Ancient Coin Classification Using Graph Transduction Games

Recognizing the type of an ancient coin requires theoretical expertise and years of experience in the field of numismatics. Our goal in this work is automatizing this time consuming and demanding task by a visual classification framework. Specifically, we propose to model ancient coin image classification using Graph Transduction Games (GTG). GTG casts the classification problem as a non-cooperative game where the players (the coin images) decide their strategies (class labels) according to the choices made by the others, which results with a global consensus at the final labeling. Experiments are conducted on the only publicly available dataset which is composed of 180 images of 60 types of Roman coins. We demonstrate that our approach outperforms the literature work on the same dataset with the classification accuracy of 73.6% and 87.3% when there are one and two images per class in the training set, respectively

The cultural evolution of coinage as an informational system

The invention of coined money significantly changed economic history, by introducing a convenient and universal medium of exchange, whose value is regulated and guaranteed by a political authority. In order to be used as a means of payment, coins need to be recognized as valid and trustworthy. Combining carefully designed material features with inscriptions and images, they form a system of symbols that store and transmit information, primarily of an economic nature. The aim of this thesis was to investigate how coins encode information, and to understand how historical dynamics and human cognition shaped their evolution as an informational system. These questions were explored over three studies. The first study investigated the influence of changing political and economic circumstances in the ancient Mediterranean (7th - 1st ct. BCE) on the informative role of graphic designs as marks of issuing authority and monetary value. The second study discussed the advantages and challenges of digitization, standardization and quantitative approaches to cultural data, with a focus on coin iconography. The third study examined the representation and perception of monetary value in the properties of contemporary coins. This thesis shows how we can examine the structure and evolution of coins within an interdisciplinary framework, using quantitative methods, combined with insights from evolutionary and cognitive anthropology, and information theory. The increasing availability of expertly curated digital collections opens more possibilities for developing quantitative approaches necessary for proper interpretation of the processes which shaped observed patterns in cultural data. The approach taken in this thesis complements the research in numismatics and economic history on the origins and development of coinage, while also highlighting the possibilities of using historical artefacts to study large-scale patterns in the evolution and transmission of cultural traits

Colonialism, Continuity and Change: A Multidisciplinary Study of the Relationship between Colonialism and Iron Age and Medieval Settlement in the North Channel

This dissertation investigates the relationship between colonialism and settlement. It examines three episodes of colonialism in two case-study regions facing each other across the North Channel, corresponding to eastern Northern Ireland (‘Ulidia’), and mid-western Scotland (‘Ergadia’). By comparing different forms of colonial activity across several time periods and between two regions, the dissertation improves our understanding of colonialism and migration across time and space. The first episode involved the purported elite migration of the Dál Riata from northeast Ireland to western Scotland c.AD500. The second involved the arrival in both regions and beyond of raiders and settlers from Scandinavia c.AD790–850. The third involved a group of settlers mainly from England and Wales, who established the earldom of Ulster as part of a wider expansion into Ireland c.AD1167–1200. The analysis of the continuities and discontinuities in both case studies was based on a series of chronological syntheses drawing together the archaeological, architectural and documentary evidence for settlement in each region c.800BC–AD1400. It was further augmented by employing burial and toponymic evidence as proxies for settlement. Combined with the textual narrative, the archaeological syntheses enabled an examination of, firstly, whether colonial activity actually occurred, and, secondly, the form of colonialism that took place and the processes that lay behind it. To structure the interpretation, each colonial episode was broken down into contact, expansion, consolidation and domination phases, with further phases based on their socio-political and transcultural outcomes. The Dál Riata episode was probably not an example of colonialism. The documentary evidence was found to be unreliable and related to a late reshaping of a usable past. Moreover, there was no visible shift in settlement practices identifiable with incoming colonists. The Scandinavian episode differed on either side of the North Channel. There is no evidence that settlers got beyond a consolidation phase in Ulidia, with very little impact on traditional burial practices, settlement, and language use. Conversely, in Ergadia a major shift was apparent in secular settlement and burial practices. The appearance of a large number of Old Norse placenames also indicates settlement involving several social orders. This heavily influenced the socio-political makeup of the region to at least the fourteenth century. In the third episode, a domination phase was also reached in Ulidia. It involved the establishment of a new extractive elite, with shifts in settlement and toponymic, but not burial, practice.St John's College Benefactors' Scholarshi