The rolling stones of Bronze Age Aegean: Applying machine learning to explore the use of lithic spheres from Akrotiri, Thera

Christianne Fernee; Konstantinos P Trimmis

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103615

The rolling stones of Bronze Age Aegean: Applying machine learning to explore the use of lithic spheres from Akrotiri, Thera

Christianne Fernee^*
, Konstantinos P Trimmis^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

98 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Across the Bronze Age Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, various small spherical lithic artefacts have been discovered. The exact use of such artefacts remains a mystery, possible interpretations suggest that they are a form of counting system or counters for board games. This paper examines the largest collection of such artefacts found in the area to-date, the 746 spheres from the prehistoric town of Akrotiri in the island of Thera (Santorini). After the spheres were assessed and traditional statistical analyses were applied, machine learning was employed to further examine clustering of the spheres and to suggest potential interpretations of their manufacture, use and deposition. The paper concludes with the suggestion that the workflow proposed here, for Akrotiri, can be used to examine patterns in similar artefact groups from the Easter Mediterranean and beyond.

Original language	English
Article number	103615
Number of pages	8
Journal	Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Volume	45
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103615
Publication status	Published - 9 Sept 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Authors, especially KPT, would like to thank Dr Tania Devetzi, who invited them to work on the stone spheres material in Akrotiri Thera. Director of the Akrotiri excavation, Professor Emeritus Christos Doumas permitted us to study statistically the material. In Akrotiri, Argyris Mavromatis, Marina Moustaka, Maria Karra, and Lefteris Zorzos offered valuable help and went the extra mile to support the recording and analysis of the material. Some expenses for travelling to Santorini were covered by Ghar Parau foundation as part of the research on the island's caves. Katerina Trantalidou and Annie Michailidou offered long conversations on the material and their ideas played an important, formative, role in this research.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)

Keywords

Archaeology
machine learning
Lithics
Bronze Age
Aegean Archaeology
Aegean Bronze Age
Santorini
Akrotiri Thera

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103615Licence: CC BY

Full-text PDF (final published version)
This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via Elsevier at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103615 .Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Final published version, 4.53 MBLicence: CC BY

Handle.net

Persistent link

Cite this

@article{4873f4d19a9549d5a45d51d9b947f069,

title = "The rolling stones of Bronze Age Aegean: Applying machine learning to explore the use of lithic spheres from Akrotiri, Thera",

abstract = "Across the Bronze Age Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, various small spherical lithic artefacts have been discovered. The exact use of such artefacts remains a mystery, possible interpretations suggest that they are a form of counting system or counters for board games. This paper examines the largest collection of such artefacts found in the area to-date, the 746 spheres from the prehistoric town of Akrotiri in the island of Thera (Santorini). After the spheres were assessed and traditional statistical analyses were applied, machine learning was employed to further examine clustering of the spheres and to suggest potential interpretations of their manufacture, use and deposition. The paper concludes with the suggestion that the workflow proposed here, for Akrotiri, can be used to examine patterns in similar artefact groups from the Easter Mediterranean and beyond.",

keywords = "Archaeology, machine learning, Lithics, Bronze Age, Aegean Archaeology, Aegean Bronze Age, Santorini, Akrotiri Thera",

author = "Christianne Fernee and Trimmis, \{Konstantinos P\}",

note = "Funding Information: Authors, especially KPT, would like to thank Dr Tania Devetzi, who invited them to work on the stone spheres material in Akrotiri Thera. Director of the Akrotiri excavation, Professor Emeritus Christos Doumas permitted us to study statistically the material. In Akrotiri, Argyris Mavromatis, Marina Moustaka, Maria Karra, and Lefteris Zorzos offered valuable help and went the extra mile to support the recording and analysis of the material. Some expenses for travelling to Santorini were covered by Ghar Parau foundation as part of the research on the island's caves. Katerina Trantalidou and Annie Michailidou offered long conversations on the material and their ideas played an important, formative, role in this research. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Author(s)",

year = "2022",

month = sep,

day = "9",

doi = "10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103615",

language = "English",

volume = "45",

journal = "Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports",

issn = "2352-409X",

publisher = "Elsevier B.V.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The rolling stones of Bronze Age Aegean

T2 - Applying machine learning to explore the use of lithic spheres from Akrotiri, Thera

AU - Fernee, Christianne

AU - Trimmis, Konstantinos P

N1 - Funding Information: Authors, especially KPT, would like to thank Dr Tania Devetzi, who invited them to work on the stone spheres material in Akrotiri Thera. Director of the Akrotiri excavation, Professor Emeritus Christos Doumas permitted us to study statistically the material. In Akrotiri, Argyris Mavromatis, Marina Moustaka, Maria Karra, and Lefteris Zorzos offered valuable help and went the extra mile to support the recording and analysis of the material. Some expenses for travelling to Santorini were covered by Ghar Parau foundation as part of the research on the island's caves. Katerina Trantalidou and Annie Michailidou offered long conversations on the material and their ideas played an important, formative, role in this research. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)

PY - 2022/9/9

Y1 - 2022/9/9

N2 - Across the Bronze Age Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, various small spherical lithic artefacts have been discovered. The exact use of such artefacts remains a mystery, possible interpretations suggest that they are a form of counting system or counters for board games. This paper examines the largest collection of such artefacts found in the area to-date, the 746 spheres from the prehistoric town of Akrotiri in the island of Thera (Santorini). After the spheres were assessed and traditional statistical analyses were applied, machine learning was employed to further examine clustering of the spheres and to suggest potential interpretations of their manufacture, use and deposition. The paper concludes with the suggestion that the workflow proposed here, for Akrotiri, can be used to examine patterns in similar artefact groups from the Easter Mediterranean and beyond.

AB - Across the Bronze Age Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, various small spherical lithic artefacts have been discovered. The exact use of such artefacts remains a mystery, possible interpretations suggest that they are a form of counting system or counters for board games. This paper examines the largest collection of such artefacts found in the area to-date, the 746 spheres from the prehistoric town of Akrotiri in the island of Thera (Santorini). After the spheres were assessed and traditional statistical analyses were applied, machine learning was employed to further examine clustering of the spheres and to suggest potential interpretations of their manufacture, use and deposition. The paper concludes with the suggestion that the workflow proposed here, for Akrotiri, can be used to examine patterns in similar artefact groups from the Easter Mediterranean and beyond.

KW - Archaeology

KW - machine learning

KW - Lithics

KW - Bronze Age

KW - Aegean Archaeology

KW - Aegean Bronze Age

KW - Santorini

KW - Akrotiri Thera

UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X22002784

U2 - 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103615

DO - 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103615

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

SN - 2352-409X

VL - 45

JO - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

JF - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

M1 - 103615

ER -

The rolling stones of Bronze Age Aegean: Applying machine learning to explore the use of lithic spheres from Akrotiri, Thera

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Handle.net

Other files and links

Fingerprint

An elegy of stone and light: Applying digital imaging methods for the recording of the Aegean stone kernoi in the context of Akrotiri, Thera

Detecting variability: A study on the application of bayesian multilevel modelling to archaeological data: Evidence from the Neolithic Adriatic and the Bronze Age Aegean

Cite this