Ortal Harush | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (original) (raw)
Papers by Ortal Harush
Plos One , 2022
The study of artifacts is fundamental to archaeological research. The features of individual arti... more The study of artifacts is fundamental to archaeological research. The features of individual artifacts are recorded, analyzed, and compared within and between contextual assemblages. Here we present and make available for academic-use Artifact3-D, a new software package comprised of a suite of analysis and documentation procedures for archaeological artifacts. We introduce it here, alongside real archaeological case studies to demonstrate its utility. Artifact3-D equips its users with a range of computational functions for accurate measurements, including orthogonal distances, surface area, volume, CoM, edge angles, asymmetry, and scar attributes. Metrics and figures for each of these measurements are easily exported for the purposes of further analysis and illustration. We test these functions on a range of real archaeological case studies pertaining to tool functionality, technological organization, manufacturing traditions, knapping techniques, and knapper skill. Here we focus on lithic artifacts, but the Artifact3-D software can be used on any artifact type to address the needs of modern archaeology. Computational methods are increasingly becoming entwined in the excavation, documentation, analysis, database creation, and publication of archaeological research. Artifact3-D offers functions to address every stage of this workflow. It equips the user with the requisite toolkit for archaeological research that is accurate, objective, repeatable and efficient. This program will help archaeological research deal with the abundant material found during excavations and will open new horizons in research trajectories.
PLoS ONE, 2021
Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size fo... more Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size for describing a given material culture at a particular time. This analysis’ long tradition has enabled archaeologists to define cultural units across time. However, going into the analysis of sub-typological variations is rarely done, although their meanings bear significant consequences on the understanding of ties between individuals and social units. This study, aiming to assess whether it is possible to identify social signatures, focuses on a single archaeological ceramic type. For this propose, we selected a corpus of 235 storage jars from two distinct periods: storage jars from the Intermediate Bronze Age (the 25th -20th century BCE); and the Oval Storage Jar type (hereafter: OSJ) from the Iron Age II (the late 9th–early 6th century BCE). The vessels selected were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters and analyzed through an advanced shape analysis. The study results...
PLoS ONE, 2021
Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size fo... more Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size for describing a given material culture at a particular time. This analysis’ long tradition has enabled archaeologists to define cultural units across time. However, going into the analysis of sub-typological variations is rarely done, although their meanings bear significant consequences on the understanding of ties between individuals and social units. This study, aiming to assess whether it is possible to identify social signatures, focuses on a single archaeological ceramic type. For this propose, we selected a corpus of 235 storage jars from two distinct periods: storage jars from the Intermediate Bronze Age (the 25th -20th century BCE); and the Oval Storage Jar type (hereafter: OSJ) from the Iron Age II (the late 9th–early 6th century BCE). The vessels selected were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters and analyzed through an advanced shape analysis. The study results...
Plos One, 2021
Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size fo... more Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size for describing a given material culture at a particular time. This analysis' long tradition has enabled archaeologists to define cultural units across time. However, going into the analysis of sub-typological variations is rarely done, although their meanings bear significant consequences on the understanding of ties between individuals and social units. This study, aiming to assess whether it is possible to identify social signatures, focuses on a single archaeological ceramic type. For this propose, we selected a corpus of 235 storage jars from two distinct periods: storage jars from the Intermediate Bronze Age (the 25 th-20 th century BCE); and the Oval Storage Jar type (hereafter: OSJ) from the Iron Age II (the late 9 thearly 6 th century BCE). The vessels selected were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters and analyzed through an advanced shape analysis. The study r...
Plos One, 2021
Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size fo... more Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size for describing a given material culture at a particular time. This analysis' long tradition has enabled archaeologists to define cultural units across time. However, going into the analysis of sub-typological variations is rarely done, although their meanings bear significant consequences on the understanding of ties between individuals and social units. This study, aiming to assess whether it is possible to identify social signatures, focuses on a single archaeological ceramic type. For this propose, we selected a corpus of 235 storage jars from two distinct periods: storage jars from the Intermediate Bronze Age (the 25 th-20 th century BCE); and the Oval Storage Jar type (hereafter: OSJ) from the Iron Age II (the late 9 thearly 6 th century BCE). The vessels selected were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters and analyzed through an advanced shape analysis. The study results show that integrating computational and objective analysis methods, focusing on the "minute variation" within a single ceramic type, yields substantial insights regarding the relationship between variability and social units. In addition to the methodological guidelines and the suggested "work protocol" for further studies, the results shed light on the social organization of the Intermediate Bronze Age and the Iron Age II in Southern Levant.
Journal of Archaeological Science
Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape a... more Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape and size for the description of a given material culture. Yet, the characterization of ceramic variations and their meaning receives little attention in the archaeological study. In the present research, we wished to monitor small-scale variations, searching for the unique signature of the individual potter during production. We thus examined new parameters for distinguishing between trainee potters and monitoring their distinct styles as part of an integrated experimental archaeological study. For the purposes of this research, ceramic students were instructed to produce the same part of a storage jar repeatedly for several days following a strict protocol—with a single prototype and using the same technique in the same workspace. All the produced items were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters for classification. Cluster analysis was used to analyze the digital data, in addition to a novel data visualization technique that was developed for detecting ceramic variations. These methods enabled us to distinguish the potters by their individual styles, probably already established in the early stages of learning. Our results show that the novel visualization approach, together with the quantitative method, allows us to efficiently identify the location, on the vessels, of the potters' stylistic fingerprint.
Journal of Archaeological Science
Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape a... more Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape and size for the description of a given material culture. Yet, the characterization of ceramic variations and their meaning receives little attention in the archaeological study. In the present research, we wished to monitor small-scale variations, searching for the unique signature of the individual potter during production. We thus examined new parameters for distinguishing between trainee potters and monitoring their distinct styles as part of an integrated experimental archaeological study. For the purposes of this research, ceramic students were instructed to produce the same part of a storage jar repeatedly for several days following a strict protocol—with a single prototype and using the same technique in the same workspace. All the produced items were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters for classification. Cluster analysis was used to analyze the digital data, in addition to a novel data visualization technique that was developed for detecting ceramic variations. These methods enabled us to distinguish the potters by their individual styles, probably already established in the early stages of learning. Our results show that the novel visualization approach, together with the quantitative method, allows us to efficiently identify the location, on the vessels, of the potters' stylistic fingerprint.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2020
This study explores the effects of the copying error process on material culture. The goal is to ... more This study explores the effects of the copying error process on material culture. The goal is to assess whether the morphometric variability of standardized vessels, generated by copying errors, can reveal both collective and individual signatures. In this perspective, we collected a corpus of 320 present-day standardized water jars, made by 23 Indian expert potters belonging to two endogamous communities distributed between eight villages. The vessels are analyzed through advanced shape analysis of ceramic vessels. The issue is to assess whether mor-phometric variability is observable at the 'community,' the 'village,' and the 'individual' scales. The results show a clear separation between the two endogamous communities, even when barely visible by the naked eye. Furthermore, village-level trends can be obtained, especially when village productions are associated with distinct learning networks. Identifying individual signatures within standardized production made by multiple potters belonging to the same learning network remains challenging.
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 2020
In this paper we compare morphological features of three groups of Iron Age storage jars that wer... more In this paper we compare morphological features of three groups of Iron Age storage jars that were
unearthed in several Judahite and Israelite sites. The most famous group is the royal Judahite storage
jars with stamped handles (“lmlk,” “rosette,” etc.). The other two groups are the “Hippo” jars found
abundantly in Israelite sites and the jars from Khirbet Qeiyafa (Judah), assigned chronologically to
the early 10th century B.C.E. We scanned most of the available jars in 3D and compared them in a
detailed morphological study. We extracted several metric measures and observed large variations between
jars within a group and, to a larger extent, between jars from different groups. The only exception
is the inner rim diameter, which shows surprising uniformity. Moreover, the distribution of inner rim
diameters is consistent with anthropometric measurements of the handbreadth of the human male.
We provide a detailed description of our methodology and findings and offer a few alternative explanations
for the clear correlation between the measured inner rim diameter and the human tefach.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2020
This study explores the effects of the copying error process on material culture. The goal is to ... more This study explores the effects of the copying error process on material culture. The goal is to assess whether the morphometric variability of standardized vessels, generated by copying errors, can reveal both collective and individual signatures. In this perspective, we collected a corpus of 320 present-day standardized water jars, made by 23 Indian expert potters belonging to two endogamous communities distributed between eight villages. The vessels are analyzed through advanced shape analysis of ceramic vessels. The issue is to assess whether morphometric variability is observable at the ‘community,’ the ‘village,’ and the ‘individual’ scales. The results show a clear separation between the two endogamous communities, even when barely visible by the naked eye. Furthermore, village-level trends can be obtained, especially when village productions are associated with distinct learning networks. Identifying individual signatures within standardized production made by multiple potters belonging to the same learning network remains challenging.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2019
Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape a... more Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape and size for the description of a given material culture. Yet, the characterization of ceramic variations and their meaning receives little attention in the archaeological study. In the present research, we wished to monitor small-scale variations, searching for the unique signature of the individual potter during production. We thus examined new parameters for distinguishing between trainee potters and monitoring their distinct styles as part of an integrated experimental archaeological study.
For the purposes of this research, ceramic students were instructed to produce the same part of a storage jar repeatedly for several days following a strict protocol—with a single prototype and using the same technique in the same workspace. All the produced items were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters for classification. Cluster analysis was used to analyze the digital data, in addition to a novel data visualization technique that was developed for detecting ceramic variations. These methods enabled us to distinguish the potters by their individual styles, probably already established in the early stages of learning. Our results show that the novel visualization approach, together with the quantitative method, allows us to efficiently identify the location, on the vessels, of the potters' stylistic fingerprint.
The Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, 2014
This article reviews the activities at the Computerized Archaeology Laboratory at The Hebrew Univ... more This article reviews the activities at the Computerized
Archaeology Laboratory at The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, where techniques and ideas from computer
science (e.g., computer graphics, machine learning, etc.)
are integrated into archaeological research methodologies.
The laboratory operates optical scanners which
provide 3d digital models that are then analyzed by computer
programs developed in-house. These programs
address research issues and needs which could not be
tackled without the availability of digital 3d models, thus
broadening the horizons of archaeological research. To
date, these methods and applications have been applied
successfully to more than 30,000 pottery fragments,
3,000 stone tools, and many other archaeological finds
submitted by more than 100 expeditions. This level of
integration provides daily verification of the 3d approach
and its intellectual and economical advantages.
Plos One , 2022
The study of artifacts is fundamental to archaeological research. The features of individual arti... more The study of artifacts is fundamental to archaeological research. The features of individual artifacts are recorded, analyzed, and compared within and between contextual assemblages. Here we present and make available for academic-use Artifact3-D, a new software package comprised of a suite of analysis and documentation procedures for archaeological artifacts. We introduce it here, alongside real archaeological case studies to demonstrate its utility. Artifact3-D equips its users with a range of computational functions for accurate measurements, including orthogonal distances, surface area, volume, CoM, edge angles, asymmetry, and scar attributes. Metrics and figures for each of these measurements are easily exported for the purposes of further analysis and illustration. We test these functions on a range of real archaeological case studies pertaining to tool functionality, technological organization, manufacturing traditions, knapping techniques, and knapper skill. Here we focus on lithic artifacts, but the Artifact3-D software can be used on any artifact type to address the needs of modern archaeology. Computational methods are increasingly becoming entwined in the excavation, documentation, analysis, database creation, and publication of archaeological research. Artifact3-D offers functions to address every stage of this workflow. It equips the user with the requisite toolkit for archaeological research that is accurate, objective, repeatable and efficient. This program will help archaeological research deal with the abundant material found during excavations and will open new horizons in research trajectories.
PLoS ONE, 2021
Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size fo... more Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size for describing a given material culture at a particular time. This analysis’ long tradition has enabled archaeologists to define cultural units across time. However, going into the analysis of sub-typological variations is rarely done, although their meanings bear significant consequences on the understanding of ties between individuals and social units. This study, aiming to assess whether it is possible to identify social signatures, focuses on a single archaeological ceramic type. For this propose, we selected a corpus of 235 storage jars from two distinct periods: storage jars from the Intermediate Bronze Age (the 25th -20th century BCE); and the Oval Storage Jar type (hereafter: OSJ) from the Iron Age II (the late 9th–early 6th century BCE). The vessels selected were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters and analyzed through an advanced shape analysis. The study results...
PLoS ONE, 2021
Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size fo... more Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size for describing a given material culture at a particular time. This analysis’ long tradition has enabled archaeologists to define cultural units across time. However, going into the analysis of sub-typological variations is rarely done, although their meanings bear significant consequences on the understanding of ties between individuals and social units. This study, aiming to assess whether it is possible to identify social signatures, focuses on a single archaeological ceramic type. For this propose, we selected a corpus of 235 storage jars from two distinct periods: storage jars from the Intermediate Bronze Age (the 25th -20th century BCE); and the Oval Storage Jar type (hereafter: OSJ) from the Iron Age II (the late 9th–early 6th century BCE). The vessels selected were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters and analyzed through an advanced shape analysis. The study results...
Plos One, 2021
Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size fo... more Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size for describing a given material culture at a particular time. This analysis' long tradition has enabled archaeologists to define cultural units across time. However, going into the analysis of sub-typological variations is rarely done, although their meanings bear significant consequences on the understanding of ties between individuals and social units. This study, aiming to assess whether it is possible to identify social signatures, focuses on a single archaeological ceramic type. For this propose, we selected a corpus of 235 storage jars from two distinct periods: storage jars from the Intermediate Bronze Age (the 25 th-20 th century BCE); and the Oval Storage Jar type (hereafter: OSJ) from the Iron Age II (the late 9 thearly 6 th century BCE). The vessels selected were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters and analyzed through an advanced shape analysis. The study r...
Plos One, 2021
Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size fo... more Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size for describing a given material culture at a particular time. This analysis' long tradition has enabled archaeologists to define cultural units across time. However, going into the analysis of sub-typological variations is rarely done, although their meanings bear significant consequences on the understanding of ties between individuals and social units. This study, aiming to assess whether it is possible to identify social signatures, focuses on a single archaeological ceramic type. For this propose, we selected a corpus of 235 storage jars from two distinct periods: storage jars from the Intermediate Bronze Age (the 25 th-20 th century BCE); and the Oval Storage Jar type (hereafter: OSJ) from the Iron Age II (the late 9 thearly 6 th century BCE). The vessels selected were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters and analyzed through an advanced shape analysis. The study results show that integrating computational and objective analysis methods, focusing on the "minute variation" within a single ceramic type, yields substantial insights regarding the relationship between variability and social units. In addition to the methodological guidelines and the suggested "work protocol" for further studies, the results shed light on the social organization of the Intermediate Bronze Age and the Iron Age II in Southern Levant.
Journal of Archaeological Science
Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape a... more Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape and size for the description of a given material culture. Yet, the characterization of ceramic variations and their meaning receives little attention in the archaeological study. In the present research, we wished to monitor small-scale variations, searching for the unique signature of the individual potter during production. We thus examined new parameters for distinguishing between trainee potters and monitoring their distinct styles as part of an integrated experimental archaeological study. For the purposes of this research, ceramic students were instructed to produce the same part of a storage jar repeatedly for several days following a strict protocol—with a single prototype and using the same technique in the same workspace. All the produced items were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters for classification. Cluster analysis was used to analyze the digital data, in addition to a novel data visualization technique that was developed for detecting ceramic variations. These methods enabled us to distinguish the potters by their individual styles, probably already established in the early stages of learning. Our results show that the novel visualization approach, together with the quantitative method, allows us to efficiently identify the location, on the vessels, of the potters' stylistic fingerprint.
Journal of Archaeological Science
Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape a... more Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape and size for the description of a given material culture. Yet, the characterization of ceramic variations and their meaning receives little attention in the archaeological study. In the present research, we wished to monitor small-scale variations, searching for the unique signature of the individual potter during production. We thus examined new parameters for distinguishing between trainee potters and monitoring their distinct styles as part of an integrated experimental archaeological study. For the purposes of this research, ceramic students were instructed to produce the same part of a storage jar repeatedly for several days following a strict protocol—with a single prototype and using the same technique in the same workspace. All the produced items were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters for classification. Cluster analysis was used to analyze the digital data, in addition to a novel data visualization technique that was developed for detecting ceramic variations. These methods enabled us to distinguish the potters by their individual styles, probably already established in the early stages of learning. Our results show that the novel visualization approach, together with the quantitative method, allows us to efficiently identify the location, on the vessels, of the potters' stylistic fingerprint.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2020
This study explores the effects of the copying error process on material culture. The goal is to ... more This study explores the effects of the copying error process on material culture. The goal is to assess whether the morphometric variability of standardized vessels, generated by copying errors, can reveal both collective and individual signatures. In this perspective, we collected a corpus of 320 present-day standardized water jars, made by 23 Indian expert potters belonging to two endogamous communities distributed between eight villages. The vessels are analyzed through advanced shape analysis of ceramic vessels. The issue is to assess whether mor-phometric variability is observable at the 'community,' the 'village,' and the 'individual' scales. The results show a clear separation between the two endogamous communities, even when barely visible by the naked eye. Furthermore, village-level trends can be obtained, especially when village productions are associated with distinct learning networks. Identifying individual signatures within standardized production made by multiple potters belonging to the same learning network remains challenging.
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 2020
In this paper we compare morphological features of three groups of Iron Age storage jars that wer... more In this paper we compare morphological features of three groups of Iron Age storage jars that were
unearthed in several Judahite and Israelite sites. The most famous group is the royal Judahite storage
jars with stamped handles (“lmlk,” “rosette,” etc.). The other two groups are the “Hippo” jars found
abundantly in Israelite sites and the jars from Khirbet Qeiyafa (Judah), assigned chronologically to
the early 10th century B.C.E. We scanned most of the available jars in 3D and compared them in a
detailed morphological study. We extracted several metric measures and observed large variations between
jars within a group and, to a larger extent, between jars from different groups. The only exception
is the inner rim diameter, which shows surprising uniformity. Moreover, the distribution of inner rim
diameters is consistent with anthropometric measurements of the handbreadth of the human male.
We provide a detailed description of our methodology and findings and offer a few alternative explanations
for the clear correlation between the measured inner rim diameter and the human tefach.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2020
This study explores the effects of the copying error process on material culture. The goal is to ... more This study explores the effects of the copying error process on material culture. The goal is to assess whether the morphometric variability of standardized vessels, generated by copying errors, can reveal both collective and individual signatures. In this perspective, we collected a corpus of 320 present-day standardized water jars, made by 23 Indian expert potters belonging to two endogamous communities distributed between eight villages. The vessels are analyzed through advanced shape analysis of ceramic vessels. The issue is to assess whether morphometric variability is observable at the ‘community,’ the ‘village,’ and the ‘individual’ scales. The results show a clear separation between the two endogamous communities, even when barely visible by the naked eye. Furthermore, village-level trends can be obtained, especially when village productions are associated with distinct learning networks. Identifying individual signatures within standardized production made by multiple potters belonging to the same learning network remains challenging.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2019
Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape a... more Ceramic-sherds analysis has been concerned with categorizing to types according to vessel shape and size for the description of a given material culture. Yet, the characterization of ceramic variations and their meaning receives little attention in the archaeological study. In the present research, we wished to monitor small-scale variations, searching for the unique signature of the individual potter during production. We thus examined new parameters for distinguishing between trainee potters and monitoring their distinct styles as part of an integrated experimental archaeological study.
For the purposes of this research, ceramic students were instructed to produce the same part of a storage jar repeatedly for several days following a strict protocol—with a single prototype and using the same technique in the same workspace. All the produced items were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters for classification. Cluster analysis was used to analyze the digital data, in addition to a novel data visualization technique that was developed for detecting ceramic variations. These methods enabled us to distinguish the potters by their individual styles, probably already established in the early stages of learning. Our results show that the novel visualization approach, together with the quantitative method, allows us to efficiently identify the location, on the vessels, of the potters' stylistic fingerprint.
The Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, 2014
This article reviews the activities at the Computerized Archaeology Laboratory at The Hebrew Univ... more This article reviews the activities at the Computerized
Archaeology Laboratory at The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, where techniques and ideas from computer
science (e.g., computer graphics, machine learning, etc.)
are integrated into archaeological research methodologies.
The laboratory operates optical scanners which
provide 3d digital models that are then analyzed by computer
programs developed in-house. These programs
address research issues and needs which could not be
tackled without the availability of digital 3d models, thus
broadening the horizons of archaeological research. To
date, these methods and applications have been applied
successfully to more than 30,000 pottery fragments,
3,000 stone tools, and many other archaeological finds
submitted by more than 100 expeditions. This level of
integration provides daily verification of the 3d approach
and its intellectual and economical advantages.