Gabriele Gattiglia, Michael Remmy, Holly Wright
ArchAIDE is funded by the European Union’s H2020 RIA programme and aims to create a new system for the automated recognition of archaeological pottery from excavations. Pottery is of fundamental importance for the comprehension and dating of archaeological contexts, and for understanding the dynamics of production, trade flows, and social interactions. Today, this characterisation and classification of ceramics is carried out manually, through the expertise of specialists and the use of analogue catalogues held in archives and libraries.
The goal of ArchAIDE is to optimise and economise this process, making knowledge accessible wherever archaeologists are working.
The ArchAIDE project developed an innovative app designed for desktop and mobile devices that aims to change the global practice of archaeology, thanks to the development of two neural networks for supporting appearance-based and shape based recognition. Pottery fragments can be photographed, their characteristics sent to the neural network model, which activates the automatic object recognition system, resulting in a response where all relevant information is linked, and ultimately stored, within a database that allows each new discovery to be shared online.
Currently, ArchAIDE represents a proof of concept which permits the classification of three pottery classes: Majolica of Montelupo, Roman Amphorae and Terra Sigillata.
The workshop will focus on the presentation of the project’s main technical aspects, on the live demonstration and direct testing of the app, and in an open discussion about the ArchAIDE approach in particular and the needs of today’s research in archaeological pottery in general.
Attendees should provide:
laptop and/or mobile device (smartphone/tablet)
