Into The Ancient Matrix
Today I want to briefly write about a project I am working on with some amazing colleagues. I am participating in the Computational Creativity and Archaeological Data Project (which is a sub-project of the CRANE Project), as a Research Assistant, under the guidance of Dr. Shawn Graham (Electric Archaeology), where we are exploring the use of archaeological legacy data. The purpose of the project is to examine how we can creatively use the legacy data in digital platforms to create new insights and knowledge about the ancient world. For my own personal project I am trying to figure out how to use legacy data to explore network relationships between settlements built around and on höyüks in central and eastern Anatolia. My goal is to understand how line-of-sight, sound, road-networks, landscape, and environment affected the development of settlement identities and the relationships that may have formed between local and regional settlements. I am basically building off my MA research and going DIGITAL! Diving into the Ancient Matrix. I took the red pill and just woke up from a long slumber into a frightening new world where, for some odd reason, my supervisor has said: “Have Fun!”
Yes, I went with the Matrix reference (but did you see the new trailer? F@k’n Epic!), mostly because I feel it relates to my current situation. I am not saying I am Neo, far from it, but rather I am a Noob who was freed from the restrictions of traditional academic models of research and placed into a new world of endless possibilities to explore, have fun, and see how far the rabbit hole goes.
That being said, over the coming months, possibly years, I am going to blog about my experiences with this project. I want to use this platform to help expand my ideas, talk about my failings and successes. Write about my experiences learning code, something I should have done a decade or two ago (Sorry Freff, I should have listened to you), using Obsidian to connect thoughts, 3D modelling, AR, Digital mapping, and all that Jazz. So, today I will begin with one simple observation:
I AM F@KED!
But fear not my faithful readers, you will get some entertaining comic relief from my endeavours into the Ancient Matrix. So far, I have started to tackle basic script like Mermaid, more complex script (for me at least), like SQL to use in PostgreSQL, explore current mapping projects like ORBIS, Mapping Past Societies, and Pleiades Project in order to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and what I can learn from the great minds behind these projects. I am exploring the use of Steiner Trees to help map potential road routes between settlements, the terrain that people had to traverse and using equations to formulate least-cost analysis for energy expenditure. So much to learn and the deeper I dive into this hole following that white rabbit the more complex everything becomes.