Digital Archaeological Practice Workshop

Digital Archaeological Practice.

A Workshop on the use of Technology in the Field.

February 6 - 7, 2014.

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Archaeological practice is being revolutionized by the digital age. From new instruments and devices, to new software and apps, to web-based tools, platforms, and environments, the means by which archaeologists today approach the ancient world is radically different from only ten years ago. Nowhere is this change more starkly felt than in the experience of doing fieldwork. The cutting-edge technologies of 2004 – reflector-less laser theodolites, field-ready laptops, and GPS units - are already practically obsolete, replaced by photogrammetry, tablet computers, and even cell phones. This transformation of fieldwork is more than just an exchange of the object one is holding and new many questions arise:

• What is cutting edge in 2014? What will it be in 2020?
• How do digital practices affect archaeological practices in:
• who uses the technology and manages it?
• what we record and what kinds of records we produce?
• which analyses we run and what interpretations we prefer?
• what our results look like and how we share them?
• Where is digital practice advancing, altering, or subverting archaeological practice?

The Digital Archaeological Practice Workshop is a venue to grapple with these questions through the experiences of those currently using digital technologies in the field, focused on the classical world. Participants come from across the professional spectrum – from undergraduates to seasoned professors - and from an equally wide range of technical competencies. Their presentations will explore research on-going and recently completed to establish a baseline for current practice. The discussions will go farther. Beyond summary and criticism, participants and the audience will be encouraged to enter the valuable realm of speculation and prognostication, to warn against failings and false idols and to daydream the future of archaeological practice.

Confirmed Participants

Tess Brickley, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

William Caraher, University of North Dakota.

Benjamin Crowther, University of Texas at Austin

Bradley Duncan, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Steven Ellis, University of Cincinnati.

Sebastian Heath, New York University.

Miriam Kolar, Five Colleges Digital Humanities Post-Doctoral Fellow.

Nickolas Massar, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Brandon Olson, Boston University and Tufts Univeristy.

Jon Olson, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Eric E. Poehler, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Anthony Tuck, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Juliana Van Roggen, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The workshop is free and open to the public. Your attendance is welcome. 

For more information, please see the PQP webpage (http://www.umass.edu/classics/5CWorkshop.htm) or email Eric Poehler at epoehler [at] classics.umass.edu.