Ralf Vandam
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Art Sciences and Archaeology (SKAR), Faculty Member
- Landscape Archaeology, Mediterranean prehistory, Mediterranean archaeology, Aegean Prehistory (Archaeology), Anatolian Studies, Aegean Archaeology, and 12 moreAnatolian Archaeology, Prehistoric Western Anatolia, Ancient Near East, Household Archaeology, Prehistoric Technology, Aegean Bronze Age (Bronze Age Archaeology), Archaeology, Settlement Patterns, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anatolian Prehistory, Survey (Archaeological Method & Theory), and Archaeology of Cyprusedit
- Ralf Vandam completed his PhD on the archaeological landscape of the Burdur Plain, SW Turkey, at the KU Leuven in 201... moreRalf Vandam completed his PhD on the archaeological landscape of the Burdur Plain, SW Turkey, at the KU Leuven in 2014. For this research he co-supervised several intensive archaeological surveys of the Sagalassos Project in the vicinity of ancient Hacılar. In the two years thereafter, he was granted a Belgian American Educational Foundation fellowship to work at the Institute of European and Mediterranean Archaeology of SUNY, University at Buffalo, USA, (2014-2015) and a senior fellowship at the Research Centre for Anatolian Civilizations of Koç University, Turkey (2015–2016). During that time he focused on the poorly understood Late Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age transition in Western Anatolia in relation to early complexity. In 2016 Ralf Vandam received postdoctoral fellowship of the Research Foundation- Flanders (FWO) to conduct research at the KU Leuven on marginal landscapes with new archaeological surveys in the Dereköy highlands of the Burdur Province, Turkey.
He joined the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in 2019 as a part-time professor and transitioned to a full-time TT-professor in 2022. He is currently vice-chair of the VUB's Large Research Group “Archaeology, Environmental Changes & Geo-Chemistry" (AMGC). AMGC is an interdisciplinary group that focuses on the study of Planet Earth and its global evolution. At the VUB he is building up a team to work past human-environment interactions within the Mediterranean and Europe in general. He currently directs the Hala Sultan Tekke Hinterland survey and coordinates the Sagalassos Survey in Turkey.edit
The main goal of my dissertation research was to investigate the diachronic development of the cultural landscape in the Burdur Plain throughout the Late Prehistory (8000 – 2000 BC). By conducting an intensive survey in the Burdur Plain,... more
The main goal of my dissertation research was to investigate the diachronic development of the cultural landscape in the Burdur Plain throughout the Late Prehistory (8000 – 2000 BC). By conducting an intensive survey in the Burdur Plain, which I co-directed, I aimed to contextualize large-sized mound settlements such as Hacılar and Kuruçay Höyük, and to get a more detailed idea of the diverse nature of human activity during the Late Prehistory. The settlement preferences, subsistence, mobility, resource exploitation and interaction networks of these communities were characterized in collaboration with different scholars through GIS-based spatial and statistical analyses, as well as provenance analyses (i.e. petrology and P-XRF) of the newly collected data. Based on these new data I attempted to re-evaluate existing archeological data, and to improve our understanding of the prehistoric societies inhabiting the plain area. Finally, the picture that emerged from the Burdur Plain was situated within a broad archaeological context encompassing Western and Central Turkey and the Aegean.
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As we stand on the precipice of unprecedented global challenges, understanding the deep-time patterns of sustainability and resilience is no longer just a scholarly endeavour but imperative for the future of our planet and its... more
As we stand on the precipice of unprecedented global challenges, understanding the deep-time patterns of sustainability and resilience is no longer just a scholarly endeavour but imperative for the future of our planet and its inhabitants. The collection of papers in this special issue brings together archaeologists, historians, and environmental scientists around four main topics: (1) social-ecological modelling, (2) long-term human-environment interactions, (3) modelling diachronic landscapes and (4) sustainability and resilience from past to future. Our aims are to come to a better understanding of socio-economic resilience and sustainability in past, present and future societies. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, we aim to forge new conceptual frameworks for understanding complex, long-term socio-ecological dynamics. Through the case studies, theoretical reflections and methodological innovations presented here, this special issue seeks to advance interdisciplinary scholarship on sustainability and resilience and offer fresh insights into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in building a sustainable future.
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The Cypriot Late Bronze Age settlement at DromolaxiaVyzakia, located near the mosque of Hala Sultan, has been rigorously studied and excavated for more than forty years by the Swedish archaeological expeditions, and since 2001 in... more
The Cypriot Late Bronze Age settlement at DromolaxiaVyzakia, located near the mosque of Hala Sultan, has been rigorously studied and excavated for more than forty years by the Swedish archaeological expeditions, and since 2001 in cooperation with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Excavated contexts and material records suggest the site had its peak during the Late Cypriot IIC up until the Late Cypriot IIIA:2 period (1340–1100 BCE), after which the site went into decline. Systematic excavations revealed a rich and diverse material culture with a multitude of luxurious imported goods from the Eastern Mediterranean region, as well as imported building techniques such as ashlar masonry. During the settlement’s heyday, southeastern Cyprus was dominated by major coastal sites, among which was HST and its fertile and copper-rich hinterland. However, little systematic research has been carried out on this hinterland, hampering broader research on the settlement dynamics, subsistence strategies, and human–environment interactions within southeastern Cyprus. Based on archival sources, site visits, and material studies, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Late Bronze Age settlement systems in southeastern Cyprus were diverse, dynamic, and complex. Furthermore, the HST hinterland possesses great potential to investigate further the human–environment dynamics from a broader, diachronic perspective.
Research Interests: Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology, Spatial Analysis, Landscape Archaeology, Cypriot Archaeology, and 9 moreCoastal and Island Archaeology, Cyprus, Mediterranean archaeology, Bronze and Iron Ages in Eastern Mediterranean (Archaeology), Archaeological survey, History and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Late Bronze Age, Pottery studies, and Hala Sultan Tekke
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While we know that the visualization of quantifiable uncertainty impacts the confidence in insights, little is known about whether the same is true for uncertainty that originates from aspects so inherent to the data that they can only be... more
While we know that the visualization of quantifiable uncertainty impacts the confidence in insights, little is known about whether the same is true for uncertainty that originates from aspects so inherent to the data that they can only be accounted for qualitatively. Being embedded within an archaeological project, we realized how assessing such qualitative uncertainty is crucial in gaining a holistic and accurate understanding of regional spatio-temporal patterns of human settlements over millennia. We therefore investigated the impact of visualizing qualitative implicit errors on the sense-making process via a probe that deliberately represented three distinct implicit errors, i.e. differing collection methods, subjectivity of data interpretations and assumptions on temporal continuity. By analyzing the interactions of 14 archaeologists with different levels of domain expertise, we discovered that novices became more actively aware of typically overlooked data issues and domain experts became more confident of the visualization itself. We observed how participants quoted social factors to alleviate some uncertainty, while in order to minimize it they requested additional contextual breadth or depth of the data. While our visualization did not alleviate all uncertainty, we recognized how it sparked reflective meta-insights regarding methodological directions of the data. We believe our findings inform future visualizations on how to handle the complexity of implicit errors for a range of user typologies and for highly data-critical application domains such as the digital humanities.
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The western Taurus mountains, southwest Turkey, comprise a diverse set of landscape zones that are characterized by great altitude variations. This article focuses on the agricultural so-called marginal highlands within this mountainous... more
The western Taurus mountains, southwest Turkey, comprise
a diverse set of landscape zones that are characterized
by great altitude variations. This article focuses on
the agricultural so-called marginal highlands within this
mountainous region. Large parts of the uplands are labeled
“marginal” nowadays as they are not regarded as highly
productive in terms of agricultural output or permanent
occupation. Three decades of interdisciplinary research
within the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project (KU
Leuven) have provided an enormous amount of archaeological,
bioarchaeological, and geoarchaeological datasets
that will be brought together in this article to explore diachronic
patterns in human-environmental interactions
within these areas. The study demonstrates not only the
archaeological value of a highland area, but its vulnerability
for human impact as well. The changing environments
both naturally and sociopolitically favored a more resilient
behavior of the human groups within the highlands.
a diverse set of landscape zones that are characterized
by great altitude variations. This article focuses on
the agricultural so-called marginal highlands within this
mountainous region. Large parts of the uplands are labeled
“marginal” nowadays as they are not regarded as highly
productive in terms of agricultural output or permanent
occupation. Three decades of interdisciplinary research
within the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project (KU
Leuven) have provided an enormous amount of archaeological,
bioarchaeological, and geoarchaeological datasets
that will be brought together in this article to explore diachronic
patterns in human-environmental interactions
within these areas. The study demonstrates not only the
archaeological value of a highland area, but its vulnerability
for human impact as well. The changing environments
both naturally and sociopolitically favored a more resilient
behavior of the human groups within the highlands.
Research Interests:
This special issue of JEMAHS originates from a session at the 2017 European Archaeology Association (EAA) conference in Maastricht, the Netherlands, that sought to reflect critically on the question of marginality across landscapes and to... more
This special issue of JEMAHS originates from a session
at the 2017 European Archaeology Association (EAA)
conference in Maastricht, the Netherlands, that sought
to reflect critically on the question of marginality across
landscapes and to foster a more explicitly comparative
and empirical approach to using case studies drawn from
the Mediterranean Holocene.
at the 2017 European Archaeology Association (EAA)
conference in Maastricht, the Netherlands, that sought
to reflect critically on the question of marginality across
landscapes and to foster a more explicitly comparative
and empirical approach to using case studies drawn from
the Mediterranean Holocene.
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Kuruçay Höyük can be considered a key site for our understanding of Late Prehistory in southwest Turkey and above all, the poorly known Late Chalcolithic (4200–3100 B.C.). Until now, limited research has been conducted on the relationship... more
Kuruçay Höyük can be considered a key site for our understanding of Late Prehistory in southwest Turkey and above all, the poorly known Late Chalcolithic (4200–3100 B.C.). Until now, limited research has been conducted on the relationship between the excavated site and its surrounding. This article discusses the Late Chalcolithic results of an integrated survey in the vicinity of Kuruçay Höyük in the Burdur Plain. Drawing upon these results, this paper illustrates that the site was far from an isolated feature during the 4th millennium B.C. The picture that emerges is one of a differentiated settlement system consisting of both larger höyük/tell settlements (like Kuruçay Höyük) and smaller sized, possibly short-lived, flat settlements. These results are further contextualized within the developments that took place in the region during the Chalcolithic, which seem to have opened the door for communities to become more complex during the Early Bronze Age.
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The Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project has a long history of archaeological survey research that aims to contribute to the project’s mission of documenting the long-term human-environment interactions in its study region (SW... more
The Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project has a long history of archaeological survey research that aims to contribute to the project’s mission of documenting the long-term human-environment interactions in its study region (SW Turkey). Over the years, different methodologies, ranging from reconnaissance surveys to intensive tract walking, have been implemented according to the different research questions and scales of examination of our project. In addition, the survey designs had to meet various landscape units of the research area within the Western Taurus Mountains and thus had to deal with different terrain conditions, rates of accessibility and visibility. In this paper we present how we approached the archaeological survey research at Sagalassos and how it developed through time. Via this retrospective view we want to shed light on the merits and shortcomings of our survey research, and what paths we want to set out for our future research.
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A short overview (in English/Turkish) of the 2016 Sagalassos Survey Results. For a more comprehensive overview one is referred to: Vandam, R, Willett, P. and Poblome J. Chapter 15: Living on the margins. First results from the Dereköy... more
A short overview (in English/Turkish) of the 2016 Sagalassos Survey Results. For a more comprehensive overview one is referred to: Vandam, R, Willett, P. and Poblome J. Chapter 15: Living on the margins. First results from the Dereköy Archaeological Survey of the Sagalassos Project in the Western Taurus Mountains. In: Steadman, S.R., McMahon, G. (Eds.), The Archaeology of Anatolia: Recent Discoveries (2014-2016) Vol II, Cambridge Scholar Press, Cambridge. 321-346.
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A reconstruction of the ancient subsistence economy and land use strategies is presented here for the province of Burdur, more specifically the area south and southeast of Lake Burdur, in southwestern Turkey. This review is based on the... more
A reconstruction of the ancient subsistence economy and land use strategies is presented here for the
province of Burdur, more specifically the area south and southeast of Lake Burdur, in southwestern
Turkey. This review is based on the results from archaeozoological (including bone collagen carbon and
nitrogen stable isotope analyses) and archaeobotanical analyses available from seven sites, dated to
distinct time periods ranging from the Neolithic to the Middle Byzantine period. The data (both published
and unpublished) are compiled with information available on settlement development and dynamics,
in the study area. Results show changing agrarian and animal husbandry practices for a period of
more than 8000 years, ranging between self-sustaining economies to specialised husbandry practices
and an intensive agricultural exploitation of the landscape, in relation to human settlement activities.
province of Burdur, more specifically the area south and southeast of Lake Burdur, in southwestern
Turkey. This review is based on the results from archaeozoological (including bone collagen carbon and
nitrogen stable isotope analyses) and archaeobotanical analyses available from seven sites, dated to
distinct time periods ranging from the Neolithic to the Middle Byzantine period. The data (both published
and unpublished) are compiled with information available on settlement development and dynamics,
in the study area. Results show changing agrarian and animal husbandry practices for a period of
more than 8000 years, ranging between self-sustaining economies to specialised husbandry practices
and an intensive agricultural exploitation of the landscape, in relation to human settlement activities.
The relative importance of deterministic and stochastic processes driving patterns of human settlement remains controversial. A main reason for this is that disentangling the drivers of distributions and geographic clustering at different... more
The relative importance of deterministic and stochastic processes driving patterns of human settlement remains controversial. A main reason for this is that disentangling the drivers of distributions and geographic clustering at different spatial scales is not straightforward and powerful analytical toolboxes able to deal with this type of data are largely deficient. Here we use a multivariate statistical framework originally developed in community ecology, to infer the relative importance of spatial and environmental drivers of human settlement. Using Moran’s eigenvector maps and a dataset of spatial variation in a set of relevant environmental variables we applied a variation partitioning procedure based on redundancy analysis models to assess the relative importance of spatial and environmental processes explaining settlement patterns. We applied this method on an archaeological dataset covering a 15 km2 area in SW Turkey spanning a time period of 8000 years from the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic up to the Byzantine period. Variation partitioning revealed both significant unique and commonly explained effects of environmental and spatial variables. Land cover and water availability were the dominant environmental determinants of human settlement throughout the study period, supporting the theory of the presence of farming communities. Spatial clustering was mainly restricted to small spatial scales. Significant spatial clustering independent of environmental gradients was also detected which can be indicative of expansion into unsuitable areas or an unexpected absence in suitable areas which could be caused by dispersal limitation. Integrating historic settlement patterns as additional predictor variables resulted in more explained variation reflecting temporal autocorrelation in settlement locations.
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During the 2011 Sagalassos project survey, a Bronze Age pithos cemetery was discovered in the vicinity of the multi-period site of Gâvur Evi Tepesi, in the Burdur Plain, SW Turkey. Despite ongoing quarrying of gravel at the cemetery,... more
During the 2011 Sagalassos project survey, a Bronze Age pithos cemetery was discovered in the vicinity of the multi-period site of Gâvur Evi Tepesi, in the Burdur Plain, SW Turkey. Despite ongoing quarrying of gravel at the cemetery, several in situ pithoi were found. The following paper is the first report of our work at this cemetery and discusses and contextualizes the findings at Gâvur Evi Tepesi. Furthermore it illustrates how the cemetery belongs to a more widespread tradition attested at similar contemporary cemeteries in Western Anatolia: the deceased were interred in pithoi closed with large stone slabs and oriented to the E/SE. A study of this cemetery suggests that it was used during the Early Bronze Age II (2600-2300 BC) and Middle Bronze Age (2000-1450 BC) since some pithos burials associated with fine ware from both periods were recovered. Six different pithos types were identified ranging from neck pithoi to rib pithoi. In addition, this paper considers the Gâvur Evi Tepesi cemetery and its settlement within the broader Early Bronze Age social landscape of the Burdur Plain. It is clear that in this period this plain witnessed an increase in human settlement density and the development of a distinct settlement pattern: multiple village-type settlements with discrete cemeteries, located close to water and agricultural land. Ultimately, the research in the Burdur Plain faced also problems with regard to the recognition and definition of local EB phases among which the EB III.
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Mountain ranges comprise a high variety of landscapes and ecologies. This chapter presents a detailed case study from the Western Taurus Mountains (Southwest Turkey) where many of these variabilities occur on a microscale. Here, we... more
Mountain ranges comprise a high variety of landscapes and ecologies. This chapter presents a detailed case study from the Western Taurus Mountains (Southwest Turkey) where many of these variabilities occur on a microscale. Here, we investigate to what extent this landscape diversity is reflected in the local archaeology. By comparing the archaeological outcomes from two similar intensive surveys within the Western Taurus Mountains, one focusing on a lowland com- ponent (Burdur Plain) and the other on the highlands (Dereköy Highlands), we want to investigate how different landscapes can produce different archaeologies. This research illustrates a complex relationship between the local archaeologies in which a range of factors contributed to these outcomes. Ultimately, the study wants to demonstrate the significance of contextualization of both high- and lowlands.
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It has been argued that the Late Neolithic (6500–6100 BCE) settlement pattern in southwestern Turkey is dominated by small farming settlements (mound sites/höyüks) located in the most optimal zones of the landscape, that is, it exhibited... more
It has been argued that the Late Neolithic (6500–6100 BCE) settlement pattern in southwestern Turkey is dominated by small farming settlements (mound sites/höyüks) located in the most optimal zones of the landscape, that is, it exhibited a nucleated settlement pattern. On the basis of new intensive field-walking data from the Burdur Plain, which is known for the Neolithic sites of Hacılar and Kuruçay Höyük, it was possible to test this supposition and examine to what extent this pattern is biased by research methods rather than reflecting ancient realia. However, the survey failed to revealed any new Neolithic sites, thus largely corroborating the nucleated settlement pattern. These results are in contrast with the succeeding Early Chalcolithic (6100–5600 BCE) period where a number of new sites have been detected that indicate a more dispersed settlement pattern. I argue that the socioeconomic organization of the Neolithic community itself may explain this absence of a dispersed and differentiated settlement pattern during the LN in southwestern Turkey. Considering the developments taking place around the second half of the seventh millennium BCE, I argue that this period in southwestern Turkey is a transitional one, during which the Neolithic way of life became established in the region.
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This forthcoming paper discusses the lack of Middle Chalcolithic findings in the Burdur Plain and in the Burdur Region in general. It is argued that the lack of intensive research, visibility issues, and the nature of the Middle... more
This forthcoming paper discusses the lack of Middle Chalcolithic findings in the Burdur Plain and in the Burdur Region in general. It is argued that the lack of intensive research, visibility issues, and the nature of the Middle Chalcolithic sites themselves are the main reasons why no sites of this period have been found yet.
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This article attempts to reconstruct the mode of subsistence practised by the inhabitants of the Burdur Plain (SW Turkey) during the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic period, the Late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age and the... more
This article attempts to reconstruct the mode of subsistence practised by the inhabitants of the Burdur Plain (SW Turkey) during the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic period, the Late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age and the Archaic/Classical-Hellenistic period. The manner in which people were able to create a livelihood stands in a dialectical relationship with the social organization of that community. The study of subsistence is, therefore, a vital part of archaeological research. The combination of surface survey, excavation and regional environmental research shows that the fertile Burdur Plain has been the focus of crop cultivation and animal husbandry for many millennia.
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This paper presents an update and some new insights into the way we see the countryside work mainly in Roman imperial times in the micro-region or study region of ancient Sagalassos. The archaeological narrative of our paper is enriched... more
This paper presents an update and some new insights
into the way we see the countryside work mainly in
Roman imperial times in the micro-region or study
region of ancient Sagalassos. The archaeological narrative
of our paper is enriched with interdisciplinary
research and insights on different aspects of the
study of this countryside. We would mainly like to
demonstrate that, when it all comes together, reasoning
and results with some historical importance are
within reach.
into the way we see the countryside work mainly in
Roman imperial times in the micro-region or study
region of ancient Sagalassos. The archaeological narrative
of our paper is enriched with interdisciplinary
research and insights on different aspects of the
study of this countryside. We would mainly like to
demonstrate that, when it all comes together, reasoning
and results with some historical importance are
within reach.
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In this contribution we demonstrate the value of intensive archaeological survey research for Anatolian Prehistory and the importance of incorporating it within a larger framework of field research. In Pisidia, and Anatolia in general,... more
In this contribution we demonstrate the value of intensive archaeological survey research for Anatolian Prehistory and the importance of incorporating it within a larger framework of field research. In Pisidia, and Anatolia in general, the Prehistoric cultural landscape is dominated by mound/höyük sites in optimal locations near water sources and fertile land. This pattern is chiefly established by large-scale regional and extensive surveys, as was also the case for the Sagalassos study area in Burdur, Turkey. However, since 2008 the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project initiated intensive surveys within its study area to understand the relationship between the city of Sagalassos and its hinterland. The research yielded not only new insights for the historical periods but for the prehistory as well. On the basis of two survey case studies from the project, the Burdur Plain and the Dereköy Highlands, we demonstrate here the dangers of relying solely on extensive survey results, as it could lead to overrepresentation of certain types of sites and periods while missing others entirely. This has undeniably impacted previous reconstructions of prehistoric communities within Pisidia on various aspects among which are settlement patterns and socio-economic characteristics.
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During the 2010 Sagalassos Project survey, three previously unknown Late Chalcolithic (4000-3000 BC) sites were identified in the Burdur Plain, SW Turkey. Study of the collected Late Chalcolithic pottery indicated shared technological... more
During the 2010 Sagalassos Project survey, three previously unknown Late Chalcolithic (4000-3000 BC) sites were identified in the Burdur Plain, SW Turkey. Study of the collected Late Chalcolithic pottery indicated shared technological characteristics: handmade, burnished and open-fired pottery, made from local clays with simple, repetitive forms. The question raised by the authors is how the social context of the studied material can be best addressed
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Onderzoeksproject (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
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Data visualisations are commonplace in research cycles with research conducted under the umbrella of digital humanities being no exception. Besides side products of modelling efforts and communication tools in research articles, data... more
Data visualisations are commonplace in research cycles with research conducted under the umbrella of digital humanities being no exception. Besides side products of modelling efforts and communication tools in research articles, data visualisations can help bring new perspective to otherwise familiar data. While other promising such visualisation tools for encouraging e.g. distant and close reading are being developed in neighbouring fields of literature and cultural, archaeological data nevertheless seems to have few such explorative examples outside the use of GIS to show (Gupta and Devillers, 2017). GIS allows for more efficient management and analysis of the collected spatial data and provides an easy way to map spatial archaeological data. However, traditional GIS mapping does not easily support temporal data, which can lead to a reduction of the complexity of archaeological phenomena (Andrienko et al. 2010). Especially datasets from long-run archaeological projects has evolved into a rich resource containing multiple dimensions worthy of exploration. In this session we want to explore new ways of visualizations to better handle the different dimensions of spatial archaeological datasets to reveal new patterns and create new knowledge. The session welcomes especially papers with customized geovisualizations and non-traditional GIS mapping of archaeological spatial data. The sessions aims to provide a stimulating discussion to identify problems and opportunities. We invite authors to provide a good insight into their methods. Refs
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CAA Netherlands/Flanders is pleased to inform you that the 2019 local chapter meeting will be held in Leuven, Belgium, October 29, 2019. The event is organised by the Department of Archaeology at the KU Leuven in collaboration with the... more
CAA Netherlands/Flanders is pleased to inform you that the 2019 local chapter meeting will be held in Leuven, Belgium, October 29, 2019. The event is organised by the Department of Archaeology at the KU Leuven in collaboration with the Ghent Centre for Digital Humanities. The aim of the meeting is to bring together academic and commercial archaeologists, as well archaeology students. The conference will be preceded by a workshop-day (October 28th, 2019).
With ever increasing ubiquity of digital tools and practices, and applications related to data science in archaeology, the organising committee is expecting a prolific event that critically focuses on the theory and practice of digital and quantitative methods in archaeology.
It is with great pleasure that the organising committee can confirm keynote lectures by Prof. Dr. Mark Gillings (University of Leicester) and Prof. Dr. Gary Lock (University of Oxford), two leading scholars in the field of digital archaeology.
The conference will be preceded by a workshop-day on October 28th. Topics for the hands-on workshops are: agent-based modelling in archaeology, spatial databases in archaeology, archaeological linked data and semantic web, and archaeological spatial data visualisations using R.
Registration
The registration form for both the conference and the workshops can be accessed through this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScZzvYKEnMsMNgjR-UkoTbQRXzVr4lhzUTIdbV_doAFqTSKnA/viewform
Registration for the event is free.
Location
The meeting will take place in the Justus Lipsiuszaal of the Faculty of Arts of the KU Leuven.
Address:
Justus Lipsiuszaal (room: lett. 08.16)
Blijde Inkomststraat 21
3000 Leuven
For further information, see the conference website (http://www.caanlfl.nl/?q=node/69)
With ever increasing ubiquity of digital tools and practices, and applications related to data science in archaeology, the organising committee is expecting a prolific event that critically focuses on the theory and practice of digital and quantitative methods in archaeology.
It is with great pleasure that the organising committee can confirm keynote lectures by Prof. Dr. Mark Gillings (University of Leicester) and Prof. Dr. Gary Lock (University of Oxford), two leading scholars in the field of digital archaeology.
The conference will be preceded by a workshop-day on October 28th. Topics for the hands-on workshops are: agent-based modelling in archaeology, spatial databases in archaeology, archaeological linked data and semantic web, and archaeological spatial data visualisations using R.
Registration
The registration form for both the conference and the workshops can be accessed through this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScZzvYKEnMsMNgjR-UkoTbQRXzVr4lhzUTIdbV_doAFqTSKnA/viewform
Registration for the event is free.
Location
The meeting will take place in the Justus Lipsiuszaal of the Faculty of Arts of the KU Leuven.
Address:
Justus Lipsiuszaal (room: lett. 08.16)
Blijde Inkomststraat 21
3000 Leuven
For further information, see the conference website (http://www.caanlfl.nl/?q=node/69)
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Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology is pleased to inform you that the 2019 local NL/FL chapter meeting will be held in Leuven, Belgium, October 29th-30th, 2019! We are now accepting paper proposals. More... more
Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology is pleased to inform you that the 2019 local NL/FL chapter meeting will be held in Leuven, Belgium, October 29th-30th, 2019!
We are now accepting paper proposals. More information on www.caanlfl.nl/?q=node/69
We are now accepting paper proposals. More information on www.caanlfl.nl/?q=node/69
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While the ecological diversity of the Mediterranean region provided multiple dwelling possibilities for past human groups, we have not investigated these with equal efficacy. For the Holocene research has tended to focus on complex,... more
While the ecological diversity of the Mediterranean region provided multiple dwelling possibilities for past human groups, we have not investigated these with equal efficacy. For the Holocene research has tended to focus on complex, multi-period sites in zones where agricultural output is higher and more predictable. Such sites attract us because of their large size, high visibility and tendency to exhibit higher-end social complexity (e.g. population density, monumental architecture, markets, etc.). In contrast, much less is known about zones where agriculture was less productive or possible (e.g. highlands, deserts, wetlands, coasts). Typically research has glossed such landscapes as ‘marginal’, usually without thinking more deeply about what marginality might mean or gathering adequate data to establish how people actually lived. Consequently, we know little about how such groups subsisted and connected; how they related to others; how they were integrated within larger political-economic systems; and how this varied in timespace.
This session will bring a critical, comparative, empirical perspective to the question of marginality using case studies from the Mediterranean past. What do we really know about how ‘marginal’ groups lived? Why, and in relation to what, are they considered marginal? If marginality lies at the end of an axis of variation, what defines that axis (e.g. distance, productive output, access to resources etc.). If multiple definitions are possible, do they conflict? Are current definitions or understandings of marginality still relevant or useful? Would they have been recognizable to the people of the past and, if not, is this a problem? What alternatives might be preferable?
This session will bring a critical, comparative, empirical perspective to the question of marginality using case studies from the Mediterranean past. What do we really know about how ‘marginal’ groups lived? Why, and in relation to what, are they considered marginal? If marginality lies at the end of an axis of variation, what defines that axis (e.g. distance, productive output, access to resources etc.). If multiple definitions are possible, do they conflict? Are current definitions or understandings of marginality still relevant or useful? Would they have been recognizable to the people of the past and, if not, is this a problem? What alternatives might be preferable?
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This paper presents a case study on human-environment dynamics in the Burdur Region (SW Turkey) during Late Prehistory (8000–2400 B.C.). Previous archaeological research in the area mainly focused on the fertile lowland areas, which... more
This paper presents a case study on human-environment dynamics in the Burdur Region (SW Turkey) during Late Prehistory (8000–2400 B.C.). Previous archaeological research in the area mainly focused on the fertile lowland areas, which revealed distinctive periods of continuity and collapse of farming communities, followed by a total abandonment of the plain areas for nearly a millennium, i.e., during the Middle Chalcolithic (5500–4100 B.C.). The working hypothesis is that people moved to more temperate regions and/or relocated themselves further upland. By investigating the so-called ‘marginal’ areas in the landscape we want to define the push-pull factors of marginal landscapes and investigate how different/similar the communities were in these areas in relation to lowland communities. Furthermore, extant regional palaeoenvironmental data will be linked to the findings of the survey. There are strong indications that the region was subject to a long-term climatic deterioration during the Late Prehistoric, particularly during the so-called 8.2ka Event, which may be one cause for the apparent exodus from the lowlands and shift in settlement patterns during the seventh/sixth millennium B.C. Ultimately, it will be attempted to corroborate changes witnessed in the local and regional palaeoenvironmental record with shifting preferences in landscape access and resource exploitation.