Digital Network for Nautical Archaeology

船只既是复杂的机器，也是建造和航行它们的海运界的抱负、野心和希望的化身。通过航海考古实践理解和解释这类船只的考古遗骸可能是一个具有挑战性的过程，需要专门挖掘、记录和重建往往不完整和变形的物证。近几十年来，采用3D数字数据采集手段已成为这些进程的核心，使更广泛的受众能够在物理和虚拟空间参与研究进程和研究结果。最近，新一代3D数字工具已可用于航海考古，包括多图像摄影测量(越来越多地用于水下挖掘调查，时间限制使更传统的记录形式有问题)，结构光扫描以记录被发现的船舶结构和个别木材的文件，以及综合高分辨率激光扫描和摄影测量学得出的纹理的综合方法。与采用任何新的数字技术一样，如果要适当地应用这些新方法，就迫切需要使用这些新方法的标准和指导。以前的非正式网络(Faro-ARM和Rhino考古用户组-FRAUG)在21世纪头二十年为国际范围内的航海考古制定共识、辅助数据(如手册和工作流程)和广泛兼容的数据分层方面发挥了重要作用。随着标准图形工作站特别是移动笔记本电脑中计算能力的增长，在挖掘后研究中，坐标测量机(CMM)的使用越来越多地被激光和/或结构光扫描所取代，或者在测量和挖掘期间的多图像摄影测量中。与坐标测量机相关的FRAUG网络在过去困难的几年里已经进入休眠状态。现在迫切需要更新一个国际网络，以测试和开发新的数字方法。航海考古数字网络认识到这项工作基本上是国际性的和跨学科的。构成我们核心研究材料的船只往往是为国际运作而设计的，往往在穿越海洋(例如地中海/大西洋/北海/波罗的海)时跨越边界，运送人员和货物、思想和知识、权力和外交。在AHRC寻求财政支持的头两年，该网络将侧重于欧洲规模(反映在其指导委员会的国际组成和一名国际合作调查员的加入)，但也将接触全球范围的潜在合作伙伴和项目，包括东地中海、中东、非洲、印度、亚洲、太平洋和美洲地区。通过航海考古了解我们的海洋文化的数字方法的好处和挑战适用于全球，确实可以通过国际图形语言超越语言/书面语言的技术术语问题。这些好处也超越了/跨学科的界限，为博物馆和创意行业的3D重建和计算机可视化带来了潜在的真实性，使我们的研究向热情的国际观众开放。在发展和维持这一网络的过程中，我们将把定期国际研讨会的基于网络的交流平台与年度研讨会结合起来，参与者可以在那里试验和测试最近开发的3D硬件和软件。将通过提供旅费和生活津贴来鼓励早期研究人员参与。

Ships were both complex machines and also the embodiment of the aspirations, ambitions and hopes of the maritime communities which built and sailed them. Understanding and interpreting the archaeological remains of such ships, through the practice of nautical archaeology, can be a challenging process requiring specialised excavation, documentation and reconstruction of often incomplete and deformed material evidence. In recent decades, adaptation of 3D digital means of data-capture have become central to these processes and enabled a wider audience to engage with the research process and the outcomes of this research in both physical and virtual spaces. Most recently, a new generation of 3D digital tools have become available for nautical archaeology including multi-image photogrammetry (increasingly employed for survey of underwater excavations where time-constraints make more traditional forms of recording problematic), structured light scanning for documentation of recovered ship structures and individual timbers, and combined approaches synthesising high resolution laser scanning with photogrammetrically derived textures. As with the adoption of any new digital technology, standards and guidance for the use of these new approaches are urgently required if they are to be applied appropriately. A previous informal network (Faro-Arm and Rhino Archaeological Users Group - FRAUG) proved instrumental in developing consensus, paradata (such as manuals and workflows) and broadly compatabile data layering at an international scale for nautical archaeology during the first two decades of the 21st century. As computational power within standard graphics workstations and especially mobile laptops has grown, so the use of co-ordinate measurement machines (CMMs) has increasingly been supplanted by laser and/or structured light scanning in post-excavation studies, or multi-image photogrammetry during survey and excavation. The FRAUG network, associated with CMMs, has become dormant in the last difficult couple of years. The renewal of an international network to test and develop new digital approaches is now urgently needed.The Digital Network for Nautical Archaeology recognises the fundamentally international and interdisciplinary nature of this endeavour. The ships that form our core study material were often designed to operate internationally, often crossed borders as they travelled across the seas (e.g. Mediterranean/ Atlantic/ North Sea/ Baltic) transporting people and cargoes, ideas and knowledge, power and diplomacy. During the initial two years for which AHRC financial support is sought, the network will focus on this European scale (reflected in the international make-up of its steering committee and the inclusion of an international Co-Investigator) but will also reach out to potential partners and projects on a global scale including the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, Africa, India, Asia, Pacific and American regions. The benefits and challenges of digital approaches to understanding our maritime cultures through nautical archaeology are applicable globally and indeed can transcend problems of technical terminologies of spoken/written language through an international graphical language. These benefits also extent beyond / cross disciplinary boundaries bringing potential authenticity to 3D reconstructions and computer visualisations in museums and the creative industries, making our research visible to an enthusiastic international audience. In developing and sustaining this network, we will combine web-based communication platfroms for regular international seminars with annual workshops where participants can experiment with and test recently developed 3D hardware and software. Early stage researchers will be encouraged to participate through provision of travel and subsistence bursaries.