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New Approaches to Integrating the Natural Sciences and the Humanities

5. Subprogram (2013–2018)

In the 5th subprogram, the research groups addressed questions significant to both fields by closely integrating methodological and theoretical approaches from the humanities and natural sciences, thereby opening up new perspectives on the research topics.

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Social and Environmental Change at the Beginning of the Bronze Age

The goal was to understand the complexity of the transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age in the Augsburg region. Burial finds from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age were examined archaeologically and scientifically (¹⁴C dating, isotope analyses [Sr, O, C, N] on 140 human and animal bones, chemical characterization of 550 metal artifacts, 12 da2 Pb isotope analyses; mtDNA analyses on 86 individuals and complete nuclear genomes on 136 individuals). In this way, the project succeeded in revising the traditional chronology of the Early Bronze Age for Central Europe, identifying metal supply routes, and establishing patrilocal residence patterns that persisted for over 800 years, as well as a maternal kinship between a Stone Age and a Bronze Age individual.

Publications resulting from the project:
  • K. Massy/S. Hanöffner/N. Carlichi-Witjes/P. W. Stockhammer (2018), Early and Late Middle Bronze Age Graves and Settlement Remains from Altenmarkt, City of Osterhofen, Deggendorf District. Proceedings of the 36th Lower Bavarian Archaeologists’ Conference. Rahden: Leidorf, 123–174.
  • I. Olalde et al. (2018), The Beaker Phenomenon and the Genomic Transformation of Northwest Europe. Nature, doi: 10.1038/nature25738.
  • C. Ga Universitättz et al. (2018), Ancient Genomes Revisit the Ancestry of Domestic and Przewalski’s Horses. Science: eaao3297, doi: 10.1126/science.aao3297
  • A. Andrades Valtueña/A. Mittnik/F. M. Key/W. Haak/R. Allmäe/A. Belinskij/M. Daubaras/M. Feldman/ R. Jankauskas/I. Janković/K. Massy/M. Novak/S. Pfrengle/S. Reinhold/M. Šlaus/M. A. Spyrou/ A. Szécsényi-Nagy/M. Tõrv/S. Hansen/K. I. Bos/P. W. Stockhammer/A. Herbig/J. Krause (2017), The Stone Age Plague and its Persistence in Eurasia, Current Biology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.10.025
  • C. Knipper/A. Mittnik/K. Massy/C. Kociumaka/I. Kucukkalipci/M. Maus/F. Wittenborn/S. E. Metz/A. Staskiewicz/J. Krause/P. W. Stockhammer (2017), Female Exogamy and Gene Pool Diversification at the Transition from the Final Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe. PNAS 114, 38, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1706355114
  • K. Massy/C. Knipper/A. Mittnik/S. Kraus/E. Pernicka/F. Wittenborn/J. Krause/P. W. Stockhammer (2017), Patterns of Transformation from the Final Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age: A Case Study from the Lech Valley South of Augsburg. In: P. W. Stockhammer/J. Maran (eds.), Appropriating Innovations: Entangled Knowledge in Eurasia 5000–1500 BCE. Oxford: Oxbow, 241–261.
  • P. W. Stockhammer/K. Massy/C. Knipper/R. Friedrich/B. Kromer/S. Lindauer/J. Radosavljević/F. Wittenborn/ J. Krause (2015), Rewriting the Central European Early Bronze Age Chronology: Evidence from Large-Scale Radiocarbon Dating. PLoS ONE 10, 10: e0139705.
  • P. W. Stockhammer/K. Massy/C. Knipper/R. Friedrich/B. Kromer/S. Lindauer/J. Radosavljević /E. Pernicka/J. Krause (2015), Continuity and Change from the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in the Augsburg Region. In: H. Meller/H. W. Arz/R. Jung/R. Risch (eds.), 2200 BC – Was a Climate Catastrophe the Cause of the Collapse of the Old World? 7th Central German Archaeologists’ Conference, October 23–26, 2014, Halle (Saale). Halle/Saale: State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, 617–641.

Faculty Members:
  • Prof. Dr. Johannes Krause
  • Dr. Alissa Mittnik
  • Prof. Dr. Philipp W. Stockhammer

Artificial and Artistic Vision: Computer Vision and Art History in Methodological and Practical Collaboration

In this project, art history and computer vision engaged in a dialogue to develop automated models for image comparison and analysis. The goal was to explore images in greater depth with regard to similar form and content. Among other things, the project resulted in an interactive interface for object search and, consequently, for the analysis of large image collections: Through an iterative search process, the user can guide the search by providing positive or negative feedback on the results, which refines the algorithms and improves detection. The automated image analysis made possible by this approach focused on the following tasks: the study of reception processes, compositions, individual objects, image genres, styles, and deviations. During the project, these areas were explored using various corpora (e.g., medieval manuscripts, exhibition views, and the iconography of the Crucifixion).

For more information, visit: https://hci.iwr.uni-heidelberg.de/COMPVIS/research/win/.

Publications resulting from the project:
  • Bell, Peter/Ommer, Björn: Visual Image Search. Computer Vision and Art History in Dialogue. In: Peter Bell, Lisa Dieckmann, and Piotr Kuroczynski (eds.): Computing Art Reader. Perspectives on Digital Art History. ART-Books, Heidelberg (2018).
  • Lang, Sabine/Ommer, Björn: Reconstructing Histories: The Analysis of Exhibition Photographs with Computational Methods. *Arts, Computational Aesthetics* 7(64) (2018).
  • Lang, Sabine/Ommer, Björn: Attesting Similarity: Supporting the Organization and Study of Art Image Collections with Computer Vision. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Oxford University Press, Oxford 33 (2018), 845–856.
  • Bell, Peter/Ommer, Björn: Measuring Art, Counting Pixels? The collaboration between art history and computer vision oscillates between quantitative and hermeneutic methods. In: Marcel Schweiker, Joachim Hass et al. (eds.): Measuring and Understanding in Science. Interdisciplinary Approaches. Springer, Heidelberg (2017), 227–238.
  • Bautista, Miguel/Sanakoyeu, Artsiom /Ommer, Björn: Deep Unsupervised Similarity Learning using Partially Ordered Sets. In Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (2017), 1923–1932.
  • Milbich, Timo/Bautista, Miguel/Sutter, Ekaterina/Ommer, Björn et al.: Unsupervised Video Understanding by Reconciliation of Posture Similarity. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (2017), 4404–4414.
  • Bell, Peter/Ommer, Björn: Ramboux and the Computer. Experiments in Computer Vision Using Copies of the Nazarene. In: Ulf Sölter (ed.): Italy So Close – Johann Anton Ramboux (1790–1866). Exhibition catalog. Wienand Verlag, Cologne (2016).
  • Bell, Peter/Ommer, Björn: Visual Indexing. Computer Vision as a Working and Mediation Tool. In: Andreas Bienert (ed.): EVA Berlin 2016, Electronic Media & Art, Culture, and History. Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz (2016), 67–73.
  • Bell, Peter/ Ommer, Björn: Training Argus, Approaches to Computer Vision in Art History. Kunstchronik. Monthly Journal for Art History, Museum Studies, and Historic Preservation. Central Institute for Art History, Munich 68 (2015), 414–420.
  • Rubio, Jose C./Eigenstetter, Angela/Ommer, Björn: Generative Regularization with Latent Topics for Discriminative Object Recognition. Pattern Recognition, Elsevier, Amsterdam 48(12) (2015), 3871–3880.
  • Monroy, Antonio/Bell, Peter/Ommer, Björn: Morphological Analysis for Investigating Artistic Images. Image and Vision Computing, Elsevier, Amsterdam 32(6) (2014), 414–423.

Summer school organized as part of the project:

Summer School (2015): "Computing Art. A Summer School on Digital Art History," September 30–October 2, 2015. A collaboration between the Computer Vision Group, the Academy of Sciences, the Working Group on Digital Art History, and the HGS Math Comp.

Fellows:
  • Dr. Miguel Bautista
  • Dr. Peter Bell
  • Prof. Dr. Björn Ommer