Archaeological drawings

Journal of Field Archaeology, 2021

Drawing is a key method within many aspects of archaeology. Yet relatively little is known about the contributions of drawing to archaeological knowledge construction. At the same time, digital recording methods are displacing traditional by-hand drawing in archaeological recording. The Aide Memoire Project conducted a survey and a series of observational studies in field recording and artifact illustration to understand 1) the perception of digital and by-hand drawing in archaeology 2) how drawing contributes to the creation of mental models that allow archaeologists to understand and interpret archaeological remains and artifacts and 3) what impact digital drawing has on the creation of these mental models. Our toolkit includes the NASA Task Load Index to assess and compare the mental load while drawing digitally or by-hand. We conclude that there are significant pedagogical, academic and professional implications to consider when removing or replacing by-hand drawing with digital recording in archaeological methodology.

Artistic practices and archaeological research, 2019

Printed ISBN 9781789691405. Epublication ISBN 9781789691412. Artistic Practices and Archaeological Research aims to expand the field of archaeological research with an anthropological understanding of practices which include artistic methods. The project has come about through a collaborative venture between Dragoş Gheorghiu (archaeologist and professional visual artist) and Theodor Barth (anthropologist). This anthology contains articles from professional archaeologists, artists and designers. The contributions cover a scale ranging from theoretical reflections on pre-existing archaeological finds/documentation, to reflective field-practices where acts of ‘making’ are used to interface with the site. These acts feature a manufacturing range from ceramics, painting, drawing, type-setting and augmented reality (AR). The scope of the anthology – as a book or edited whole – has accordingly been to determine a comparative approach resulting in an identifiable set of common concerns. Accordingly, the book proceeds from a comparative approach to research ontologies, extending the experimental ventures of the contributors, to the hatching of artistic propositions that demonstrably overlap with academic research traditions, of epistemic claims in the making. This comparative approach relies on the notion of transposition: that is an idea of the makeshift relocation of methodological issues – research ontologies at the brink of epistemic claims – and accumulates depth from one article to the next as the reader makes her way through the volume. However, instead of proposing a set method, the book offers a lighter touch in highlighting the role of operators between research and writing, rather entailing a duplication of practice, in moving from artistic ideas to epistemic claims. This, in the lingo of artistic research, is known as exposition. Emphasising the construct of the ‘learning theatre’ the volume provides a support structure for the contributions to book-project, in the tradition of viewing from natural history. The contributions are hands-on and concrete, while building an agenda for a broader contemporary archaeological discussion. http://archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id={BAAF7F21-9F73-4A38-AACC-AD0DD3A5B31C}

English translation and update of the paper published in French online on the blog of MAFKF in 2015

In the 21st Century, drawing archaeological objects may appear as an obsolete discipline. Why still draw by hand at a time when technology has evolved to the point that digital and 3D imagery are part of the daily life of archaeologists? The digital revolution has driven graphic designers to rethink their profession in both substance and form. Not so long ago, however, drawing was the best way to represent and to publish archaeological objects. Photography, originally a luxury in itself, became during the 20th century a common tool in the archaeological documentation process. Still, it remained a luxury for publication, considering that the price for printing a photo plate — especially in color — exceeds by far that of a plate of text or monochrome line drawing. CAD (computer-assisted drawing, consisting of vectorial and raster softwares) became accessible on personal computers at the beginning of the 1990s. But it is only in the past ten years that a technological boom has made the digital tools of graphic documentation really accessible to non specialists, even going beyond the simple production of images, and hence revolutionizing the profession. On a broader view than just artefact illustration, including maps and architectural plans, information which previously could only be transcribed and recorded through textual description and hand drawing, can now be collected graphically and numerically, in almost unlimited quantity, whether in 2D or 3D — possibly even more dimensions when considering the depth of data accessible via GIS and remote sensing. Publication have also adopted new formats and standards. Once computerized, mixes of text and graphics, photography and drawing, hand-rendering and digital processing, 3D and video are easily enabled. Freed from the print-on-paper constraint, the size of the pictures and the colours are no longer the economic threshold which used to be unafordable to many, not to mention the

Journal of Field Archaeology, 2021

The Aide Mémoire Project conducted a survey and a series of observational studies in field recording and artifact illustration to understand 1) the perception of digital and by-hand drawing in archaeology, 2) how drawing contributes to the creation of mental models that allow archaeologists to understand archaeological remains and artifacts, and 3) what impact digital drawing has on the creation of these mental models. Our toolkit includes the NASA Task Load Index to assess and compare the mental load while drawing digitally or by-hand. We conclude that there are significant pedagogical, academic, and professional implications to consider when removing or replacing by-hand drawing with digital recording in archaeological methodology.

Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Historical background General principles Setting up a drawing office Illustration materials Drawing objects Introduction Copper and its alloys Iron and steel Lead, pewter and tin Gold and silver Glass ' Stone Ceramic objects Organic materials Bone, ivory, horn and antler Wood Leather Combinations of materials, inlays, coatings and colours Textiles The illustration of ceramic vessels Specialist materials Standard conventions and the drawing process Reconstruction Handles, handle sections, spouts and lips Body sections Characterisation and shading Methods of depicting decoration Samian ware Glass vessels Drawing flint and stone tools Background information The process and conventions of drawing Mounting and finishing Bibliography General: techniques and materials Publications illustrating various styles Objects Textiles Pottery Flint and stone tools

Clear, scientifically accurate, and aesthetically pleasing illustrations are an indispensable part of the archaeologist’s toolkit. This course explores the history, development, and current methodology behind archaeological illustration as it applies primarily to two sample cultures, Egyptian (Old World) and Maya (New World). Students will particularly focus on epigraphy—the creation of facsimile line drawings of relief sculpture, inscriptions, and selected three-dimensional objects for publication—in both its traditional, and now overwhelmingly digital forms. Labs will furnish access to today’s computer and tablet devices, and students will gain practical experience working directly from objects in the various archaeological collections of Harvard University and beyond. No previous artistic training is assumed; basic computer skills will be expanded into the realm of archaeological illustration, 3D scanning, and vector tracing from high-resolution photographs. Classes will include meetings in Harvard’s Visualization Center, and explore the various routes to scholarly “publication” in the widest sense of the word.

Within the context of a growing emphasis on digital recording, what is the place of analog drawing in archaeological fieldwork? In this article we situate the increased application of digital drawing methods by providing several historical examples of archaeological field drawing in British archaeology to demonstrate the connection between understanding the archaeological record and illustration. Given this background of analog archaeological recording, we then explore the current state of archaeological field drawing and the affordances of digital illustration for recording and interpreting the archaeological record, review literature in architecture and design regarding the cognitive function of analog and digital drawing and discuss the possible future implications of born-digital or paperless archaeology.

Chapter on fieldwork written for an encyclopedia UNESCO was involved with.

Why3D? Proceedings from the Why3D? Seminar, 2016

In today's time and financially pressured exploitation excavations – not only correct – but also rapid documentation has become important. For many years, traditional documentation techniques such as hand drawing were the only availably methods, but in recent years has the use of digital alternatives like photogrammetry increased. This also means a shift from direct to indirect documentation, and the interpretation moves from the actual documentation of the material to the processing of the documentation material. It is also important to try to see how both methods affects and is affected by the processing, analyzing and visualization of the object. This paper presents a study that was conducted during an excavation in the south of Sweden. A stone age grave – with well defined surface and clear structure – was excavated and documented (by both hand drawing and photogrammetry) in four levels. The hand drawing was drawn in the scale of 1:20 on millimeter film, scanned and digitized in Adobe Illustrator into a vector drawing. The photogrammetry was made with a digital camera and the photos were processed in Agisoft Photoscan into a 3D model.