Hubert Mara | |
|---|---|
 Hubert Mara, 2016 | |
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Vienna University of Technology, Heidelberg University |
| Known for | GigaMesh Software Framework |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer Scientist |
| Institutions | Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg |
Hubert Mara is an Austrian Computer Scientist who specializes in Archaeoinformatics and the application of methods from computer science to the humanities, and thus a combination of these fields.
Hubert Mara graduated (matura) in electrical engineering from the HTBLuVA in Wiener Neustadt and studied computer science at the TU Wien, graduating in 2006. Already during his studies he participated in excavations in Israel and Peru, where he learned to combine methods of computer science and humanities. Early on, he participated in the development of new methods here, such as for 3D recording of ancient pottery for the Austrian Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. After graduation, he received a Marie Curie Fellowship, with the help of which he went to the University of Florence, where he joined the Cultural Heritage Informatics Research Oriented Network (CHIRON) [1] was involved in the development of the London Charter for the Computational Visualization of Cultural Heritage.
In 2009, Mara moved to the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR) at the Universität Heidelberg. In Heidelberg, his interdisciplinary doctorate was awarded in 2012, with Willi Jäger and Hans Georg Bock as reviewers. As part of the dissertation, he developed the GigaMesh Software Framework. This was a free and open source modular software for displaying, editing and visualizing 3D data. In practice, it is used to make things visible again that can no longer be captured with the normal human eye. Thus, it was now possible to make the writing on weathered gravestones legible again, [2] [3] to make fingerprints on archaeological ceramics visible, or to make damaged cuneiform texts legible again. He received his doctorate in 2012, after which Mara founded the Forensic Computational Geometry Laboratory (FCGL or FCGLab), also at Heidelberg University. He leads the FCGLab, which was funded as a junior research group by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under the 2nd German Universities Excellence Initiative from 2014 to 2020. [4] The group was dedicated to further projects on 3D computer vision, but also machine learning for archaeological finds. In 2014, he was offered a professorship at the University of Cologne without tenure track, which he declined. [5] In Heidelberg, he had the doctoral right between 2014 and 2020, and was able to supervise three PhD students in the process. [6] In 2020, they were awarded the European Heritage Award of the Europa Nostra in the field of research for their collaboration on the project Scanning for Syria. As of June 2020, Mara moved to the Mainz Centre for Digitality in the Humanities and Cultural Studies (mainzed) as executive director. [7] Since 1. November 2021, Mara is a tenure-track-junior professor of eHumanities at the Institute of Computer Science at University of Halle. He is an Editor-in-Chief of the it - Information Technology journal series at De Gruyter, [8] which is one of the oldest publication media of computer science in Germany. In 2023, he was offered professorships at the University of Augsburg and the FU Berlin. [9]
Mara's main focus is on the connection of computer science with the humanities, especially archaeology. The core of his work is the development of new analysis, representation and research methods for archaeological finds, such as the age determination of 3D-captured cuneiform tablets with Artificial Intelligence [10] as well as recognition of cuneiform signs. [11] Starting with GigaMesh, he has done fundamental work in these areas. Since 2016, he has served on the advisory board of the German chapter of the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. Mara's publication list now includes a three-digit number of publications of various types and forms.
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Computational archaeology describes computer-based analytical methods for the study of long-term human behaviour and behavioural evolution. As with other sub-disciplines that have prefixed 'computational' to their name, the term is reserved for methods that could not realistically be performed without the aid of a computer.
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform scripts are marked by and named for the characteristic wedge-shaped impressions which form their signs. Cuneiform is the earliest known writing system and was originally developed to write the Sumerian language of southern Mesopotamia.
Assyriology, also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cuneiform writing. The field covers Pre Dynastic Mesopotamia, Sumer, the early Sumero-Akkadian city-states, the Akkadian Empire, Ebla, the Akkadian and Imperial Aramaic speaking states of Assyria, Babylonia and the Sealand Dynasty, the migrant foreign dynasties of southern Mesopotamia, including the Gutians, Amorites, Kassites, Arameans, Suteans and Chaldeans. Assyriology can be included to cover Neolithic pre-Dynastic cultures dating to as far back as 8000 BC through to the Islamic Conquest of the 7th century AD so the topic is significantly wider than that implied by the root "Assyria”.
An aryballos was a small spherical or globular flask with a narrow neck used in Ancient Greece. It was used to contain perfume or oil, and is often depicted in vase paintings being used by athletes during bathing. In these depictions, the vessel is at times attached by a strap to the athlete's wrist, or hung by a strap from a peg on the wall.
3D scanning is the process of analyzing a real-world object or environment to collect three dimensional data of its shape and possibly its appearance. The collected data can then be used to construct digital 3D models.
Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum is an international research project for documentation of ancient ceramics. Its original ideal target content: any ceramic from any ancient location during any archaeological period, proved impossible of realization and was soon restricted to specific times and periods. As the project expanded from an original six nations: England, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Italy, to include the current 28, the topic specializations of each country were left up to the commission for that country. The French commission, serves in an advisory position.
The Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing is a scientific research institute of the Heidelberg University, Germany. It centralizes scientific activity and promotes research and work in scientific computing. Founded in 1987 by the Heidelberg University and the state of Baden-Württemberg, IWR participates in joint project and cooperations with industry in Germany as well as abroad. As a research institute with about 380 staff, IWR is considered one of the world's largest research centers for scientific computing.
In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of a surface of an object in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, and polygons in a simulated 3D space.
Polynomial texture mapping (PTM), also known as Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), is a technique of imaging and interactively displaying objects under varying lighting conditions to reveal surface phenomena. The data acquisition method is Single Camera Multi Light (SCML).
Åke W. Sjöberg was a leading Assyriologist, specialized in Sumerian language and literature.
Klaus-Robert Müller is a German computer scientist and physicist, most noted for his work in machine learning and brain–computer interfaces.
Cultural property imaging is a necessary part of long term preservation of cultural heritage. While the physical conditions of objects will change over time, imaging serves as a way to document and represent heritage in a moment in time of the life of the item. Different methods of imaging produce results that are applicable in various circumstances. Not every method is appropriate for every object, and not every object needs to be imaged by multiple methods. In addition to preservation and conservation-related concerns, imaging can also serve to enhance research and study of cultural heritage.
The GigaMesh Software Framework is a free and open-source software for display, editing and visualization of 3D-data typically acquired with structured light or structure from motion.
Yongjie Jessica Zhang is an American mechanical engineer. She is the George Tallman Ladd and Florence Barrett Ladd Professor of mechanical engineering and, by courtesy, of biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Engineering with Computers.
The Sabouroff head is a Late Archaic Greek marble sculpture. It is dated to circa 550–525 BC. This head of a Kouros was named after Peter Alexandrovich Saburov, a collector of ancient Greek sculpture and antiquities. It is 23 centimeters in height. The sculpture is currently located in the Antikensammlung Berlin and allegedly from Attica or Aegina. There are conjectures that it may also have been from Caria in Asia Minor.
Kemune is an archaeological site discovered during a low water level in the reservoir of the Mosul Dam in the Nineveh Governorate, part of the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2013. The Mitanni era city was destroyed by an earthquake around 1350 BC.
Robert K. Englund was an American Archaeologist and Assyriologist.
The decipherment of cuneiform began with the decipherment of Old Persian cuneiform between 1802 and 1836.
