The goal of this session is to convene practitioners in a dialogue that is focused on examples of digitally-informed approaches to archaeological instruction in any setting. This can include field schools, workshops, seminars, massive open online courses (MOOCs), and more. Contributions to this session can consist of successful approaches to integrating digital methods into the instruction of archaeology and cultural heritage, either in the classroom, online, or via hybrid methods, as well as lessons learned from approaches that were not as successful as desired.

This session is partly planned as a follow-up to the CAA 2017 session Archaeology In and Out of the Classroom." We envision it as being interactive in nature: paper presentations may be supplemented by demonstrations of digital tools and approaches, and projects that are in the planning or pilot stage, or that are in need of reworking to improve results, can be discussed or workshopped by session participants. The ultimate goals for presenters and attendees alike are to gain better understanding of pedagogical approaches to archaeology, to leave better equipped to intelligently apply digital methods and tools to teaching, and to have made contacts within a community of practice to whom they can go with future ideas, questions, and challenges.

This session focuses on the thoughtful integration of digital methods into the processes of gathering, recording, interrogating, and publishing archaeological data. Digital publications, geospatial datasets, and three-dimensional presentation are examples of interactive approaches to what has been called “digital archaeology.” This interactivity can be taken a step further, as approaches like Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality (AR, VR, and MR) allow for the fostering of immersive experiences around the reconstruction, visualization, and presentation of archaeological data.

This session highlights all aspects of digital innovation in the survey, excavation, interrogation, and publication process, with particular emphasis on 3D modeling and printing, data interoperability, and VR, AR, and MR. It is intended both to serve as a follow-up to the CAA 2017 session on 3D modeling, AR/VR, and immersion (chaired by the session proposer), and to foster further discussion about the uses of interactive and immersive technologies both in the field, and in the presentation and analysis of objects and datasets.

The format of this session will be a combination of interactive presentation and discussion, with a specific emphasis on demonstrations of 3D reconstruction, Virtual/Augmented and Mixed Reality experiences, online presentation, and other interactive and immersive approaches to excavation, recording, and dissemination. Our goal is to cultivate a needed community of practice and shared knowledge around these techniques and approaches, while working together to support the highest quality of digital methods and processes in archaeological practice.

The continuous development and adoption digital methods, tools, and technologies is having an impact on virtually every field. In archaeology, these developments affect the way we carry out excavations, conservation, publication, and all of the steps in between. Similarly, technology has become such an ingrained part of teaching and learning that what used to be referred to separately as “teaching with technology” has now simply become a part of teaching writ large.

The convergence between technologically-informed teaching and the practice of archaeology takes place on multiple levels, from introductory instruction to higher-order skills needed for fieldwork and data analysis. Similarly, it is realized through multiple modalities, including in person – in the field and in the classroom – and online, as well as in a hybrid form consisting of classroom/field and classroom/online combinations.

The goal of this session is to convene practitioners in a dialogue that is focused on examples of digitally-informed approaches to archaeological instruction in any setting, from seminars to massive open online courses (MOOCs) to field workshops, etc. To that end, we invite contributions that speak to the application of digital methods to the teaching of archaeology as a subject and as a practice. These contributions can consist of successful approaches to integrating digital methods into the instruction of archaeology and cultural heritage, either in the classroom, online, or via hybrid methods, as well as lessons learned from less successful approaches.

We envision this as an interactive session: paper presentations may be supplemented by demonstrations of digital tools and approaches, and projects that are in the planning or pilot stage, or that are in need of reworking to improve results, can be discussed or ‘workshopped’ by session participants, with the ultimate goal of gaining a better understanding of, and becoming better equipped to intelligently apply, digital methods and tools to the teaching of archaeology.

Innovations in digital recording have caused the amount of data collected during modern archaeological excavations to dwarf that collected only a few years ago – let alone in the excavations of the previous century. The thoughtful integration of digital methods into the process (from excavation to publication) can assist in more complete recording and, just as importantly, meaningful presentation and dissemination of these data. The integration into the digital picture of data from prior excavations and campaign seasons, which may have been recorded in different formats and following different methodologies, is also important.

Digital publications, geospatial datasets, and 3D printed objects are examples of interactive approaches to this problem. This is can be taken a step further with immersion, as modern approaches like Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality allow us to create truly immersive experiences around the reconstruction, visualization, and presentation of data.

In archaeology, interaction and immersion can serve at least two purposes: (1) exhibition and display, which can include the digital supplements to publications and exhibits, physical reconstruction and replication, and virtual reconstruction of sites and artifacts, including those that no longer physically exist; and (2) the close examination of live datasets, which can run the gamut from database queries to the 3D rendering of archaeological data in situ for the purpose of discovery, analysis, and information sharing. Archaeological data in particular are well–suited to Augmented and Virtual Reality for both presentation and dataset exploration, as GIS points and associated finds, which are inherently three–dimensional, connote possible shapes, models, and textures.

This session is intended to foster discussion about the uses of interactive and immersive technologies both in the field, and in the presentation and analysis of objects and datasets. Its format will be a combination of interactive presentation and discussion, with a specific emphasis on demonstrations of 3D reconstruction, Virtual/Augmented and Mixed Reality experiences, online presentation, and other interactive and immersive approaches to excavation, recording, and dissemination. Our goal is to cultivate the community of practice and shared knowledge around these techniques and approaches, while working together to support the highest quality of research and dissemination of archaeological data in this digital age.

The Late Bronze Age ended with a bang in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean: palaces and empires collapsed, from Greece to Egypt; coastal territories were beset by pirates and marauders; migratory peoples were on the move across land and sea; and geopolitical lines were permanently redrawn – conditions reflected, in many ways, by the world portrayed in Homer’s Odyssey. The notorious ‘Sea Peoples,’ mysterious groups of warriors who were credited by the pharaoh Ramesses III with destroying empires across the Near East at this time, fit into this puzzle in some way, although their exact role continues to be hotly debated. In the Odyssey’s various subplots, Odysseus himself carries out activities that are that highly reminiscent of the Sea Peoples, as he engages in raids and skirmishes while circuitously making his way back from Troy. Though it is presented as a falsehood within Homer’s master narrative, one such subplot, the “Second Cretan Lie” (Odyssey xiv 191–359) is striking in its similarity to the experience of one specific Sea Peoples group, whom Egyptian pharaohs referred to as the ‘Sherden of the Sea’, and whose seaborne attacks they claimed that “none could withstand.”

This book marshals documentary, pictorial, and material evidence to examine Odysseus’ Second Cretan Lie in the context of the Late Bronze–Iron Age transition, with particular emphasis on changes in the iconography of warriors and warfare, social and economic upheaval, and remarkable innovation in maritime technology and tactics. Particular focus is given the hero’s description of his frequent raiding activities, including an ill–fated attempt on the Nile Delta, and on his description of seven subsequent years spent in the land of the pharaohs, during which he claims to have gathered great wealth. Setting the evidence for the Sherden of the Sea against this Homeric narrative demonstrates not only that Odysseus’ Second Cretan Lie fits into the temporal framework of the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age transition, but that there were historical people who actually lived that which Odysseus falsely claims as his own experience. 

Emanuel, Jeffrey P. 2017. Black Ships and Sea Raiders: The Late Bronze–Early Iron Age Context of Odysseus' Second Cretan Lie (monograph). Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

During the 2013-14 academic year, Harvard University piloted the use of MOOCs as tools for blended learning in select undergraduate and graduate residential and online courses. One of these courses, The Ancient Greek Hero, combined for–credit (Harvard College and Harvard Extension School) and open online (HarvardX) groups into a single online unit, marking the first time the same instance of a MOOC was used simultaneously by both tuition–paying, credit–seeking students and non–paying, non–credit students enrolled exclusively online. In this article, we analyze and compare the online behavior of students and participants in the three groups that simultaneously participated in The Ancient Greek Hero via the edX platform. We find that, in similar fashion to a traditional learning setting, students enrolled in all three versions of the course engaged the online content in a transactional way, spending their time and effort on activities and exercises in ways that would optimize their desired outcomes. While user behavior was diverse, HarvardX participant engagement tended to be either very deep or virtually nonexistent, while College and Extension School students displayed relatively homogenous patterns of participation, viewing most of the content but interacting mostly with that which affected their overall course grades. Ultimately, we conclude that educators who intend to utilize MOOC content in an effort to apply blended learning techniques to their classrooms should carefully consider how best to incorporate each online element into their overall pedagogical strategy, including how to incentivize interaction with those elements. Further, for MOOCs to have maximum impact, they must address multiple learner motivations and provide participants with multiple modes of interaction with the content and with their peers.

The term "balsa" (Spanish for "raft") encompasses a range of watercraft employed in modern Ecuador, Peru, and Chile from Pre-Columbian times to the present.

Planning Phase for a IIIF-Compliant Scholars’ Workspace for Visual Material.

The goal of this project is to develop requirements and strategic recommendations for a unified approach to the implementation of an International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF)-compliant online workspace that will enable faculty, students, and researchers to collect, store, share, annotate, and arrange high resolution digital images for teaching and research.

For more information on the International Image Interoperability Framework (and IIIF at Harvard), see:

Emanuel, J. P. (2018). "Stitching Together Technology for the Digital Humanities With the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF)." In R. Kear and K. Joranson (eds.), Digital Humanities, Libraries, and Partnerships: A Critical Examination of Labor, Networks, and Community. Cambridge: Chandos Elsevier, pp. 125-135.