A texture based approach to reconstruction of archaeological finds

Reconstruction of archaeological finds from fragments, is a tedious task requiring many hours of work from the archaeologists and restoration personnel. In this paper we present a framework for the full reconstruction of the original objects using texture and surface design information on the sherd. The texture of a band outside the border of pieces is predicted by inpainting and texture synthesis methods. The confidence of this process is also defined. Feature values are derived from these original and predicted images of pieces. A combination of the feature and confidence values is used to generate an affinity measure of corresponding pieces. The optimization of total affinity gives the best assembly of the piece. Experimental results are presented on real and artificial data

Optimization for automated assembly of puzzles

The puzzle assembly problem has many application areas such as restoration and reconstruction of archeological findings, repairing of broken objects, solving jigsaw type puzzles, molecular docking problem, etc. The puzzle pieces usually include not only geometrical shape information but also visual information such as texture, color, and continuity of lines. This paper presents a new approach to the puzzle assembly problem that is based on using textural features and geometrical constraints. The texture of a band outside the border of pieces is predicted by inpainting and texture synthesis methods. Feature values are derived from these original and predicted images of pieces. An affinity measure of corresponding pieces is defined and alignment of the puzzle pieces is formulated as an optimization problem where the optimum assembly of the pieces is achieved by maximizing the total affinity measure. An fft based image registration technique is used to speed up the alignment of the pieces. Experimental results are presented on real and artificial data sets

Revisión de los métodos computerizados para la reconstrucción de fragmentos arqueológicos de cerámica

[ES] Las cerámicas son los hallazgos más numerosos encontrados en las excavaciones arqueológicas; a menudo se usan para obtener información sobre la historia, la economía y el arte de un sitio. Los arqueólogos rara vez encuentran jarrones completos; en general, están dañados y en fragmentos, a menudo mezclados con otros grupos de cerámica.El análisis y la reconstrucción de fragmentos se realiza por un operador experto mediante el uso del método manual tradicional. Los artículos revisados proporcionaron evidencias de que el método tradicional no es reproducible, no es repetible, consume mucho tiempo y sus resultados generan grandes incertidumbres. Con el objetivo de superar los límites anteriores, en los últimos años, los investigadores han realizado esfuerzos para desarrollar métodos informáticos que permitan el análisis de fragmentos arqueológicos de cerámica, todo ello destinado a su reconstrucción. Para contribuir a este campo de estudio, en este artículo, se presenta un análisis exhaustivo de las publicaciones disponibles más importantes hasta finales de 2019. Este estudio, centrado únicamente en fragmentos de cerámica, se realiza mediante la recopilación de artículos en inglés de la base de datos Scopus, utilizando las siguientes palabras clave: "métodos informáticos en arqueología", "arqueología 3D", "reconstrucción 3D", "reconocimiento y reconstrucción automática de características", "restauración de reliquias en forma de cerámica ". La lista se completa con referencias adicionales que se encuentran a través de la lectura de documentos seleccionados. Los 53 trabajos seleccionados se dividen en tres períodos de tiempo. Según una revisión detallada de los estudios realizados, los elementos clave de cada método analizado se enumeran en función de las herramientas de adquisición de datos, las características extraídas, los procesos de clasificación y las técnicas de correspondencia. Finalmente, para superar las brechas reales, se proponen algunas recomendaciones para futuras investigaciones.[EN] Potteries are the most numerous finds found in archaeological excavations; they are often used to get information about the history, economy, and art of a site. Archaeologists rarely find complete vases but, generally, damaged and in fragments, often mixed with other pottery groups. By using the traditional manual method, the analysis and reconstruction of sherds are performed by a skilled operator. Reviewed papers provided evidence that the traditional method is not reproducible, not repeatable, time-consuming and its results have great uncertainties. To overcome the aforementioned limits, in the last years, researchers have made efforts to develop computer-based methods for archaeological ceramic sherds analysis, aimed at their reconstruction. To contribute to this field of study, in this paper, a comprehensive analysis of the most important available publications until the end of 2019 is presented. This study, focused on pottery fragments only, is performed by collecting papers in English by the Scopus database using the following keywords: “computer methods in archaeology", "3D archaeology", "3D reconstruction", "automatic feature recognition and reconstruction", "restoration of pottery shape relics”. The list is completed by additional references found through the reading of selected papers. The 53 selected papers are divided into three periods of time. According to a detailed review of the performed studies, the key elements of each analyzed method are listed based on data acquisition tools, features extracted, classification processes, and matching techniques. Finally, to overcome the actual gaps some recommendations for future researches are proposed.Highlights:The traditional manual method for reassembling sherds is very time-consuming and costly; it also requires a great deal effort from skilled archaeologists in repetitive and routine activities.Computer-based methods for archaeological ceramic sherds reconstruction can help archaeologists in the above-mentioned repetitive and routine activities.In this paper, the state-of-the-art computer-based methods for archaeological ceramic sherds reconstruction are reviewed, and some recommendations for future researches are proposed.Eslami, D.; Di Angelo, L.; Di Stefano, P.; Pane, C. (2020). Review of computer-based methods for archaeological ceramic sherds reconstruction. 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An open-source 3D graphics and animation software. Retrieved from https://www.blender.orgBrown, B. J., Toler-Franklin, C., Nehab, D., Burns, M., Dobkin, D., Vlachopoulos, A., Weyrich, T. (2008). A system for high-volume acquisition and matching of fresco fragments: Reassembling Theran wall paintings. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 27(3). https://doi.org/10.1145/1360612.1360683Cao, Y., & Mumford, D. (2002). Geometric Structure Estimation of Axially Symmetric Pots from Small Fragments. In Proceedings of the signal processing, pattern recognition and applications, IASTED, Crete, Greece, June 25-28, 2002, (pp. 92-97).Cohen, F., Zhang, Z., & Jeppson, P. (2010). Virtual reconstruction of archaeological vessels using convex hulls of surface markings. 2010 IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition-Workshops, (pp. 55-61). http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/CVPRW.2010.5543528Cohen, F., Zhang, Z., & Liu, Z. (2016). Mending broken vessels a fusion between color markings and anchor points on surface breaks. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 75(7), 3709-3732. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-014-2190-0Cooper, D. B., Willis, A., Andrews, S., Baker, J., Cao, Y., Han, D., … others. (2001). Assembling virtual pots from 3D measurements of their fragments. In Proceedings of the 2001 Conference on Virtual Reality, Archeology, and Cultural Heritage, (pp. 241-254). https://doi.org/10.1145/584993.585032Di Angelo, L., Di Stefano, P., Morabito, A. E., & Pane, C. (2018). Measurement of constant radius geometric features in archaeological pottery. Measurement: Journal of the International Measurement Confederation, 124 (March), 138-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2018.04.016Di Angelo, L., Di Stefano, P., & Pane, C. (2018). An automatic method for pottery fragments analysis. Measurement: Journal of the International Measurement Confederation, 128, 138-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2018.06.008Di Angelo, Luca, Di Stefano, P., & Pane, C. (2017). Automatic dimensional characterization of pottery. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 26, 118-128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2017.02.003Fragkos, S., Tzimtzimis, E., Tzetzis, D., Dodun, O., & Kyratsis, P. (2018). 3D laser scanning and digital restoration of an archaeological find. MATEC Web of Conferences, 178. https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201817803013Funkhouser, T., Shin, H., Toler-Franklin, C., Castañeda, A. G., Brown, B., Dobkin, D., Weyrich, T. (2011). Learning how to match fresco fragments. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.1145/2037820.2037824Halir, R., & Menard, C. (1996). Diameter estimation for archaeological pottery using active vision. In Proceedings of the 20th Workshop of the Austrian Association for Pattern Recognition (OAGM/AAPR) on Pattern Recognition 1996, (pp. 251-261).Halir, R., & Flusser, J. (1997). Estimation of profiles of sherds of archaeological pottery. In Proceedings of the of the Czech Pattern Recognition Workshop (CPRW'97), Czech Republic, February 1997, 1-5, (pp. 126-130).Halir, R. (1999). An Automatic Estimation Of The Axis Of Rotation Of Fragments Of Archaeological Pottery: A Multi-Step Model-Based Approach. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference in Central Europe on Computer Graphics, Visualization and Interactive Digital Media (WSCG '99) https://semanticscholar.org/0248/ae5a8dca3d2c6bfff282ce481a5625d32362Hall, N. S., & Laflin, S. (1984). A computer aided design technique for pottery profiles. In Computer applications in Archaeology, (pp. 178-188). Computer Center, University of Birmingham Birmingham. Retrieved from https://www.bcin.ca/bcin/detail.app?id=40524Han, D., & Hahn, H. S. (2014). Axis estimation and grouping of rotationally symmetric object segments. Pattern Recognition, 47(1), 296-312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patcog.2013.06.022Hlavackova-Schindler, K., Kampel, M., & Sablatnig, R. (2001). Fitting of a Closed Planar Curve Representing a Profile of an Archaeological Fragment. In Proceedings VAST 2001 Virtual Reality, Archeology, and Cultural Heritage, (pp. 263-269). https://doi.org/10.1145/585031.585034Huang, Q. X., Flöry, S., Gelfand, N., Hofer, M., & Pottmann, H. (2006). Reassembling fractured objects by geometric matching. ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 Papers, SIGGRAPH '06, (May), (pp. 569-578). https://doi.org/10.1145/1179352.1141925Igwe, P. C., & Knopf, G. K. (2006). 3D object reconstruction using geometric computing. Geometric Modeling and Imaging New Trends, 9-14. https://doi.org/10.1109/GMAI.2006.1Kalasarinis, I., & Koutsoudis, A. (2019). Assisting pottery restoration procedures with digital technologies. International Journal of Computational Methods in Heritage Science, 3(1), 20-32. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijcmhs.2019010102Kampel, M., & Sablatnig, R. (2003). Profile-based Pottery Reconstruction. In IEEE Proceeding of Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops, Wisconsin, June, (pp. 1-6). https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPRW.2003.10007Kampel, M, & Mara, H. (2005). Robust 3D reconstruction of archaeological pottery based on concentric circular rills. In Proceedings of the Sixth International. Workshop on Image Analysis for Multimedia Interactive Services (WIAMIS'05), Montreux, Switzerland, (pp. 14-20). Retrieved from https://semanticscholar.org/43df/9b3c6fef5aa54964bdc4825a86cc4e9f4531Kampel, M., & Sablatnig, R. (2003). An automated pottery archival and reconstruction system. Journal of Visualization and Computer Animation, 14(3), 111-120. https://doi.org/10.1002/vis.310Kampel, M., & Sablatnig, R. (2004). 3D Puzzling of Archeological Fragments. In Proceedings of 9th Computer Vision Winter Workshop, (February), (pp. 31-40). Retrieved from https://cvl.tuwien.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/cvww041Karasik, A., & Smilansky, U. (2011). Computerized morphological classification of ceramics. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38(10), 2644-2657. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2011.05.023Kashihara, K. (2012). Three-dimensional reconstruction of artifacts based on a hybrid genetic algorithm. In IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, (pp. 900-905). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSMC.2012.6377842Kashihara, K. (2017). An intelligent computer assistance system for artifact restoration based on genetic algorithms with plane image features. International Journal of Computational Intelligence and Applications, 16(3), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1469026817500213Kleber, F., & Sablatnig, R. (2009). A survey of techniques for document and archaeology artifact reconstruction. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition, ICDAR, (March 2014), (pp. 1061-1065). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDAR.2009.154Kotoula, E. (2016). Semiautomatic fragments matching and virtual reconstruction: a case study on ceramics. International Journal of Conservation Science, 7(1), 71-86. Retrieved from http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/31035/Lucena, M., Martínez-Carrillo, A. L., Fuertes, J. M., Javier Carrascosa Malagón, F., & Ruiz Rodríguez, A. (2016). Decision support system for classifying archaeological pottery profiles based on mathematical morphology. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 75(7), 3677-3691. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-014-2063-6Maiza, C., & Gaildrat, V. (2005). Automatic classification of archaeological potsherds. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer Graphics and Artificial Intelligence, Limoges, France, May 11-12, 2005, (pp. 135-147). https://semanticscholar.org/3c95/82c3e562b44e7d61dc0fd3487ea3dc977ff3Mara, H., Kampel, M., & Sablatnig, R. (2002). Preprocessing of 3D-Data for Classification of Archaeological Fragments in an Automated System. In Proceedings of the 26th Workshop of the Austrian Association for Pattern Recognition, Vision with Non-Traditional Sensors, (ÖAGM/AAPR), Graz, Austria, 10-11 September 2002, (pp. 257-264). https://doi.org/10.1.1.15.748Mara, H., & Sablatnig, R. (2006). The orientation of fragments of rotationally symmetrical 3D-shapes for archaeological documentation. In Proceedings - Third International Symposium on 3D Data Processing, Visualization, and Transmission, 3DPVT 2006, (June), (pp. 1064-1071). https://doi.org/10.1109/3DPVT.2006.105Melero, F. J., Torres, J. C., & Leon, A. (2003). On the interactive 3d reconstruction of Iberian vessels. In 4th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology, and Intelligent Cultural Heritage, VAST, 3, (pp. 71-78). http://dx.doi.org/10.2312/VAST/VAST03/071-078Papaioannou, G., Karabassi, E. a., & Theoharis, T. (2000). Automatic Reconstruction of Archaeological Finds-A Graphics Approach. In International Conference on Computer Graphics and Artificial Intelligence, (March), (pp. 117-125). Retrieved from https://semanticscholar.org/6a3c/7ec8f544bbfb83174d868cd406eaaf40f438Papaioannou, G., Karabassi, E. A., & Theoharis, T. (2002). Reconstruction of three-dimensional objects through the matching of their parts. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 24(1), 114-124. https://doi.org/10.1109/34.982888Pulli, K. (1999). Multiview registration for large data sets. In Proceedings of Second International Conference on 3D Digital Imaging and Modeling, Ottawa, ON, Canada, 4-8 December 1999, (pp. 160-168). http://doi.org/10.1109/IM.1999.805346Rasheed, N. A., & Nordin, J. (2015a). A Survey of Computer Methods in Reconstruction of 3D Archaeological Pottery Objects. International Journal of Advanced Research, 3(3), 712-714. Retrieved from https://academia.edu.documents/45540231Rasheed, N. A., & Nordin, M. J. (2014). A polynomial function in the automatic reconstruction of fragmented objects. Journal of Computer Science, 10(11), 2339-2348. https://doi.org/10.3844/jcssp.2014.2339.2348Rasheed, N. A., & Nordin, M. J. (2015b). Archaeological fragments classification based on RGB color and texture features. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 76(3), 358-365. Retrieved from http://repository.uobabylon.edu.iq/papers/publication.aspx?pubid=6746Rasheed, N. A., & Nordin, M. J. (2018). Classification and reconstruction algorithms for the archaeological fragments. Journal of King Saud University-Computer and Information Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksuci.2018.09.019Rasheed, N. A., Nordin, M. J., Dakheel, A. H., Nados, W. L., & Maaroof, M. K. A. (2017). Classification archaeological fragments into groups. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering, and Technology, 14(9), 324-333. https://doi.org/10.19026/rjaset.14.5072Sablatnig, R., & Menard, C. (1997). 3D Reconstruction of Archaeological Pottery using Profile Primitives. In Proceedings of I International Workshop on Synthetic-Natural Hybrid Coding and Three-Dimensional Imaging, (pp. 93-96).Sablatnig, R., Menard, C., & Kropatseh, W. (1998). Classification of archaeological fragments using a description language. In Proceedings of European Signal Processing Conference, (Eusipco '98), (pp. 1097-1100), 1998.Sakpere, W. (2019). 3D Reconstruction of Archaeological Pottery from Its Point Cloud. In Proceedings of Iberian Conference on Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis, (pp. 125-136). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31332-6_11Shin, H., Doumas, C., Funkhouser, T., Rusinkiewicz, S., Steiglitz, K.,Vlachopoulos, & Weyrich, T. (2010). Analyzing Fracture Patterns in Theran Wall Paintings. In Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology - VAST, (pp. 71-78). https://doi.org/10.2312/VAST/VAST10/071-078Son, K., Almeida, E. B., & Cooper, D. B. (2013). Axially symmetric 3D pots configuration system using the axis of symmetry and break curve. In Proceedings of the IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, (pp. 257-264). https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPR.2013.40Stamatopoulos, M. I., & Anagnostopoulos, C.-N. (2016). 3D digital reassembling of archaeological ceramic pottery fragments based on their thickness profile. The Computing Research Repository (CoRR). Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/abs/1601.05824Toler-Franklin, C., Funkhouser, T., Rusinkiewicz, S., Brown, B., & Weyrich, T. (2010). Multi-Feature Matching of Fresco Fragments. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 29(6), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1145/1882261.1866207Üçoluk, G., & Hakki Toroslu, I. (1999). Automatic reconstruction of broken 3-D surface objects. Computers and Graphics, 23(4), 573-582. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0097-8493(99)00075-8Vendrell-Vidal, E., & Sánchez-Belenguer, C. (2014). A Discrete Approach for Pairwise Matching of Archaeological Fragments. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 7(3), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1145/2597178Willis, A., Orriols, X., & Cooper, D. B. (2003). Accurately Estimating Sherd 3D Surface Geometry with Application to Pot Reconstruction. In Proceedings of IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops, (16-22 June 2003), Madison, Wisconsin, USA (pp. 1-7). https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPRW.2003.10014Willis, A. R., & Cooper, D. B. (2004). Bayesian assembly of 3D axially symmetric shapes from fragments. Proceedings of the IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, 1, (pp. 82-89). https://doi.org/10.1109/cvpr.2004.1315017Zhou, Mingquam, Geng, G., Wu, Z., Zheng, X., Shui, W., Lu, K., & Gao, Y. (2007). A system for re-assembly of fragment objects and computer-aided restoration of cultural relics. Virtual Retrospect 2007, 3, 21-27. Retrieved from http://hal.univ-savoie.fr/ENIB/hal-01765241v1Zhou, Mingquan, Geng, G., Wu, Z., & Shui, W. (2010). A Virtual Restoration System for Broken Pottery. In Proceedings of the CAA Conference 37th Computer applications and quantitative methods in archaeology, Williamsburg, VA, USA, 22-26 March 2009; (pp. 391-396). Retrieved from https://semanticscholar.org/87b5/aa5c7710806677abbedb4e43f6134e05304

Spatio-temporal modeling of soil characteristics for soilscape reconstruction

A

The byre's tale : farming nutrient-poor cover sands at the edge of the Roman Empire

ABSTRACT Prior to the construction of a highABSTRACT-speed railway track (TGV) between Antwerp (Belgium) and the Dutch border, archaeological and geoarchaeological research was conducted at several archaeological sites. All are situated in the northern Campine, a region characterised by quartz-rich, nutrient-poor cover sands. On the site of Brecht-Zoegweg, two well preserved deepened byres (‘potstallen’) were uncovered in Roman stable-houses. Stables with sunken floors are commonly recorded on Roman-period farms in the sandy part of northern Belgium. Following medieval to sub-recent parallels in the area, they are considered to be features serving agricultural fertilising purposes through the intentional accumulation of dung and the creation of manure by mixing with added organic matter (sods or ‘plaggen’). This archaeopedological research investigates several questions concerning the origin and the infill process of these remarkable features. Field observations, analytical and micromorphological data point to a gradual succession of events leading to a byre with a sunken floor, rather than an intentional digging out of the floor concomitant with the house construction and a post-occupational filling or levelling. It is furthermore suggested that plaggen fertilisation could indeed have been applied, at least in some of the phases of the byre use.This article is part of a book edited at the occasion of the Geoarchaeological meeting of Bruges: Soils as records of Past and Present: the geoarchaeological approach. Focus on: is there time for fieldwork today? - Bruges (Belgium), 6 and 7.11.2019. Editors Judit Deák, Carole Ampe and Jari Hinsch Mikkelsen Technical editor Mariebelle Deceuninck English language reviewer Caroline Landsheere Graphic design Frederick Moyaert Printing and binding Die Keure, Bruge

3D MODELING OF TWO LOUTERIA FRAGMENTS BY IMAGE-BASED APPROACH

The paper presents a digital approach to the reconstruction and analysis of two small-sized fragments of louteria, a kind of large terracotta vase, found during an archaeological survey in the south of Sicily (Italy), in the area of Cignana near the Greek colony of Akragas (nowadays Agrigento). The fragments of louteria have been studied by an image-based approach in order to achieve high accurate and very detailed 3D models. The 3D models have been used to carry out interpretive and geometric analysis from an archaeological point of view. Using different digital tools, it was possible to highlight some fine details of the louteria decorations and to better understand the characteristics of the two fragments. The 3D models provide also the possibility to study and to document these archaeological finds in a digital environment

The color of transformation: Investigations into heat treatment of Natufian artifacts from Hayonim Terrace (Israel)

In the Natufian lithic component at Hayonim, both in the cave and the terrace, numerous artifacts of pink/red color may be recognized. Cherts with similar appearance are not present in the geological environment surrounding the site in Northern Israel. Pink chert available in Jordan is shown to be of different nature. Thus this leaves us with the hypothesis of intentional heat treatment of locally available iron-rich yellow chert, of Cenomanian age. Based on experimental replication of chert firing and SEM analysis, we argue that a well-mastered and controlled use of fire was practiced by some skilled craftsmen at Hayonim throughtout the Late Epipalaeolithic

Morphometric Analysis through 3D Modelling of Bronze Age Stone Moulds from Central Sardinia

Stone moulds were basic elements of metallurgy during the Bronze Age, and their analysis and characterization are very important to improve the knowledge on these artefacts useful for typological characterization. The stone moulds investigated in this study were found during an archaeological field survey in several Nuragic (Bronze Age) settlements in Central Sardinia. Recent studies have shown that photogrammetry can be effectively used for the 3D reconstruction of small and medium‐sized archaeological finds, although there are still many challenges in producing high‐quality digital replicas of ancient artefacts due to their surface complexity and consistency. In this paper, we propose a multidisciplinary approach using mineralogical (X‐ray powder diffraction) and petrographic (thin section) analysis of stone materials, as well as an experimental photogrammetric method for 3D reconstruction from multi‐view images performed with recent software based on the CMPMVS algorithm. The photogrammetric image dataset was carried out using an experimental rig equipped with a 26.2 Mpix full frame digital camera. We also assessed the accuracy of the reconstruction models in order to verify their precision and readability according to archaeological goals. This allowed us to provide an effective tool for more detailed study of the geometric‐dimensional aspects of the moulds. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates the potentialities of an integrated minero‐petrographic and photogrammetric approach for the characterization of small artefacts, providing an effective tool for more in‐depth investigation of future typo-logical comparisons and provenance studies

Carbon stable isotope analysis of cereal remains as a way to reconstruct water availability: preliminary results

Reconstructing past water availability, both as rainfall and irrigation, is important to answer questions about the way society reacts to climate and its changes and the role of irrigation in the development of social complexity. Carbon stable isotope analysis of archaeobotanical remains is a potentially valuable method for reconstructing water availability. To further define the relationship between water availability and plant carbon isotope composition and to set up baseline values for the Southern Levant, grains of experimentally grown barley and sorghum were studied. The cereal crops were grown at three stations under five different irrigation regimes in Jordan. Results indicate that a positive but weak relationship exists between irrigation regime and total water input of barley grains, but no relationship was found for sorghum. The relationship for barley is site-specific and inter-annual variation was present at Deir ‘Alla, but not at Ramtha and Khirbet as-Samra