The lecture is held at Kielikeskus (Fabianinkatu 26), room 203 on 26.1. at 14-16. You are warmly welcome!
Classical archaeology has a reputation of being traditional and conservative. In the trifecta of data-methods-theories, the focus is said to be generally on the first. Yet, we can wonder to what extent reality conforms to the cliché. Classical Archaeology is a diverse field studying some of the most amazing archaeological sites such as Pompei, Ephesus, Jerash and many more. Within the plurality of the discipline, computational approaches have carved out fertile niches as part of the broader archaeological community. Proponents of GIS, photogrammetry, computational modelling, and more, have readily found suitable applications in many of the archaeological sites and willing collaborators in the teams studying these sites. If anything, computational archaeologists have just not succeeded in developing a visible and coherent community within the broader scope of Classical archaeology, and have not always been effective in affecting broader archaeological practices, from fieldwork to publication and outreach, and everything in between. In this talk, I will present a few examples of computational approaches in Classical archaeology and survey the field at large to gauge where we are now, and where we might be headed.
Dries Daems is Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Social Sciences in the M.Sc. program of Settlement Archaeology at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara. He is also coordinator of the M.Sc. program of Digital Archaeology at METU. His research interests include the study of social complexity and urbanism through computational modeling (ABM) and material studies (macroscopic pottery analysis). He specializes in Iron Age to Hellenistic Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean.