Speaker
Description
Summary
ArchaeoGRID is deploying grid technologies for demonstrating
that, with them,
production, diffusion and use of archaeological knowledge will be
increased in
quality and quantity. By ArchaeoGRID information and data about
past societies could
be shared between archaeologists and with specialists of other
sciences, that could
review field data and laboratory results in real time to plane
future field works -
excavations and field surveys - and data analysis with the help
of such augmented
knowledge. By knowledge-sharing people can collaborate in
knowledge growth by
understanding the way information is extracted from the ground,
without being there
excavating. Everyone could learn and could generate, share and
use knowledge : the
archaeologist in the field, the technician in the laboratory, the
archaeologist at
the university, the public at the museum, the student at the
classroom, the user in
the company and in the public institution. An other advantage of
using ArchaeoGRID is
to advance in archaeological knowledge unification and
integration through the use of
the advanced grid technologies. The computing and storage
resource sharing, the
formalisation in data structuring and in data mining, the access
to large
archaeological and non archaeological repositories by ArchaeoGRID
could be an
advantage in order to obtain a completely new way of producing
archaeologically
relevant knowledge. ArchaeoGRID becomes the medium for the
cognitive process. Formal
knowledge, quantitative or qualitative, expressed in form of
concrete data structures
and inference rules gives the opportunity to add knowledge from
different sources,
and to integrate different voices and thinking into a single
coherent, but diverse,
body of information, which can be used in an interactive and
flexible way.
For all these purposes, the selected archaeological case study
has been the origin of
the city in Mediterranean area between XI and VIII Centuries B.C.
In fact, it is well
known that the origin of the city and of the state, is a central
problem of the
modern archaeology. The study will provide a functional framework
for broad studies
of the interactions of humans within ancient urban societies and
with their
environment .
Over the last century, archaeologists have advanced their field
in three major areas:
spatial analysis, temporal refinement, and interpretive approach.
All archaeological
interpretation is based on the context. As regards space, the
artefact is related to
its immediate context , the site (e.g., habitation, cemetery,
workshop) where it is
found. As the discipline has matured, the interpretive context
has expanded to the
surround, to settlement patterns, settlement systems, drainages,
and now landscapes
and regions. Archaeological interpretation then proceeds by
placing spatial
information in a temporal sequence. Development of an
interdisciplinary grammar and
the identification of shared concepts and understandings is
fundamental to the
practice of archaeology.
Recent, widespread agreement on the utility and key importance of
the landscape
concept enables researchers from many disciplines to collaborate
in the study of
complex relations between humans and their environments. The term
landscape is a unit
of analysis in many academic disciplines (archaeology, geography,
geomorphology,
ecology, architecture, art, regional planning) and also a concept
recognized by the
general public. Such concept provide the basis for decisions
about which practices
are maintained or modified and which ideas are given substance.
Landscapes retain the
physical evidence of these understandings. They record both
intentional and
unintentional acts and reveal both human role in the modification
of the global
ecosystem and the importance of past natural events in shaping
human choice and action.
During the past fifteen years, the activity of archaeologists in
the Mediterranean
area accumulated large amounts of computerized data that have
remained trapped in
localized and often proprietary databases. ArchaeoGRID will
facilitate ways in which
such data might be brought together and shared between
researchers and any interested
people.
The first application running on the GILDA t-infrastructure is a
paleoclimate
simulation in the regions where the urban centers originate
around the IX and VIII
centuries B.C. In fact the interaction between climate and human
activity at multiple
spatial and temporal scales is demonstrated. Astronomically
driven regional climate
is modified by latitude and topography, and by non-uniform
distribution of population
and human activity; thus the existence of forest is the result
both of location,
which determines temperature and rainfall patterns, and of
previous and current human
management practices. Regional climates both affect and are
affected by global and
local meteorological conditions, many of which are also caused by
humans
(anthropogenic effects). Holocene (last 104 years) is the period
in which the
anthropogenic effects are more and more evident. The idea of
changing his name in
Anthropocene is circulating.
In broad evolutionary terms, humans have indeed played an
important role in forming
and modifying the environment and it is necessary to examine, at
the specific
temporal and spatial scales, factors of duration, intensity and
periodicity relative
to a particular environment. It need to remember that the fire
was for many centuries
in ancient societies the most diffuse technique for setting free
soils from forests
for agricultural activities.
Paleoclimate simulations have been performed by installing the
MM5 mesoscale model on
GILDA. Tests have been made by using meteorological data for 3000
years B.P.
simulated with GCM, DEM data from GTOPO30, and landcover and
landuse data from
archaeological and geomorphological data. Results relative to the
interesting regions
will be compared with archaeological information about natural,
economical and social
landscapes.
Paleoclimate simulated data will be used for archaeological land
evaluation and as
input data to multi agent-based models for simulation of the
urbanization process.
Packages for classical statistical analysis of spatio-temporal
series have been
installed on GILDA. The possibilities of different computational
methodologies will
be explored with GILDA in the next future.
Narration is the final stage of archaeological work and it is
also very complex. It
involves the visualisation of results (digital maps, virtual
worlds, 2D and 3D
images, etc.) and a textual description based on the analysis of
results and
theoretical knowledge. A Visualization Laboratory could be
implemented on GILDA or
accessed on the grid infrastructure through ArchaeoGRID.
The ArchaeoGRID structure must merge these different approaches
into a single system
using a service-oriented architecture, also used by the gLite
middleware, by DILIGENT
middleware and the Open Geospatial Consortium Web Services
system. The ArchaeoGRID
community is now attempting to produce an integrated ArchaeoGRID
structure with the
help of the GILDA and DILIGENT groups.
ArchaeoGRID joint with a multicast architecture for advanced
videoconferencing
specially tailored for large scale persistent collaboration could
be used to realize
the aims of Telearchaeology very useful tool not only for
research and applications
but also for education and for diffusion of archaeological knowledge
The added value is linked with new perspectives of the
archaeological and historical
research, with the management of the archaeological heritage,
with the media
production, with the territory management and with tourism.
