Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in Archaeology is a Greek chapter of the international non-profit organization "Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology» (CAA-GR). Members of CAA-GR are scientists from the fields of archeology, social sciences, life sciences, arts, mathematics, information technology, engineers and scientists in all fields of cultural heritage.

The CRe-AM project aims to bridge communities of creators with communities of technology providers and innovators, in a collective road mapping effort to streamline, coordinate and amplify collaborative work. This will be achieved by developing and mainstreaming new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and tools by addressing the needs of different sectors of the creative industries.

The Creativity Research Adaptive Roadmap Project (Project Acronym: CRe‐AM) is a 2 years EU-funded project, running from October 2013 to September 2015. CRe‐AM is part of the 2013 Work Program on ICT, being one of the projects selected under the first Call of Objective 8.1: Technologies and scientific foundations in the field of Creativity.

Study, development and application of innovative scalable acquisition techniques for the documentation of fragmented statues in a heavily cluttered environment. We have proposed a novel approach mixing 3D laser scanning and flash photography. In order to separate clutter from acquired material, semi-automated methods are employed to generate masks used to segment the range maps and the color photographs. This approach allows the removal of unwanted 3D and colour data prior to the integration of acquired data in a 3D model. Sharp shadows generated by flash acquisition are easily handled by this masking process, and colour deviations introduced by the flashlight are corrected at the colour-blending step by taking into account the geometry of the object.

The approach has been evaluated on a large-scale acquisition campaign of the Mont'e Prama complex. This site contains an extraordinary collection of stone fragments from the Nuragic era, which depict small models of prehistoric nuraghe (cone-shaped stone towers), as well as larger-than-life archers, warriors, and boxers. The acquisition campaign has covered 37 statues mounted on metallic supports. Color and shape were acquired at a resolution of 0.25mm, which resulted in over 6200 range maps (about 1.3G valid samples) and 3817 photographs.

The method received the first prize at Digital Heritage 2013. The resulting multiresolution models have been the basis for the creation of an innovative museum presentation system based on a dual-display setup combining a touch screen with a large projection wall. The system, installed in the National Archeological Museum of Cagliari and the Civic Museum of Cabras, has attracted nearly 100k visitors in the first 5 months.

The aims of the "Geometric Reconstruction And noVel semantIc reunificaTion of culturAl heriTage objEcts" are to create a set of software tools that will allow archaeologists and curators to reconstruct shattered or broken cultural objects, to identify and re-unify parts of a cultural object that has been separated across collections and to recognise associations between cultural artefacts that will allow new knowledge and understanding of past societies to be inferred. The project involves, as partners, a world-renowned museum, an archaeology institute, and research partners working in the manipulation of 3-D objects, semantic analysis and ICT integration. The project is driven by the needs of the archaeological institutes, exemplified by a pertinent use case, the Salamis collection shared between Cyprus and the British Museum. Expertise in 3-D scanning from previous project experience enables the partners to embark on a programme of geometrical feature extraction and matching on the one hand, and semantic annotation and matching on the other. The integration of these approaches into a single decision support platform, with a full suite of visualisation tools will provide a unique resource for the cultural heritage research community. We anticipate that the insights to be gained from the use of these tools will lead to faster and more accurate reconstruction of cultural heritage objects for study and exhibition, to greater opportunities for reunification of objects between collections and greater insights into relationships between past societies which can be communicated as coherent narratives to the public through new forms of virtual and tangible displays, involving the reconstructed objects themselves as well as 3-D printed objects and digital visualizations.

H2020 topic: H2020-REFLECTIVE-7-2014 
WEB link: http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/197127_en.html

Joint research for faster scientific advancement. IPERION CH Joint Research Activities are focused on advancing diagnostics for improving access services and tools available to researchers and professionals in Heritage Science across Europe. The consortium foresees promising scientific and technological advancements that can also foster innovation potential and eventually lead to broader impact through involvement of SMEs. IPERION CH JRA address the current needs of the research community, aiming to: (a) advance techniques and instruments for non-invasive stratigraphic analyses, (b) integrate analytical techniques in new portable instruments and imaging devices, optimizing mobile diagnostics, (c) advance diagnostic techniques for efficient monitoring of deterioration and conservation treatments, (d) improve methods for analyses of organic components in historical and archaeological samples, (e) unify digital tools and protocols for storing, re-using and sharing multi-format scientific cultural heritage data.

Integrating activities for a structured scientific community.The long established networking culture at the heart of IPERION CH will reinforce and support the pooling of European resources to build a highly coordinated RI that operates at a global level, opening access internationally to a research area of great social and economic interest, in which Europe traditionally excels and plays a leading role. IPERION CH will contribute to enhanced and innovative research for movable, immovable and digital European Heritage. The coordinated and integrated approach helps promote interoperability among facilities, while avoiding duplication of efforts. IPERION CH will: (a) jointly identify the most significant research priorities and future scientific challenges, (b) promote trans-national access activities to reach new communities of users, (c) devise efficient methodologies for exploitation and transfer of innovation to industry, (d) define best practices and protocols for measurements with fixed and mobile instruments, (e) optimize and advance the use of digital tools in Heritage Science, and (f) develop strategies towards a sustainable European RI on Heritage Science.

Tο “Virtual Excavation” είναι μια ολοκληρωμένη λύση για την τεκμηρίωση πολιτιστικών αγαθών που σχετίζονται με χώρους ανασκαφών. Το σύστημα υποστηρίζει την συλλογή, διαχείριση, και προβολή δεδομένων σχετικών με την ανασκαφή και τα αντικείμενα που ανακαλύπτονται σε αυτήν. Για το λόγο αυτό χρησιμοποιούνται πολυφασματική φωτογράφιση, φασματοσκοπία nIR/mIR/UV/VIS, ακουστική μι-κροσκοπία, χώρο-χρονική και τρισδιάστατη μοντελοποίηση, και εξόρυξη γνώσης. Οι τεχνικές αυτές εφαρμόγονται στην ανασκαφή του Δίον.

Το έργο θα καταλήξει στη δημιουργία ενός προϊόντος που μπορεί να διαχειριστεί και να πα-ρουσιάζει όλη τη σχετική πληροφορία με μία ανασκαφή, καθώς και όλη τα μεταδεδομένα που μπορούν να προκύψουν. Η παρουσίαση των δεδομένων γίνεται στο διαδίκτυο, όπου παρουσιά-ζεται ο χώρος ανασκαφής σε διαφορετικές χρονικές στιγμές και σε διαφορετικά χωρικά σημεία με τη χρήση τρισδιάστατων τεχνικών. Το σύστημα υποστηρίζει την εικονική και πραγματική ε-πίσκεψη στο χώρο, επιτρέποντας τους χρήστες να έχουν πρόσβαση στα δεδομένα και μεταδο-μένα με φιλικό και εκπαιδευτικό τρόπο. Κατά τη διάρκεια του έργου οι παρακάτω εργασίες θα λάβουν χώρα:

1. Προοδευτικές εργασίες ανασκαφής και τεκμηρίωσης στο Δίον
2. Μη καταστρεπτική ανάλυση και πολυφασματική επεξεργασία σε μετρήσεις που θα λάβουν χώρα στο Δίον σε κινητά και ακίνητα αντικείμενα.
3. Δημιουργία ενός ολοκληρωμένου συστήματος για την προβολή και διαχείριση τρισδιάστα-της, πολυστρωματικής πληροφορίας για την ψηφιακή ανακατασκευή της ανασκαφής.
4. Πρόσβαση στις πληροφορίες της ανασκαφής και του σχετικού υλικού μέσο ενός γραφικού περιβάλλοντος που ομαδοποιεί θεματικά τη πληροφορία και τη παρουσιάζει σε επισκέπτες, μα-θητές αρχαιολόγους και άλλους επιστήμονες.