Iris Breda, Glenn van de Ven, Sabine Thater
et al.
A central topic in extragalactic astronomy is understanding the formation and evolutionary histories of galaxies. These systems often comprise multiple structural components with distinct physical and dynamical properties, making it challenging to disentangle their individual contributions. Aiming at investigating the true structure of the inner stellar disk, we have developed a comprehensive pipeline for the chronochemical and dynamical analysis of galaxies (Glance: Galactic archaeoLogy via chronochemicAl & dyNamiCal modElling). The presented pipeline employs several state-of-the-art techniques by integrating them into a single, automated pipeline, enabling streamlined analysis of integral-field spectroscopy data, by allowing users to easily and directly extract valuable information on stellar populations, kinematics, dynamics, and gas properties. It automates multiple analysis techniques, including stellar population synthesis (Fado, Starlight, post-processing with RemoveYoung, kinematic extraction (pPXF, Bayes-LOSVD), and dynamical modelling (Dynamite). It handles tasks such as Galactic extinction correction, de-redshifting, Voronoi binning, and nebular continuum correction, while offering extensive customization options. Parallel processing significantly reduces computational time. When applied to MUSE data sampling the central region of NGC 1566, this methodology reveals that its stellar disk significantly deviates from the conventional exponential model, challenging the assumption of universality in disk morphology. In summary, this work presents a powerful, publicly available pipeline for conducting galactic archaeology, designed to advance our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies.
We propose to radically expand the use of extragalactic globular clusters as tools for extragalactic archaeology. We propose a large-scale spectroscopic facility to obtain high spectral resolution (R $\sim$ 20,000) spectroscopy for a significant fraction of all globular clusters in the nearby Universe. This will facilitate the reconstruction of galaxy assembly histories via chemical tagging, trace dark matter haloes, and measure extragalactic distances.
Predictive modeling in archaeology is essential for the understanding of people's behavior in the past and for guiding heritage conservation. However, spatial sampling bias caused by uneven research effort can severely limit model reliability. This research describes a novel new framework that integrates entropy-based corrections to measure and minimize such biases in archaeological modeling of foresight. Leveraging the open access data of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, we employ Shannon entropy to determine survey coverage and assign appropriate weights to pseudo-absence points. We combine these weights with predictive models such as Bayesian Spatial Logistic Regression (via R-INLA), Generalized Additive Models, Maximum Entropy and Random Forests. Our findings prove that entropy-aware models exhibit improved accuracy and robustness, especially for under-surveyed regions. This approach not only advances methodological transparency, but also improves the interpretation of archaeological prediction under conditions of data uncertainty. The proposed framework offers a scalable, theoretically grounded strategy for addressing spatial bias in archaeological datasets.
Hayk Avetisyan, Artak Gnuni, Levon Mkrtchyan
et al.
The given contribution is devoted to the problem of computer modeling in archaeology. The territory of the Republic of Armenia is chosen as a target zone for investigations, which is considered in the context of historical and cultural developments of the neighboring countries. The chronological range of the given study is the Bronze and Iron Ages (3rd-1st millennia BC). Тhe principles of computer modeling are applicable to the investigation of monumental architecture (fortifications, towers, cairns, kites, kurgans, dolmens), aiming at reconstructing both the complexes of the monuments and the historical landscape.
В 2020 г. в долине р. Тапса, левом притоке Большого Енисея (Бий-Хема), впервые был обнаружен поселенческий объект, вовлеченный в древнюю систему орошения. На обозначенной территории были проведены ландшафтные, флористические, археологические, палеоботанические, остеологические исследования, а также радиоуглеродное датирование, что в целом представляет итог начального этапа изучения древней ирригации в верховье Енисея. Возраст поселения, согласно предварительной археологической разведке, а также возраст древней ирригации, определенный радиоуглеродным датированием погребенных почв, соответствуют скифо-сакскому времени (Прудникова, 2023). Почвенные разрезы вскрыли культурные слои поселения, насыщенные костяным материалом, обломками древесного угля и керамики, растительными остатками. Из культурных слоев были отобраны 3 пробы на карпологический анализ для возможного определения особенностей палеогеографии, хозяйственной деятельности. Анализ полученного материала дает первое представление о хозяйственных практиках местного населения в первом тысячелетии до н.э., особенностях природной среды и ее изменении.
Benedetta Paolino, Maria Cristina Sorrentino, Severina Pacifico
et al.
In this study, a historically significant journal subject to fungal colonization was used as a case study for experimenting with a fumigation treatment using essential oils. The experiments were carried out both in vitro and in vivo directly on the artifact. Post-treatment monitoring showed that the succession of two fumigation treatments (alternately using rosemary and lavender oil) resulted in the complete disinfection of the first and second populations detected on the substrate. The latter was identified as <i>Trichoderma longibrachiatum</i>, a human pathogenic species, which was found to be sensitive to various concentrations of rosemary essential oil (1.2% <i>v</i>/<i>v</i>) and lavender essential oil (0.4% <i>v</i>/<i>v</i>), while it was not contained by the standard biocide based on benzalkonium chloride. The results obtained allowed the proposal of an application protocol for the fumigation of paper items that need to undergo biocidal treatment, which consists of alternating essential oils to increase the action spectrum of the natural substances and implementing a rotation principle to prevent the development of bio-resistances.
The Gaia mission has revolutionized our view of the Milky Way and its satellite citizens. The field of Galactic Archaeology has been piecing together the formation and evolution of the Galaxy for decades, and we have made great strides, with often limited data, towards discovering and characterizing the subcomponents of the Galaxy and its building blocks. Now, the exquisite 6D phase-space plus chemical information from Gaia and its complementary spectroscopic surveys has handed us a plethora of data to pour over as we move towards a quantitative rather than qualitative view of the Galaxy and its progenitors. We review the state of the field in the post-Gaia era, and examine the key lessons that will dictate the future direction of Galactic halo research.
Archaeological pottery documentation and study represents a crucial but time-consuming aspect of archaeology. While recent years have seen advances in digital documentation methods, vast amounts of legacy data remain locked in traditional publications. This paper introduces PyPotteryLens, an open-source framework that leverages deep learning to automate the digitisation and processing of archaeological pottery drawings from published sources. The system combines state-of-the-art computer vision models (YOLO for instance segmentation and EfficientNetV2 for classification) with an intuitive user interface, making advanced digital methods accessible to archaeologists regardless of technical expertise. The framework achieves over 97\% precision and recall in pottery detection and classification tasks, while reducing processing time by up to 5x to 20x compared to manual methods. Testing across diverse archaeological contexts demonstrates robust generalisation capabilities. Also, the system's modular architecture facilitates extension to other archaeological materials, while its standardised output format ensures long-term preservation and reusability of digitised data as well as solid basis for training machine learning algorithms. The software, documentation, and examples are available on GitHub (https://github.com/lrncrd/PyPottery/tree/PyPotteryLens).
Gregory Sech, Giulio Poggi, Marina Ljubenovic
et al.
Hyperspectral data recorded from satellite platforms are often ill-suited for geo-archaeological prospection due to low spatial resolution. The established potential of hyperspectral data from airborne sensors in identifying archaeological features has, on the other side, generated increased interest in enhancing hyperspectral data to achieve higher spatial resolution. This improvement is crucial for detecting traces linked to sub-surface geo-archaeological features and can make satellite hyperspectral acquisitions more suitable for archaeological research. This research assesses the usability of pansharpened PRISMA satellite products in geo-archaeological prospections. Three pan-sharpening methods (GSA, MTF-GLP and HySure) are compared quantitatively and qualitatively and tested over the archaeological landscape of Aquileia (Italy). The results suggest that the application of pansharpening techniques makes hyperspectral satellite imagery highly suitable, under certain conditions, to the identification of sub-surface archaeological features of small and large size.
The Prism XR project is a curated exhibition experience in virtual reality (VR) for art and archaeology education with features designed for the enhancement of interactivity and collaborative learning. The project integrates peer annotations and a virtual exhibition guide to augment educational experiences. The peer annotation features are intended for facilitating visitor critiques and comments pivotal in fostering a dialog between the curator and the audience and a dialogue between the visitors in art and archaeology education, which are demonstrated to have positive impacts on the learning motivations and learning outcomes. The virtual exhibition guide is intended to address the issue of isolation in the virtual exhibition space and to increase interactivity in the virtual curatorial experiences.
Galactic archaeology represents a multidisciplinary approach aimed at unraveling the intricate history of the Milky Way galaxy through the study of its stellar populations. This abstract delves into the significance of galactic archaeology as a vital tool for understanding the formation and evolution of the Milky Way. By examining the distribution, kinematics, chemical compositions, and ages of stars within the galaxy, researchers gain insights into the dynamic processes that have shaped its structure over billions of years. Stellar populations serve as invaluable relics of past epochs, preserving clues about the conditions prevalent during their formation. The utilization of spectroscopic and photometric data has enabled the classification and analysis of stars, allowing astronomers to discern distinct populations and unveil their origin stories. Through these studies, the emergence of the Milky Way's various components, such as the thin and thick disk, halo, and bulge, becomes discernible.
Procedural content generation has been applied to many domains, especially level design, but the narrative affordances of generated game environments are comparatively understudied. In this paper we present our first attempt to study these effects through the lens of what we call a generative archaeology game that prompts the player to archaeologically interpret the generated content of the game world. We report on a survey that gathered qualitative and quantitative data on the experiences of 187 participants playing the game Nothing Beside Remains. We provide some preliminary analysis of our intentional attempt to prompt player interpretation, and the unintentional effects of a glitch on the player experience of the game.
Naturally occurring minerals or their synthetic analogues have been important as pigments used in artistic and cosmetic contexts in global antiquity. The analysis and identification of mineral pigments, though routine to the petrologist or mineralogist, also requires specialist knowledge of the archaeological contexts and available technologies and trade. This paper attempts to present an analytical approach to the study of mineral pigments in archaeology and also introduces the range of mineral pigments encountered in works of art and painted objects on archaeological sites and in museums. It attempts to cover the range of mineral and synthetic inorganic pigments used in global cultures from to the early Medieval period.