Computational Archaeology and Seafaring Theory
To launch this special issue, we introduce here the motivations, foundations, and goals of the CAST Workshop and the dynamic community it is generating. Through an exploration of the initiative’s two key elements – computational archaeology and seafaring theory – we argue for the urgent need for a global collaborative approach that brings together seafaring practitioners, archaeological researchers, heritage managers, ocean scientists, and computational modelers from diverse backgrounds to attempt to integrate, analyze, and represent a more human element to historical seafaring. Such synthesis of experts across widely ranging fields is critical to assessing current work and future directions, to challenging prior conceptions of formal modeling as an environmentally determinist field devoid of human perspective, and to embracing the sea as a space of ongoing being and meaning. Not only environmental variables and technological capabilities but also individual motivations, social structures, and cultural dynamics play key roles in the different movements of peoples across the sea and in the means by which we can understand these practices and processes. In summarizing the themes and format of the workshop as a prelude to the contributions that follow, we raise thoughts on present challenges and a call for more sustained work in the future.
Launching CAST
J. Leidwanger, M. Borreggine, H. Farr, K. Jarriel, E. Slayton
The Role of Canoe-Building and Navigation in Yapese and Marshallese Seafaring Systems
A. Kelen, L. Raigetal, with J. Genz
State of the Field
M. Borreggine, N. Bartos, H. Farr, S. Kealy, E. Slayton, S. Zaia
Navigating the Narrative: Integrating Traditional Knowledge and Embodied Practice within Computational Models of Ancient Seafaring
H. Farr, B. Bérard, J. Genz, J. Leidwanger, E. Slayton
Seafaring and Modelling
E. Slayton, K. Jarriel, A. Montenegro, C. Safadi, K. Smith, S. Zaia
Disaster, Risk, and Resilience: Considerations for Modelling Small-Scale Island and Coastal Communities
K. Jarriel, M. Borreggine, K. Lim, A. Mochtar, Á. Montenegro
Leviathan’s Revenge: Seafaring Simulations, Deep History and the Rise of Computational Modelling
S.M. Fitzpatrick
Reflecting on CAST
L. Blue
CAST Glossary