The Vicus at the 2014 AIA Conference in Chicago

Hope you're staying to the end, because we're going to be at Session 7D: Fieldwork in Italy, Sunday the 5th from 8:30 am - 11:30 am.

See you there!

3D Modeling an archaeological site during excavation

I've been playing a bit with improving the photography during excavation at the site, including better and easier overhead photos (more on that soon). This season, when I was looking at a bunch of overheads I had taken, it occurred to me that I could likely generate a decent 3D version without too much more work using the AgiSoft PhotoScan software I had purchased a few months ago.

I threw the photos into the software and got the following (which I'm showing here as a screenshot). You can see big holes where the sides of the walls are not missing due to the overhead shots being fairly vertical and therefore not capturing the sides, but overall it looks pretty good and certainly made it clear that it was possible to generate good 3D models from photos taken in a few minutes on site. So the next time, I took not only a series of overheads but also a number of shots from ground level, circling the area I was photographing while snapping shots.

Here's what that approach yielded, here in a screenshot, but for the full effect, head over to the publicly available version at p3d.in, where you want the "burial" model. I've still got to work on optimizing the conditions in the modeler for getting good results: it's easy to generate something of the quality you see here, but getting better results takes a lot more cpu time and I haven't worked out a good workflow yet. Expect some more posts on this in future weeks.

What am I going to use these for? Well, first off they look pretty cool, which is something not to be neglected. It's a lot easier to capture people's imaginations when they can play with a little 3D version of a site. Second they of course form a more sophisticated documentation of the site for human viewers. Manipulating the model helps make clear in a way that 2D photos can't how various objects related to one another. Ideally the models will eventually be of good enough quality that we can do measurements on them. You can check out the meter stick in these images already (20cm to each red and white band). We try to capture relevant locations in our total station, but it's easy to miss something and the models mean we have less to worry about. It would also be great to incorporate the digital models into our GIS system. Right now they're already useful in reminding us just what everything looked like at a certain point in time, but it should be possible to make them part of our long-term digital database.

Other people are doing this sort of thing too. For example, check out William R. Caraher's blogpost on a talk back in April and his more recent one last week and another encouraging others to blog about their work (which is in part why I wrote this!). There's a little Twitter activity too, so go have a look at @BillCaraher @adamrabinowitz @sebhth @Pompeiana79 @adreinhard.

2013 Dates!

We've settled on the dates for next year's season: 9 June - 6 July. A bit earlier than last year, but that was a late one. As usual, students pick three weeks in there (or come for all four!), and visitors can have their choice.

See the website for more details.

A presto!

The Vicus at the AIA

At this year's AIA conference in Seattle, WA, I'll be reporting on last season's results in the session "Rome and its Environs", on Saturday, January 5, 2:45 pm - 5:15 pm. See you there!

Changes to the blog

I've been thinking for a bit about the name of this blog. When I started it, I connected it closely to my home institution, Drew University, and not to the site itself. In part this was because I wasn't sure how long the work would go on at the site, and in part because I expected the associated field school to be mainly populated by Drew students.

Well, the project is entering its sixth year (Yay!) and more than half of our students have not been from Drew and the site should be known for itself.

So it seems to make sense to re-name the blog and re-write its description to better reflect the current reality. I've decided to use a nice, short name for the URL, vicusmartis, and to keep the blog named according to the various inscriptions that appear in the church of S. Maria in Pantano and its tower, Vicus Martis Tudertium.

And there it is.

Divertimento

Pretty sure that two posts in two weeks makes me a bad blogger, but I will persevere!

It's been hot here. Not as hot as some familiar parts of the US, but still hot, especially when you're outside working for more than a few hours a day. Fortunately the nights have been nice and cool, and breakfast temperatures are in the high 60s (high teens for the Europeans). Massa's pool has provided a few hours of relief for some, but it's hard not to feel the heat and sun after a few days of work.

We've been doing the usual range of recreational activities this year, with students taking a few side trips on the weekends, and more than a few staying in Italy after the dig is over for the same. Tonight we tried a new one: UmbriaJazz in Perugia. Nothing fancy, just a trip up in the minivan for dinner (on our own) and whatever free music we could catch. And there was plenty! Nice crowd and the evening cooled off enough from the extremely hot day to make it enjoyable.

Other of the usual events have included a spaghettata with friends of the dig from town (of course Otello was there!). Here's a photo of everyone getting ready to eat. No karaoke yet, but there was a little dancing. The main event is tomorrow night, so expect more photos!

Massa now has a lovely new park with an amphitheater of sorts, and they show films in the summer. Now that the micro-Olympics have ended (in victory for the Yellow Submarine team), they've started showing films in earnest. Last night was an eagerly awaited Rapunzel (Tangled).

Finally a little artwork from one of this year's students, Lucie. Everyone liked the new water coolers we bought, but one of them was familiar looking, so Lucie did a little work on it one evening.

After the second cooler arrived, well, how could she not work up that one too?

Season Five!

I'm a little slow out of the blocks, because we're already one week into active digging!

We've got a good-sized group this season with eight undergraduate students, one graduate, two official Visitors, and a few friends stopping by. As usual we're working with the crew at Intrageo and with the support of the Comune of Massa Martana.

And, wow, it's hot here! It's been probably the hottest week I've ever had in Umbria, with temperatures peaking in the 90s/mid-30s every day. Today the internet says over 100°/40° in Massa, but since it's a Sunday, I'm lying low after a morning talk at the dig for a group of Italian tourists on a short visit to a number of sites in the area. We're keeping our place closed up during the day to keep the heat out and that's worked well so far, mostly because the evenings have been delightful, with lows around 70°/29°. They're predicting one more day of high heat, then a drop to something a bit more reasonable. We're going to take the precaution of starting a bit earlier this week, and doing a few of our local trips around noon. That way we'll be out of the sun for at least the very hottest part of the day.

More soon, but here's a photo of everyone on day one to whet the appetite.

Awld.js

Just added to the blog support for the delightful javascript library for Ancient World Linked Data from my friend and colleague Sebastian Heath. (Inspired by Tom Elliott.)

Now I just have to start putting in the links (like this one to the site)!

For those watching for dig updates...one month to go!

2012 Season Tuition Set

I'm happy to announce that we've been able to maintain tuition for this year's Vicus ad Martis field school at the same level as last year. Students will be able to earn 4 credits at the undergraduate level (or 3 at the graduate) for $3,500. This includes three weeks of room and board and local travel with the group to visit nearby sites.

Applications are being accepted on-line until April 16 at the Drew Off-Campus office. Please don't delay, if you know you're coming. This will help us to make some of the logistical arrangements in Italy. We're looking at a potentially larger crew than usual, and the sooner we have an idea of the exact number, the better.

Recently graduated high-school seniors - those entering college in the fall - are also welcome, and our Visitors program also allows (older) non-students to join us for periods as short as a week.

I just updated the project website with the tuition info (and a new front-page photo!).

Buona Domenica! (Happy Sunday!)

PS How's everyone like the new blog layout? I took one of my favorite Massa Martana photos and played around a bit with the fonts and header.

Field School Dates Confirmed for Vicus ad Martis Tudertium 2012 Season

After much to'ing-and-fro'ing to make sure that I didn't miss out on my daughter's high-school graduation, we've settled on our dates for the 2012 season, our fifth, at the Vicus ad Martis Tudertium site:

24 June - 21 July, 2012

Those include the initial Sunday and final Saturday to make sure that everyone realizes they have to get to Italy the day before we actually get our hands dirty and that the last Friday is a workday. As usual I'll be there a few days earlier to get things set up.

Interested in attending? Check out the project website. And don't forget that you don't have to be a student to join us! Adult participants are welcome to come for a week or more. Contact me for details or see the Visitors section of the website..

Oh, and we've got a nifty flier for this year too, as you can see.

Getting ready for next year

Yep, we're already working on next summer's season and part of that involves publicizing the field school. Our off-campus office here at Drew just got the Vicus ad Martis project listed on the Study Abroad website. Check it out!

Drew Tube

Drew University's YouTube channel, Drew Tube, has a short piece up about the dig, featuring current student Alexa Marino, who participated in our fourth season in 2011. A few clips include last year's crew too, so have a look! We're also linked from the main Drew page.

Our web site has also had a little facelift. Check it out!

Dig website updated!

Phew. Finally got around to updating the dig website. I got inspired by the great photos by our friend Wendy Robinson, as well as the possibilities offered by Apple's nice website-creation software, iWeb. Expect to see some more updates in coming weeks, including a "testimonials" section by dig alumni. (You have been warned!)

Feedback always welcome, of course.

Report on 2010 Season

The report on the 2010 season has just been published in the FastiOnline FOLD&R series. Knock yourself out.

In the news

Some items on our closing seminario:
Tamtam

Closing Conference

An afternoon "Seminario di Studio" at the lovely San Pietro Sopra le Acque is scheduled for tomorrow July 13th, at 3:30 pm. Non mancare! This will substitute for the usual press conference.

Three weeks already?!?

That was fast!
By now all five of our first-session participants should be home or on their way. The second session is well under way and we'll have a few goodies to report soon. (Sorry, first-session gang, but that's how it goes!) The recent heat has receded somewhat. We got a brief rain shower yesterday and a bit of thunder late today, though no rain in the immediate vicinity.
Thanks again to Amanda, Alexa, Angie, Katelynn, and Michelle for all their hard work!

First (Half-)Week

We're at our first weekend now, having started on Wednesday. It's rained a bit...OK, it rained a lot on Thursday afternoon, and it's raining lightly this morning. The students have all headed off the Perugia, where we believe a visit to the chocolate factory is on the agenda. The staff are planning an outing to somewhere too.
On site, we've started in with three test trenches, placed according to the results from the geomagnetic surveys of previous years. The water table continues to be much higher than it was in our firs two seasons, perhaps higher even than last year, which means that it still covers the lowest strata we excavated in '08 and'09. This is not helpful. Two of the test trenches are still not quite through the topsoil, so not much to report there.
A presto!

Looks familiar

Trovato a Imola (BO) un tratto della strada che in età romana collegava la valle del Santerno alla via Emilia: a little bit of Roman road that looks just like ours.

Summer finalized!

Met today to finalize dates, cost and promo meeting at Drew for this summer's dig session. Sign up now!