Research team

Expertise

I am trained as an archaeologist and civil engineer. My research interests in archaeology and heritage studies broadly encompass: - formal (mainly semantic) information modeling - the critique and revision of data models and algorithms sustaining (automatic) data retrieval and machine learning applications - human-environment interactions in the context of the Anthropocene and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age archaeology - cartographic theory - spatial statistics.

Modelling Space-Time Uncertainty in Archaeological Excavation Information: From Relational Databases to Semantically Rich Graphs. 01/01/2024 - 31/12/2027

Abstract

When archaeologists dig, they encounter questions tied to materials, events, and people, among others. Understanding where and when things took place is paramount to answering these questions, but this process is often riddled with uncertainties. These uncertainties, which this project terms "Uncertainty across Space and Time Encountered during Archaeological Excavations" (USTEAE), can sometimes be misrecorded or overlooked in archaeological databases. To address this, this project is exploring the potential of "semantically rich property graphs" to better capture and depict these uncertainties. By incorporating these graphs into heritage databases, the aim is to enhance the representation of USTEAE. Another objective is to refine existing heritage data modelling standards, such as the CIDOC-CRM, to more accurately express these uncertainties. The ultimate goal is to improve the management of archaeological and heritage sites and offer more nuanced data analysis, especially in the face of challenges like climate change, which introduce additional layers of uncertainty to archaeological and heritage fieldwork.

Researcher(s)

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

  • Research Project

Transforming data rE-use in ARCHaeology 01/10/2022 - 30/09/2025

Abstract

Digital data curation for cultural heritage has reached a critical impasse. A central tension exists between the need to preserve cultural resources, and the dynamic potential for their use and re-use in democratic and just ways. In archaeology, much work has been done to make data Findable, Accessible and Interoperable (according to the FAIR Principles), but little is understood about whether data are Reusable–and by whom. TEtrARCHs argues the future of digital curation depends upon reconciling this divide, and aims to demonstrate that data optimised for ethical and emotive storytelling will provide the bridge between those who find or preserve heritage assets, and the diverse cross-European audiences for whom they might generate meaning. Through an interdisciplinary team of archaeological specialists, data scientists, and museum practitioners, collaborating with three key user groups–domain experts, creative practitioners, and memory institutions–TEtrARCHs will offer those who capture, curate and apply cultural heritage data with critically-aware workflows to prepare their data for enhanced re-use at every point in the data lifecycle (e.g., capture, mapping, lab-based analysis), then scenario-test such re-use through the dissemination of new narrative outputs authored by cross-European creative practitioners. The project embraces three scales of data collection in archaeology–landscape, site and artefact–exploring them via four increasingly ubiquitous technologies for data capture: airborne LiDAR, 3D scanning, digital field drawing and photography. Alongside novel workflows for field, post-excavation and archival practice, TEtrARCHs will produce the world's first controlled vocabulary for cultural heritage storytelling, the first assessments of data reuse effectiveness following ISO Standard 25022: Measurement of Quality in Use, and the first best practice recommendations for trusted digital repositories to optimise archaeological data for re-use.

Researcher(s)

Research team(s)

Project website

Project type(s)

  • Research Project