[Archport] AARG 2010 conference second announcement

[João Fonte <joaofonte@gmail.com>]

* SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS *

International aerial archaeology conference
AARG 2010 Bucharest
16 - 18 September 2010

Organised by the
Institutul de Memorie Culturala (CIMEC)
and the Aerial Archaeology Research Group

** Proposals for sessions, papers and posters are invited**

16 – 17 September: Conference Papers
Sessions will include: Aerial Archaeology in Romania and SE Europe; Lidar
in context; Interpretation; Postgraduate research; New Projects; Presenting
aerial data

18 September: Field Trip
Neolithic sites south of Bucharest, towards the Danube

Closing date for proposals of papers, posters and sessions is 31st May 2010

Conference Organising Committee
Professor Dr hab. Wlodek Rączkowski (AARG, University of Poznań)
Dr Irina Oberlander-Tarnoveanu (CIMEC), Dave Cowley (AARG, RCAHMS)
Carmen Bem (CIMEC), Lidka Żuk (AARG, University of Poznań)

Address for conference correspondence:
Dave Cowley, RCAHMS, 16 Bernard Terrace, Edinburgh, EH8 9NX, Scotland
Email dave.cowley@rcahms.gov.uk

Conference website -  http://aarg2010.cimec.ro/
************************************************************************
STUDENT/YOUNG RESEARCHERS BURSARIES FOR AARG 2010
These are to support bona fide students and young researchers who are
interested in aerial archaeology and wish to attend the conference.
Applications to Dave Cowley at the above address, by letter or email. There
is no formal application form but please provide the following information:
Your interests in archaeology and aerial archaeology; place of study; the
name and contact details of a supervisor or employer who can provide a
reference; an estimate of travel costs to attend.
Closing date for applications is 31st May 2010

                        Aerial Archaeology Research Group website:
                        http://aarg.univie.ac.at/

Pre-conference workshop
Remote-sensing mapping programmes in archaeology: planning, organisation,
results
15 September - Ministry of Culture, Bucharest, Romania
Contact Irina Oberlander-Tarnoveanu for more details ( Irina@cimec.ro )



Session: Lidar in context: interpretation and integration
Session Organisers: Laure Nuninger and Rachel Opitz,
Contact: rachel.opitz@mshe.univ-fcomte.fr

In this session we would like to address two related topics in the emerging
field of archaeological lidar: the integration and interpretation of
airborne laserscanning data. The integration of lidar with other sources of
archaeological data (e.g. the results of geophysical survey, fieldwalking,
aerial photography, multi and hyperspectral imaging, or excavation) in
order to draw conclusions on the feature, site, landscape, and/or (micro)
regional scales presents numerous challenges. Is having one area studied
primarily through fieldwalking and another area primarily through lidar a
problem when drawing conclusions about the whole landscape? Can lidar
derived topographic data help improve our analysis and interpretation of
large scale geophysical surveys? Should we expect lidar to show the same
sites and features as other techniques, and if the answer is no, what does
this mean for ground observation?

What lessons might be learned from the experience of integrating aerial
photography into projects addressing landscape archaeological questions?
What practical and theoretical challenges and possibilities are involved?
The second topic is the interpretation of lidar data itself. How far are we
willing to push topographic data? How confident can we be about
interpretations made based primarily on information about morphology,
scale, location and relative position in the landscape? How should the
desk-based observation and ground observation of lidar data be carried out?
Given that a major strength of lidar is its ability to reveal features in
areas with poor archaeological (and specifically ceramic) visibility, how
should we approach questions of chronology? How much of what looks like
archaeology is actually archaeology? What features are visible but not
recognizable? What analytical and visualization approaches are most useful
for interpretation?

We suggest that interpretation and integration challenges exist on both the
feature / site scale where multiple types of data are available for the
same location, and the landscape / regional scale where fundamentally
different types of information are available in different places. We hope
to provoke a discussion involving those using lidar and those employing
other forms of prospection on the topics of integration and interpretation.
We encourage the submission of abstracts from researchers whose projects
are at all stages, from design to completion, and hope to be able to
address a wide range of environmental and archaeological contexts.

Session: Aerial Archaeology in Romania and SE Europe
Organiser: Conference committee – contacts: dave.cowley@rcahms.gov.uk ;
Irina@cimec.ro
As the AARG annual conference has moved around Europe, sessions designed to
showcase work in the host country or region have become an important
component of the conference. This session will highlight ongoing projects
in Romania and neighbouring areas of the SE Europe.

Session: Interpretation
Organiser: Conference committee – contact: dave.cowley@rcahms.gov.uk
The interpretation of archaeological features recorded on aerial
photographs, satellite imagery and hyper/multi-spectral data is recognised
amongst ‘traditional’ aerial archaeologists as a subjective process,
depending on the skill of the interpreter, their experience and training.
However, many approaches under development are emphasising the
auto-extraction of information from imagery, with varying degrees of input
from a skilled interpreter. Equally, many in the ‘remote sensing’ community
have developed an interest in such applications for archaeology with little
or no archaeological background. This session will explore the roles and
inter-connections of auto-extraction approaches, experience, the role of
training and so on, in addressing the central issue of how the
interpretation of source data can be addressed in a coherent and structured
way, that extends beyond just looking, to a robust, critical process that
challenges ‘how interpretations are made’ and in which stage of research
interpretations are made.

Session:  Postgraduate research
Organiser: Conference committee – contact: dave.cowley@rcahms.gov.uk
AARG has a long tradition of encouraging postgraduates and young
researchers to present their research in a relaxed environment, and giving
them exposure to experts in their fields and providing an opportunity for
necessarily incomplete research to be presented.

Session: New Projects
Organiser: Conference committee – contact: dave.cowley@rcahms.gov.uk
This session is designed to allow for the presentation of work-in-progress,
and also for projects at an early stage, where research design, methodology
etc. can be presented for peer review and comment.

Session: Presenting aerial data
Organiser: Conference committee – contact: dave.cowley@rcahms.gov.uk
The challenges of presenting aerial data – in publications, on-line and to
a variety of users – are many, and papers that explore these issues are
welcome.

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João Fonte