Eric Poehler
I'm a Roman Archaeologist focused mainly on Pompeii. I am fascinated by the complex, interlocking and interdependent systems of urban infrastructure, including both their physical and administrative armatures. Pompeii provides that rare, nearly unique, opportunity to examine substantially complete infrastructural systems. Additionally, I'm interested in the study of ancient architecture and in the development of efficient and flexible methodologies for such study, particularly using cutting-edge information technologies.
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Books by Eric Poehler
https://thedigitalpress.org/mobilizing-the-past-for-a-digital-future/
Mobilizing the Past is a collection of 20 articles that explore the use and impact of mobile digital technology in archaeological field practice. The detailed case studies present in this volume range from drones in the Andes to iPads at Pompeii, digital workflows in the American Southwest, and examples of how bespoke, DIY, and commercial software provide solutions and craft novel challenges for field archaeologist. The range of projects and contexts ensures that Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future is far more than a state-of-the-field manual or technical handbook. Instead, the contributors embrace the growing spirit of critique present in digital archaeology. This critical edge, backed by real projects, systems, and experiences, gives the book lasting value as both a glimpse into present practices as well as the anxieties and enthusiasm associated with the most recent generation of mobile digital tools.
The discussions of domestic art in this book, a perennial topic for Pompeian scholars, engage previously neglected subjects such as wall ornaments in domestic decoration, the sculpture collection in the house of Octavius Quartio, and the role of the covered walkways in luxury villa architecture. The famous cupid's frieze from the house of the Vettii is given a novel and intelligent reinterpretation. The place of industry at Pompeii, in both the physical and economic landscapes has long been overlooked. The chapters on building practice in inhabited houses, on the presence of fulling workshops in atrium houses, and on the urban pottery industry serve as successful contributions to a more complete understanding of the life of the ancient city.
Finally, this volume breaks new ground in the consideration of the urban infrastructure of Pompeii, a topic that has won serious attention only in the last decades, but one that is playing an increasingly central role in Pompeian studies. The final three chapters offer a reassessment of the Pompeian street network, a scientific analysis of the amount of lead in Pompeian drinking water, and a thorough analysis of the water infrastructure around the forum that supported its architectural transformation in the last decades before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. 200p, 99 illus. (Oxbow Books 2011)
Papers by Eric Poehler
https://thedigitalpress.org/mobilizing-the-past-for-a-digital-future/
Mobilizing the Past is a collection of 20 articles that explore the use and impact of mobile digital technology in archaeological field practice. The detailed case studies present in this volume range from drones in the Andes to iPads at Pompeii, digital workflows in the American Southwest, and examples of how bespoke, DIY, and commercial software provide solutions and craft novel challenges for field archaeologist. The range of projects and contexts ensures that Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future is far more than a state-of-the-field manual or technical handbook. Instead, the contributors embrace the growing spirit of critique present in digital archaeology. This critical edge, backed by real projects, systems, and experiences, gives the book lasting value as both a glimpse into present practices as well as the anxieties and enthusiasm associated with the most recent generation of mobile digital tools.
The discussions of domestic art in this book, a perennial topic for Pompeian scholars, engage previously neglected subjects such as wall ornaments in domestic decoration, the sculpture collection in the house of Octavius Quartio, and the role of the covered walkways in luxury villa architecture. The famous cupid's frieze from the house of the Vettii is given a novel and intelligent reinterpretation. The place of industry at Pompeii, in both the physical and economic landscapes has long been overlooked. The chapters on building practice in inhabited houses, on the presence of fulling workshops in atrium houses, and on the urban pottery industry serve as successful contributions to a more complete understanding of the life of the ancient city.
Finally, this volume breaks new ground in the consideration of the urban infrastructure of Pompeii, a topic that has won serious attention only in the last decades, but one that is playing an increasingly central role in Pompeian studies. The final three chapters offer a reassessment of the Pompeian street network, a scientific analysis of the amount of lead in Pompeian drinking water, and a thorough analysis of the water infrastructure around the forum that supported its architectural transformation in the last decades before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. 200p, 99 illus. (Oxbow Books 2011)
A Workshop on the use of Technology in the Field.
February 6 - 7, 2014.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Archaeological practice is being revolutionized by the digital age. From new instruments and devices, to new software and apps, to web-based tools, platforms, and environments, the means by which archaeologists today approach the ancient world is radically different from only ten years ago. Nowhere is this change more starkly felt than in the experience of doing fieldwork. The cutting-edge technologies of 2004 – reflector-less laser theodolites, field-ready laptops, and GPS units - are already practically obsolete, replaced by photogrammetry, tablet computers, and even cell phones. This transformation of fieldwork is more than just an exchange of the object one is holding and new many questions arise:
* What is cutting edge in 2014? What will it be in 2020?
* How do digital practices affect archaeological practices in:
- who uses the technology and manages it?
- what we record and what kinds of records we produce?
- which analyses we run and what interpretations we prefer?
- what our results look like and how we share them?
* Where is digital practice advancing, altering, or subverting archaeological practice?
The Digital Archaeological Practice Workshop is a venue to grapple with these questions through the experiences of those currently using digital technologies in the field, focused on the classical world. Participants come from across the professional spectrum – from undergraduates to seasoned professors - and from an equally wide range of technical competencies. Their presentations will explore research on-going and recently completed to establish a baseline for current practice. The discussions will go farther. Beyond summary and criticism, participants and the audience will be encouraged to enter the valuable realm of speculation and prognostication, to warn against failings and false idols and to daydream the future of archaeological practice.
The Pompeii Bibliography and Mapping Project is building a unique resource – an exhaustive subject repository searchable through a GIS map – for the study of ancient Pompeii. This resource (PBMR) is a web-based research tool composed of three parts: 1. Bibliographic Database and Full-Text Document Repository, 2. Geographical Information System (GIS) and 3. User Interface. At base, the PBMR affords the user the ability to navigate Pompeii’s landscape and discover an extensive account of the information about that location, including (but not limited to) name, type, images, size and bibliography. The GIS provides a powerful mapping tool that can generate custom maps for diverse user groups. Users working on a particular building can create both overview and detailed maps to illustrate their study, which would be based on information provided by the PMBR as a research tool. The most powerful use of the PBMR is as an analysis tool, as a means to simultaneously ask a series of questions and receive data-rich answers. The PBMR allows the user to vacillate between spatial analysis tools and bibliographic analysis tools, a process that produces results impossible to achieve in any other method. To illustrate this point, imagine the results of a search for “House / Casa / Haus / Maison”: hundreds of citations appear along with locations highlighted in the map. Of course, these results are practically impossible to use. The spatial analysis tools can filter these results by the area of each house (e.g., between 100m2 and 400m2), limiting the results to ‘average’ sized houses. These results can be further refined, such as publication year, to find houses most recently investigated. Finally, the user might once again choose a spatial characteristic to get at a still more nuanced picture of these houses. For example, she can search the refined results for those houses that ‘touch the boundary of’ or ‘contain’ a shop or workshop. The final results, produced in the matter of minutes rather than weeks, reveal the instances of and provide extensive documentation for those residences of average size that were most recently investigated and likely had a commercial profile.
Significance
Because Pompeii lacks both a full bibliography and a standard map, the creation of a resource that solves these problems and simultaneously offers new and powerful search methods will revolutionize research on Pompeii. The addition of the GIS introduces the ability to easily broaden a bibliographic investigation to an adjacent building or related subject without apprehension of investing many hours in new bibliographic searches. We believe this will encourage the exploration of imaginative new connections between datasets and addition of spatial search tools will allow the user to begin or to refine their research based on the landscape of the city. Although focused on Pompeii, users will not be limited to the academics who study that site and the project’s content will not limit its application by other humanities subjects. This resource will address important questions about humanities research in the digital age as well as serving as a model for other digital humanities projects.
The PQP is co-directed by Dr. Eric Poehler (University of Massachusetts Amherst) and Dr. Steven Ellis (University of Cincinnati), who is also the director of PQP's sister project, the Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia. Our work is generously funded by a Five Colleges, Inc. Mellon Foundation Digital Humanities Grant, a University of Massachusetts Amherst Faculty Research Grant / Healey Endowment Grant, the UMass Department of Classics, by the Louise Taft Semple Fund of the Department of Classics at the University of Cincinnati and by on-going support from Cardinal Intellectual Property.