeological surveys
Prof. E. Farinetti (Roma Tre University – Italian Archaeological School at Athens – CAA-GR)
Scheduled: Wednesday, February 26th, 18.30 PM (Athens time zone)
Abstract:
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become essential tools in modern archaeological surveys, offering innovative strategies to investigate, model, and analyse the complexity of past landscapes. The talk will examine the state of the art in GIS applications for archaeological surface surveys, emphasizing their transformative impact on survey methodologies within the framework of GIS regional landscape modelling. The role of GIS in data visualization and advanced analyses, particularly when integrated with environmental and landscape data, is also highlighted.
Special attention is given to the incorporation of legacy data, enabling the reinterpretation of older datasets in a digital framework. The advent of mobile GIS has further revolutionized field surveys, providing real-time data collection and geospatial analysis, as well as enhanced teamwork and reflexive practices. Finally, the challenges and opportunities posed by big data and large repositories in archaeological research are discussed, including the potential for global-scale comparative survey studies. By synthesizing these advancements, the talk underscores the versatility and future potential of GIS technologies in enhancing archaeological understanding.
Mapping Underwater Cultural Heritage. Accessing the archaeological archive beneath the waves.
Alex Tourtas (University of Aegean)
Scheduled: Thursday, April 18th, 18.30 PM (Athens time zone)
Abstract
Salomon Reinarch’s quote “The sea is the largest museum in the world” (1925) is still used today to underline the importance of underwater research in the management of global cultural heritage, not only in terms of pure archeological inquiries but also in the sense of exploring our strong connection with the water element as a species through the study of material culture. UNESCO’s 2001 Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage along with various other international agreements and national policies have created during the last couple of decades the framework for a swiftly developing field of cultural studies that is highly focused on the underwater environment. Alas, this unique environment is often challenging and requires specialized methodologies in order for us to be able to extract the scientific information required. Fortunately, nowadays technology comes to our aid and provides us with valuable tools both for surveying and documenting what is out there regardless of depth, visual conditions, decaying materials and other impediments, revealing the map of a brave new world of research to the archaeological community. At the same time, innovative technologies such as extended reality applications provide access to this extensive cultural landscape to the wider public and contribute to the promotion of our common cultural heritage and the important field of ocean literacy. One can surely say that almost 100 years later Reinarch is still right and the underwater world is calling us louder than ever to explore its extensive archaeological archive
Geomatics in action in the archaeological excavations at Terpni Paliokastro
Rescheduled for 28th of February. 18.30 PM (Athens time zone)
Sylviane Déderix & Lionel Fadin (École française d’Athènes)
Abstract
In 2022 the École française d’Athènes and the Archaeological Service of Serres launched a new five-year excavation project on the site of Terpni Paliokastro, in the region of Central Macedonia. This new project offered an opportunity for the team to reflect on strategies of acquisition, management and analysis of excavation data. In this presentation, we will discuss the workflow that was thus adopted, focusing on the role played by geospatial technologies. We will explain the choices that were made regarding the use of such technologies in accordance with the goals of the project, constraints and preexisting solutions at the École française d’Athènes and beyond.
Field Surveying, application technology and GIS Methods in Archaeology
George Malaperdas (Laboratory of Archaeometry, University of the Peloponnese)
Abstract
Digital applications are beginning to be used more and more in the science of archaeology. So far, these programs have been applied mostly in either archaeological programs involving measurements and recordings in the field or in research approaches to discover new methods of cooperation.These kind of applications, which utilize geolocation techniques already installed in all mobile phones, have created a new dynamic in archaeological surveying research. The accuracy of GPS and the ease of recording the position of a finding even by unskilled personnel increase efficiency in both the field and the office. Now, with properly structured techniques, a research team can complete the same work in a much shorter time frame.In this presentation the audience will introduced to a series of different technologies applied in the last five years in the archaeological surveys through the University of Peloponnese, and discuss what we have found to be the most optimal techniques.