AI ArchaeoTopia: Archaeology of Topographic Maps Using Artificial Intelligence
The project AI ArchaeoTopia reveals innovations in archaeology through the use of artificial intelligence, presenting tasks, innovations, and research that are transforming the understanding of archival topographic maps.
Exploring new horizons in archaeology through computer vision of topographic maps
This section presents the key advantages and the unique value of the project AI ArchaeoTopia in the field of archaeology and artificial intelligence.
Archaeology and artificial intelligence
In the context of the rapid development of information technologies and artificial intelligence (AI), archaeology retains its core objective: the study of human life in antiquity. The project is related to a fundamental aspect: how the application of AI in archaeology transforms the accumulation of knowledge about ancient societies by establishing the significance of space, topography, and, in particular, the locations of some archaeological sites.
Topographic maps and mounds
The project also addresses the urgent need for the systematic registration, digitization, and protection of burial and settlement mounds – among the most emblematic yet simultaneously most endangered archaeological sites in Bulgaria. Traditional archaeological field surveys for registration cannot keep pace with the rate of destruction of mounds as a result of agriculture, urbanization, and looting activities. In response, the project proposes an innovative approach through the use of data from mid-20th-century topographic maps, combined with the capabilities of AI. The target groups include the scientific community in the fields of archaeology and computer science, institutions responsible for the protection of archaeological heritage and land management, as well as the wider public.
Main activities
The main activities include: development of conceptual frameworks, georeferencing of mid-20th-century topographic maps for the entire territory of Bulgaria, use of AI for the automatic identification and digitization of positive structures such as mounds (burial and settlement mounds), creation of a methodology for building a digital terrain model without modern anthropogenic disturbances using AI (for a test region), field verification, integration into the GIS version of the national automated information system “Archaeological Map of Bulgaria,” and dissemination of the results.
AI ArchaeoTopia: Archaeology of Topographic Maps Using Artificial Intelligence
The project presents tasks, news, and progress in the study of topographic maps using artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence in the analysis
We use AI for detailed analysis and interpretation of the maps.
Historical cartography
We reconstruct the locations of mounds using modern technologies.
Current research
We share the latest achievements and updates from the project.
Contacts
ai.archaeotopia@gmail.com
Nadezhda Kecheva, PhD, Assistant Professor
National Archaeological Institute with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
2 Saborna St
1000 Sofia
Bulgaria
