ACM TechNews

UCR Gets Grant to Fund High-Tech Methods of Classifying Ancient Artifacts

San Diego Union-Tribune (07/28/08)

University of California, Riverside (UCR) computer scientists will build new tools that will allow anthropology professors to quickly compare and categorize ancient Native American artifacts by shape and quality. The applications will enable UCR to document and archive early Native American images, beads, and tools. The National Science Foundation has awarded an $805,000 grant over three years to help fund the project, "Tools to Mine and Index Trajectories of Physical Artifacts." "By taking advantage of recent advances in data mining and indexing, a massive amount of useful information can potentially be extracted from the anthropological resources that abound in North America," says UCR computer science professor Eamon Keogh. "Spatiotemporal predicates" could help provide answers about the development and spread of Native American cultural practices, such as where the curved style of an arrowhead found in Oklahoma originated. The tools have other potential uses, such as allowing law enforcement to track the "tags" of street gangs.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/riverside/20080728-1553-ucrgrant.html

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