Archaeology
Wernke and Huo awarded NEH grant to conduct the largest archaeological imagery survey in the Western Hemisphere using AI
Sep. 8, 2023—Vanderbilt University’s research team, led by Steven Wernke, Yuankai Huo, and Parker VanValkenburgh, from Brown University, have been awarded a significant National Endowment for the Humanities grant to develop GeoPACHA 2.0, a next-generation archaeological mapping technology. This innovative project aims to unveil intricate details about vast settlement systems in the Andes using cutting-edge data science and AI-assisted survey techniques. The...
Deep Learning in Archaeology: Understanding the Composition of Ancient Mortars
Oct. 27, 2022—Mortar is an essential part of construction, and has been used by builders for centuries. Ancient builders prepared them as members of changing communities of practice. But, to what degree did interactions among contemporaries lead to standardized mortars? Did builders learn from culturally different predecessors? In partnership with the Vanderbilt Data Science Institute, Dr. Markus...
Pieces of the Puzzle: Deep Learning for Classifying Moche Themes from Fragments
Sep. 16, 2021—The Moche or Mochica culture of the North Coast of Peru (250-900CE) are celebrated as having developed one of the richest artistic traditions in the Andean region of South America. The Moche are famed for their depictions of every imaginable facet of daily life in ceramic artifacts known as “Stirrup Vessels”, bottle-like objects that were...
Unearthing New Discoveries: Mapping Nacimiento through Soil Samples with Machine Learning
Aug. 11, 2021—What was life like for ordinary citizens in ancient civilizations? What were their activities in their daily lives – walking the same ground that we walk today? Archaeologist and Associate Professor of Anthropology Dr. Markus Eberl seeks to answer these questions for the the small Mayan site of Nacimiento in the Petexbatun region of Guatemala...