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Recent excavations and high-precision radiocarbon dating from the largest Iron Age (IA, ca. 1200-500 BCE) copper production center in the southern Levant demonstrate major smelting activities in the region of biblical Edom (southern Jordan) during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE. Stratified radiocarbon samples and artifacts were recorded with precise digital surveying tools linked to a geographic information system developed to control on-site spatial analyses of archaeological finds and model data with innovative visualization tools. The new radiocarbon dates push back by 2 centuries the accepted IA chronology of Edom. Data from Khirbat en-Nahas, and the nearby site of Rujm Hamra Ifdan, demonstrate the centrality of industrial-scale metal production during those centuries traditionally linked closely to political events in Edom's 10th century BCE neighbor ancient Israel. Consequently, the rise of IA Edom is linked to the power vacuum created by the collapse of Late Bronze Age (LB, ca. 1300 BCE) civilizations and the disintegration of the LB Cypriot copper monopoly that dominated the eastern Mediterranean. The methodologies applied to the historical IA archaeology of the Levant have implications for other parts of the world where sacred and historical texts interface with the material record.

Tsunami events in antiquity had a profound influence on coastal societies. Six thousand years of historical records and geological data show that tsunamis are a common phenomenon affecting the eastern Mediterranean coastline. However, the possible impact of older tsunamis on prehistoric societies has not been investigated. Here we report, based on optically stimulated luminescence chronology, the earliest documented Holocene tsunami event, between 9.91 to 9.29 ka (kilo-annum), from the eastern Mediterranean at Dor, Israel. Tsunami debris from the early Neolithic is composed of marine sand embedded within fresh-brackish wetland deposits. Global and local sea-level curves for the period, 9.91-9.29 ka, as well as surface elevation reconstructions, show that the tsunami had a run-up of at least ~16 m and traveled between 3.5 to 1.5 km inland from the palaeo-coastline. Submerged slump scars on the continental slope, 16 km west of Dor, point to the nearby "Dor-complex" as a likely cause. The near absence of Pre-Pottery Neolithic A-B archaeological sites (11.70-9.80 cal. ka) suggest these sites were removed by the tsunami, whereas younger, late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B-C (9.25-8.35 cal. ka) and later Pottery-Neolithic sites (8.25-7.80 cal. ka) indicate resettlement following the event. The large run-up of this event highlights the disruptive impact of tsunamis on past societies along the Levantine coast.

While the punctuated equilibrium model has been employed in paleontological and archaeological research, it has rarely been applied for technological and social evolution in the Holocene. Using metallurgical technologies from the Wadi Arabah (Jordan/Israel) as a case study, we demonstrate a gradual technological development (13th-10th c. BCE) followed by a human agency-triggered punctuated "leap" (late-10th c. BCE) simultaneously across the entire region (an area of ~2000 km2). Here, we present an unparalleled, diachronic archaeometallurgical dataset focusing on elemental analysis of dozens of well-dated slag samples. Based on the results, we suggest punctuated equilibrium provides an innovative theoretical model for exploring ancient technological changes in relation to larger sociopolitical conditions-in the case at hand the emergence of biblical Edom-, exemplifying its potential for more general cross-cultural applications.

Digital media and learning initiatives for virtual collaborative environments are contributing to the definition of new (sub-)disciplines in archaeological and heritage sciences. New nomenclature and terminology is emerging such as cyber archaeology, cyber archaeometry, virtual worlds and augmented and immersive realities; and all of them are related to museums and cultural heritage—tangible, intangible or natural (Forte 2010; Liritziset al. 2015).

The Faynan region in southern Jordan is the largest copper ore resource zone in the southern Levant and was exploited for these ores beginning ca. 8000 years BP. We discuss the relationship between nomadic populations and major copper smelting sites during the Iron Age (ca. 1200-500 BCE) based on mortuary excavations and toxic metal analyses at the Wadi Fidan 40 cemetery, the largest Iron Age mortuary complex in southern Jordan. The Iron Age represents the first industrial revolution in this part of the Middle East. The study presented here is the first to employ chemical and isotopic measurements from a systematically excavated Iron Age mortuary population to determine exposure to Cu and Pb pollution and mobility patterns (based on Sr isotopes). We describe a methodology to control for post-depositional diagenetic uptake of chemical elements in human teeth recovered from the cemetery that has not previously been applied in Faynan in ancient pollution studies. The results suggest that most of the excess of Pb and Cu measured in tooth enamel samples were a product of post-depositional diagenetic addition. Our findings suggest that the majority of people buried at the Wadi Fidan 40 cemetery were not exposed to metal pollution during their lives. The few individuals who were exposed to metal pollution exhibited a spectrum of traits indicative of lifestyle and social status. The results bring into question how severe the ancient pollution impacted the lives of the Iron Age population living in Faynan.

The first industrial revolution in the southern Levant crystallized during the Iron Age when copper production reached scales never before seen in this part of the Middle East. Ever since copper ore was first smelted during the Chalcolithic period, the Arabah valley, and its widespread distribution of copper mineralization, was the main source for copper ore in the region. The main ore deposits are located in Timna (Israel) in the southern part of the valley, and some 105 km to the north, in the Faynan region (Jordan). Faynan is the largest copper ore resource zone in the southern Levant. Excavations at the Iron Age Faynan site of Khirbat en-Nahas and the recent final publication of that project have revealed peaks in industrial-scale production during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE. However, the role of ground stone tools in the Iron Age copper industry in Faynan has not been systematically presented. This paper presents a preliminary study of the ground stone assemblage from one excavation season at Khirbat en-Nahas, thereby highlighting the great potential for ground stone tools research at the site. Using the chaîne opératoire method of technological study, this paper takes a quantitative approach to the typological, material, and spatial distribution of ground stone artefacts at Khirbat en-Nahas to understand their role in copper production. Ethnoarchaeological study of hereditary bronze casting workshops in southern India provides a compelling model of how ground stone tools played a critical role in one of the most important dimensions of metal production in all periods - recycling - in an Iron Age copper factory.

Archaeological surveys in the southern Levant have traditionally focused on areas with favorable climates and flat terrain where large urban sites are found, corresponding with a research focus on social complexity and state formation. Fewer surveys have explored the rocky, difficult-to-reach areas where large-scale agriculture was rare. This article uses survey data from the 2009 survey of Wadi al-Feidh, southern Jordan, to demonstrate the importance of exploring these environmentally marginal areas. Employing an intensive survey methodology, we recorded a range of sites and features previously unrecognized in this region. These findings suggest that subsistence patterns shifted from small-scale, mixed agro-pastoralism in the Iron Age (1200-586 B.C.) to a more intensive, top-down strategy of agricultural production by the Roman period (ca. 100 B.C.-A.D. 400). The results provide new insight into regional socioeconomic change in the southern Levant from the perspective of peripheral communities.

Archaeological data is perfectly suited to 3D modeling and visualization. The geographical remoteness of many heritage sites means that few will ever be able to experience them firsthand. For centuries, practitioners of archaeology have meticulously drafted maps and illustrations, and captured photographs of sites and landscapes (Sanders 2014). Two-dimensional maps and photos reflect scale but never fully embody it. Hence, one of the goals of virtual reality modeling is to take another step toward bridging this gap. This article presents a variety of ways archaeologists, working closely with colleagues from computer science, visual arts, and engineering, have worked toward disseminating archaeological datasets to professionals and non-professional audiences alike through virtual reality.

Archaeological excavations are the last stronghold of analog recording in this era of digital archaeology. Around the world perhaps at this very moment excavations are occurring where artifacts, architecture, stratigraphic layers, and other archaeological datasets are recorded using only the paper and pen. Every evening after an excavation, supervisors and their volunteers huddle over their illuminated graph paper to convert their written notes and drawings into daily top plans. It is these paper top plans, journal notes, and overstuffed binders filled with printed spreadsheets that much later are meticulously entered into a computer. At this point, long after the season of excavation has been wrapped up, that the drudgery of data entry begins, which with large excavations can take months to digitize, process, and produce data that can be digitally analyzed. As multiple seasons of excavations compound, the delay between field excavation, ability to analyze and to publish increases exponentially.

The inventory of archaeological material is an old practice and basic to the method of all research and analysis. The whole purpose of finding archaeological material is to be able to keep track of its provenience and describe the cultural history of that object. Fundamentally archaeology is about things and the relationships between things and in turn how those relationships map onto social organization (Hodder 2011). As an important institution for the long-term storage of archaeological material, the museum has always been used as the ideal storage place for archaeologists. The museum is able to both show material off to the public and privately maintain a larger research collection, out of the view of the museum visitor. The curation of material in museums is meant to help guide the interpreter to understand the relationship between artifacts and come to some kind of synthetic conclusion regarding the material. By creating a way to understand the relationship between different kinds of artifacts, meaning is produced but, in a semi-prescribed way, the visitor is able to draw their own connections between the artifacts as they choose. Behind the presentation of artifacts are thousands more artifacts, stored and organized for later study or analysis.

The image of the archaeologist is changing; there is little we can do about that. The dusty boots, timeworn trowel, and coffee-stained notebooks may themselves become the images that we see in museums in a not too distant future. One only has to open up any archaeology publication today to find stunning images of drones, tablets, GPSs, laser scanners and a myriad of many other devices that were hardly thought of a decade or two ago (For example, see: Levy 2013; Levy, et al. 2010). The rapid evolution of technology has meant that there are new approaches to field archaeology that can enhance our work, help to preserve the past from our rather destructive discipline, and also help to disseminate our research to the public. Among all these tools, perhaps in the shadow of drones and laser scanners, is the archaeologist's notebook. That notebook, containing the primary observations for excavations is fundamental to understanding work conducted in any trench at any site; and like many of the other facets of archaeology, is also going through a process of change from analog to digital. In this article, we will look at one such tool, OpenDig, developed in the midst of many of these changes occurring all around us. OpenDig should be understood in the context of the circumstances out of which it grew, the problems which it was created to solve, and as a result can be of use to other archaeologists today.

Archaeology as a discipline has always faced an ironic challenge. In order to improve our understanding of the past, it is nearly always necessary to destroy the source of knowledge as material remains left by past people are removed from their context. Archaeologists have long understood the responsibility this paradox confers on them-the imperative to record in great detail that which they demolish through excavation so that others may reinterpret their results (Wheeler 1954). The duty of documentation for the purpose of preserving dovetails with efforts toward recording for the excavators' own interpretation of the evidence uncovered. Traditionally, this process has occurred in notebooks through detailed descriptions of archaeological contexts, along with photographic and hand-drawn depictions of excavation. These methods, while tried-and-true, suffer from collection biases, omissions, and an inability to record in three dimensions. In a perfect world, archaeologists would be able to record the conditions of excavation in such a way that future researchers would be able to experience the site exactly as it appeared as it was excavated. Exclusively two-dimensional descriptions of the three-dimensional world falls short of this ideal, especially in a field of study that relies so fundamentally on interpretation of spatial relationships, both horizontal and vertical. Omissions in recording caused by collection biases are equally unacceptable. As archaeologists today bemoan the poor recording standards of 100 years ago, we can assume that the archaeologists of the future will find fault with our work today in a similar way. Traditional methods no longer appropriately fulfill the archaeologist's responsibility for extensive documentation with all practical and available means. How then can we remedy this issue and strive for a more comprehensive documentation program in which datasets more closely reflect conditions in the field during excavation? 3D recording may provide an answer to this critical question, while also providing a mechanism to upgrade traditional techniques.

In late 2013, a joint archaeological and computer vision project was initiated to digitally capture the archaeological remains in the al-Ula valley, Saudi Arabia. The goal of our team of archeologists and computer scientists is to integrate 3D scanning technologies to produce 3D reconstructions of archaeological sites. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) serve as the vehicle which makes this scanning possible. UAVs allow the acquisition of 3D data as easily from the air as from the ground. This project focuses on the recent excavations carried out in ancient Dedan by King Saud University and the country's conservation of the Lihyanite "lion tombs" carved into the ancient city's cliff faces. Over the next several years this site will be used as a test bed to validate the potential of this emerging technology for rapid cultural heritage documentation. We additionally scanned several areas in Mada'in Saleh, an ancient Nabatean city filled with monumental carved sandstone tomb facades, rivaled only by the capital of the Nabatean empire: Petra.

The DAAHL project is an international effort that brings together experts in information technology including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the archaeology of the Holy Land (Israel, Palestine, Jordan, southern Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, and the Sinai Peninsula) to create the first online digital atlas of the region held sacred to the three great monotheistic faiths - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (fig. 1). Using the power of spatial information systems such as GIS, the tens of thousands of recorded archaeological sites for the region - from the remote prehistoric periods to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century - have been entered into a comprehensive database along with site maps, photographs, and artifacts. The historical and archaeological content for the project have been provided by a team of over 30 international scholars working in the region helping to provide the metadata that were used to populate it. The DAAHL database represents the first fully-developed data node of the Mediterranean Archaeological Network (MedArchNet), a project that envisions a series of archaeological atlases for the Mediterranean basin that share a common metadata structure (Savage and Levy i.p.).

There is an increasing demand within the humanities and social sciences to use computers to analyze material culture and discover patterns of historical and anthropological significance. Using southern Levantine Iron Age (ca. 1200-500 BCE) ceramics as a test case, the Pottery Informatics Query Database (PIQD) provides a novel solution for constructing regional ceramic typologies. Beyond digitally archiving 2D/3D-scanned ceramics, the PIQD encodes ceramic profiles as mathematical representations. This method of digital preservation enables rapid queries to be conducted in a mathematically grounded approach. In this sense, the queries are similar to online Basic Local Alignment Search Tool searches developed in the field of genetics by rapidly associating large quantities of digital vessel profiles to each other based on similar morphological traits. The PIQD is an open-source online tool that enables scholars and students to test humanities-related hypotheses against ceramic data in ways that conventional publications or other databases cannot provide. Regional spatial patterning of the ceramic data is delivered over a Google Earth-based user interface. In this paper, we present the PIQD as an objective method for developing a comprehensive ceramic typology of an entire region of archaeological study and provide an arena to conduct novel scientific research. We then demonstrate through a case study its analytical capabilities to handle large datasets of 3D scans and digitized 2D ceramic profiles and generate cultural inferences with the ceramic assemblages of the Iron Age II "Edomite" region located in modern southern Jordan. PIQD adds an important methodological tool to the post-excavation cyber-archaeology tool box. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

The combination of 3D acquisition (terrestrial and airborne LiDAR, structured light, structure-from-motion) and 2D imaging (photographic, multispectral, panoramic, orthorectified, reflectance transformation) techniques allows the geometry, appearance and other aspects of culturally significant sites to be objectively documented. Traditionally, these data are usually transformed into models such as 3D textured meshes before they are visualized or analyzed—an often time- and effortintensive process. We propose a system for the direct visualization and analysis of such data, allowing the different aspects recorded to be layered together, and covisualized with annotations and other relevant information. We describe the required technical foundations, including gigapoint and gigapixel visualization pipelines that enable the dynamic layering of high-resolution imagery over massive minimally-processed LiDAR point clouds that serve as the base spatial layer. In particular, we introduce the pointbuffer—a GPU-resident view-dependent point cache—as the foundation of our gigapoint pipeline, and outline the use of virtual texturing for draping of gigapixel imagery onto point clouds. Finally, we present case studies from sites in Jordan and Italy.

The development of three-dimensional documentation technologies such as LiDAR and Structure from Motion (essentially digital photogrammetry) has led to a recording revolution, as these methods are increasingly applied to field archaeology. 3D methods have the potential to become an integral part of the archaeological toolkit, as they have the capability to produce spatially-referenced outputs, such as orthophotos and digital elevation models (DEMs), with greater efficiency than traditional methods. The combination of Structure from Motion and low-altitude aerial photography can facilitate the production of these GIS outputs, which can then be used for digitization or as basemaps. These methods allow for accurate and precise recording with a relative minimum of field time. As the existing body of 3D data increases in size, museums have the unique opportunity to be able to take advantage of these datasets to update their exhibits and display archaeological context and the process of excavation through visualizations of 3D models. The spread of 3D documentation and recording in archaeology may provide a unique opportunity for collaboration between these two professions, and allow for archaeology to improve its public outreach. The methodology presented here is based on field research in Jordan.

Data recording is one of the primary requirements of any archaeological project. Some projects rely on the traditional pen-and-paper methods, while others have begun to employ field data recording applications through mobile computing platforms. The former method relies on later transcription of the data, while the later passes over this step, integrating the data from various devices at some later point. Many rely on commercial solutions to solve their data recording needs. Well-known platforms, which have had a long and successful track record with databases, are now being employed for archaeological databases. Although these robust platforms provide straightforward solutions, they are expensive and not easily extensible. OpenDig was developed with a focus on open source frameworks, with the idea that future expansion would be important for any archaeological database. By utilizing open source tools that were born in the World Wide Web, OpenDig provides a complete framework for archaeological data from the field and post-excavation studies. The three main tools that make up the OpenDig framework are: 1) a field recording application for describing archaeological contexts, associated photos, geospatial data, and find; 2) a lightweight data reader and editor for deployment in field laboratories; 3) a full web application for a more complete tool set for reviewing, analysing and disseminating these data acquired from the field. Three tools, on their own, may not seem very different from other solutions available to archaeologists today. However, OpenDig demonstrates the viability of using open source tools and open source data to create a complete system for data recording, analysis and dissemination. The future of archaeological data lays in finding ways to link disparate data sets from various projects and being able to make sensible comparisons. This can only be achieved by providing open access to these data and creating common interfaces that allow archaeologists to link their data with others.

Cyber-archaeology represents the marriage of archaeology, computer science, engineering, and the natural sciences with the aim of taking advantage of constantly evolving technologies for digital data capture, curation, analyses and dissemination. Digital data collection tools are perhaps the most rapidly changing arenas of development in cyber-archaeology and are becoming affordable tools for every archaeologist. In this paper, we examine two users’ approaches to produce point cloud models of archaeological sites using structure from motion (SfM) photography. The experiment took place at the Fountain of Peirene in ancient Corinth, Greece. Their implementation of the technology and their results are compared to highlight the very important role the photo-shooting session can play in the final outcome of the SfM reconstruction. We correlate the users’ approaches to the applied algorithms’ robust features and known limitations to provide a technical explanation of how archaeologists can significantly improve their success in SfM. As new algorithms and software emerge making SfM a common tool in archaeological documentation the methodology presented in this paper will enable archaeologists to meet the high demand for digital documentation on a global scale.

An on‐land frequency domain electromagnetic geophysical survey was conducted across a tombolo delimiting the southern bay of Tel Dor (northern Israel) to the south. It was accompanied by a marine archaeological survey adjacent to its northern edge. Results indicate a deep channel connecting the bay and the Tantura Lagoon to the south. At its northern exit, an NW–SE trending square anomaly is visible in the geophysical data, buried underneath centuries of sand accumulation. It is parallel and similar in shape and scale to a Hellenistic feature observed in satellite data and excavated during the underwater archaeological survey. It seems that during the beginning/Middle Bronze Age, a natural or manmade channel was utilized as an entrance to the bay. As sea levels rose and sand began to accumulate, the channel was periodically filled in and would have needed to have been cleared. Eventually, it became too expensive or inconvenient to maintain, probably during the Byzantine period. The southern anchorage was abandoned for more favorable conditions to the north of the Tel. The sequence of events shows how ancient builders first utilized a natural channel, maintained it as sea levels rose, and abandoned it when it became too problematic to maintain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hyperspectral (multiple, narrow band) satellite imaging provides a useful discovery and analytical tool for archaeologists. The Hyperion instrument, flying on the Earth Observer 1 (EO-1) satellite, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on November 21, 2000. Unlike 7-band Landsat or 15-band ASTER imagery, Hyperion provides 242 (196 calibrated) narrow bands in the visible (VIS) to shortwave infrared range (SWIR), enabling much more detailed archaeological and geological analyses. It was designed as a spectrometer specifically geared to mineralogical analysis, and the imagery is freely available via data acquisition (targeting) requests from NASA. We requested a Hyperion image swath targeted on Khirbat en-Nahas (KEN), an ancient copper smelting site along the Wadi al-Ghuwayb (WAG), a part of Jordan’s Faynan district, where extensive ore processing occurred from the 3rd millennium BCE to industrial scale production over several centuries in the early 1st millennium BCE (Iron Age) and continued until Medieval Islamic times. We use a combination of Principal Components Analysis (PCA), similarity matrices, and Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA) on a single image swath to help locate additional ore processing sites, distinguish different areas at KEN that drew on different ore deposits, and discern depositional differences that may help illuminate issues related to the organization of production at KEN. Extensive field surveys in the research area provide a unique opportunity to ‘ground-truth’ the results of the hyperspectral research. The results of our study show considerable promise for future work with Hyperion data sets, and illuminate new aspects of the copper smelting industry at Khirbat en-Nahas. However, the low spatial resolution of the imagery and the nature of weakly reflective bands in the near infrared (NIR) limit the utility of the results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Discusses whether or not there should be an end to unnecessary archeological excavations in Israel. Disconnection between the increase in excavations and the lag in their publication; Factors blamed for the lag; Uniqueness of the archeological endeavor; Suggested remedies and questions.

The article presents an introduction in which the guest editor discusses the special issue's theme of the impact of information technology (IT) on Middle East archaeology, focusing on Cyber-archaeology, which combines archaeology with computer science, engineering, and natural sciences.

The increasing availability and relatively low cost of digital data collection technologies have created a data avalanche for archaeologists, who are collaborating with computer scientists to develop new visualization and analysis tools. The Web extra is a video that demonstrates how researchers were able to visualize archaeological LiDAR data in the Calit2 NexCAVE. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]