Currently browsing

Page 33

CAHO Christmas Lecture

  Dear all, We are pleased to announce that the annual CAHO Christmas Lecture will be given by dr Penny Spikins from the University of York. In the spirit of  the festive season she will talk about: Angels or Demons?:  Can the archaeological record tell us what motivated our earliest ancestors? For more details please see the abstract below. The lecture will take place on 12 December (Thursday) 2014 at 4pm in the Wymer Lab, bld 65a, Avenue Campus. Wine and mince pies will be served. Continue reading →

Motivation segmentation and a mobile app at Kew

This statistics course, data collection and other stuff has taken up so much time that I feel I’m a bit behind on actual reading. Today is the first day I’ve been able to get into a back-log of things I thought might be interesting. And one thing that was near to the top of the list has proven to be a fascinating read, that’s worth sharing. Ages ago, Kew Gardens announced a new app to help visitors find their way around and find out more about the gardens. Continue reading →

3D at the Smithsonian

Richard at Corvidae send me this link to the Smithsonian’s public front end for their 3D collection. At first glance, it’s just another bunch of 3D models you can spin and twist, but deeper exploration reveals incredible resolution and very easy manipulation: I was able slide my point of view right into the pilot “seat” of the Wright flyer with very little effort. Its well worth a look. Older browsers may not be compatible. Continue reading →

Henry V, the Southampton Plot, geolocation and open source (oh, and punk)

Last Tuesday I’d booked a day’s leave from work so that I could attend the SXSC3 digifest. But 15 minutes in, after the introductions, I had to duck out to hot-foot it back to the university to meet with the Dean and others,to discuss a possible project for the 2015 anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt. Now, I know my St Crispin’s day but what I wasn’t aware of is that Shakespeare mentions a plot against Henry V’s life that actually took place around Southampton. Continue reading →

The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology

Recently, I signed a contract with Oxford University Press for an interdisciplinary volume entitled The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology. This book, which will be edited by myself and Graeme Earl, is the only book to date dedicated to the concept of light in archaeology, since existing work in this area is either specifically related to forms of illumination, to isolated case studies or to light in literature and iconography. Continue reading →

Photogrammetry

During the 2013 excavation season whilst completing a series of laser scan models of the site I also completed a number of photogrammetry captures of specific artefacts. The following are a few examples of the work completed and allows for a virtual record that can be used by archaeologists off site within their analysis of these artefacts. The Roman architectural fragments illustrated here are currently being studied by Dottssa Eleonora Gasparini through this process. Continue reading →

Steamships, vampires, pirates, space colonists and emergent narrative

This is a bit of a portmanteau post. Which I guess is what one gets when one’s mind has been concentrating on the mid-term exam for a Coursera statistics course. In the end I got 84%. I might have worked harder (you are allowed pretty much as many retakes as you want) to get a perfect 100, but, you know, life’s too short. And all the time I was discovering things I wanted to share and play with. First of all, the Full Steam Ahead game from SS Great Britain in Bristol. Continue reading →

Night with Gertrude. And Victor.

Updated Dec 9th: Video added. Gertrude with high altar behind Gertrude is an old lady. About 600 years old. She is one of the wooden statues at the high altar in St. Nicholas’ Church, Tallinn. Gertrude is reviled to the public three times a year. Rest of the time she and other status are hidden behind the massive altar wings. Those altar wings are covered with medieval comic strip about life of St. Nicholas and St. Victor. Continue reading →

Sea-level and Society in Southern Peru by Dr. Fraser Sturt

The next Centre for Maritime Archaeology Research Group seminar on fieldwork presentations is by our own faculty member Fraser Sturt. The talk is entitled “Sea-level and Society in Southern Peru” and will take place Tuesday November 19, at 11:15 am, in the CMA lecture room Building 65b. The seminar will be streamed live on this link http://coursecast.soton.ac.uk/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default. Continue reading →