Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Space Syntax Analysis of Cypriot Built Environments: Social Interaction and Change in Bronze Age Cyprus Submission for the Russ Patrick Award 2014 By: Tia Sager Supervisor: Prof. Kevin Fisher, Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies Introduction There is great importance and relevance in researching the built environments of past civilizations, because of the new ways in which architecture can provide evidence about the social structures of the ancient world. Due to growing urban populations, analyzing ancient architecture and city planning also has exciting potential to alter perceptions of space and interaction in today’s rapidly developing world. Since built environments are some of the most important remains with which archaeologists can work, it is vital for archaeologists to be able to understand the ways in which built environments influenced social interaction. By analyzing the spatial implications of social interaction, archaeologists can ultimately glean important social information from ruins. Research Background The Late Bronze Age on Cyprus was a very significant time frame for social change, and many pivotal questions surround the transformation of power structures and control at this time (Fisher, 2009, 183). In order to analyze the social information that is encoded within built environments, I studied several approaches that are very useful for this type of research. One of the main approaches I used in this project is Space Syntax, which is a set of theories and methods that analyze the relationship between spatial layout and social, environmental and economic factors (Hillier, 1984, 147). Space Syntax can be simply defined as a theoretical framework and set of analytical methods for the representation, quantification and interpretation of spatial pattern in built form (Fisher, 2007, 69). Various pieces of software exist that allow researchers to simulate the effects of built environments on people who live and move around in them (http://www.spacesyntax.net/). These pieces of software were used, in conjunction with other programs, in order to gain precise syntactic measurements, including accessibility and visibility measurements. For our research project, this was important for providing a correlation between the emerging social hierarchy and new monumental architecture on Late Bronze Age Cyprus. 1 This AURA research project, supervised by Prof. Kevin Fisher, focused on analyzing monumental built environments from Late Bronze Age Cyprus (c. 1650-1100 BCE) using new Spatial Syntax software in order to apply more detailed calculations to monumental Cypriot buildings. By analyzing the floor plans gathered from Prof. Fisher’s dissertation and excavations on Cyprus, I was able to gather new evidence about the ways in which social interaction would have taken place in the ancient built environments. Previously, the calculations had been conducted manually using Excel spreadsheets and basic graphic models (Fisher, 2007, 57). By inputting the building plans into new software that is designed to create multiple complex movement and visibility calculations almost instantaneously, the process would be shortened and ultimately, the goal is to provide more accurate and detailed calculations that may shed new light on social interaction in Cypriot built environments. What this truly allows is a more fine-grained look at visibility within the spaces, by dividing spaces into smaller units than were feasible using the previous methods. Programs such as DepthmapX also allow us to provide calculations for every space within the whole building instantaneously, which was not possible previously. The methods that were used in this research project have cross-cultural implications, and can be applied to ancient and modern built environments. Research Questions/Objectives As part of my research, I investigated three main research questions: 1) How did monumental architecture change the social structures on Cyprus? 2) How did the built environments impact movement and visibility? 3) What changes or improvements to quantifying data can be observed by using new software to obtain calculations? My objective in this project was to obtain and analyze new data on spatial use, movement and visibility for monumental buildings on Bronze Age Cyprus, and to learn how to use new software that would allow me to perform these analyses. Research Methods The first phase of the project involved learning the original methodology that was used in Prof. Fisher’s dissertation. This included reading various articles and completing some labs in order to understand the methodology behind the systems that I would later learn. The original methodology included manually digitized graphics and spreadsheet- based calculations of syntactic measures. These calculations provided measurements such as room depth, accessibility, and control calculations that would define which rooms were the most (and least) accessible, and exerted the most control over other rooms in a particular building by assessing the number of doorways and other features. These measures were then be used to determine which spaces within a building were most likely to host public-inclusive social interactions. Subsequently, I learned to use three separate pieces of software in order to further the research and obtain more detailed results. The three main pieces of software used included AutoCAD, a design drawing program, DepthmapX, a program in which I 2 performed Space Syntax analyses, and SketchUp, a 3D modeling program. The methodology is as follows: Step 1: Import building plans into AutoCAD Firstly, the physical plans of the buildings had to be digitized and edited in AutoCAD in order to remove any unnecessary features and to scale the plans. The first step involved removing any non-integral architectural features, such as sunken pits and fire hearths, which would not significantly impede movement and visibility within the built environments. Step 2: Scale the plans in AutoCAD The second step involved scaling the building plans in AutoCAD, which would then allow the generation of precise calculations of distance and area in the next steps. Step 3: Import plans into DepthmapX The second piece of software that I learned to use was DepthmapX, which is an experimental program that was developed by Alasdair Turner of University College London on the basis of Space Syntax theory. In the third step, I imported the edited and scaled digital plans into DepthmapX in order to perform Space Syntax analyses and obtain calculations. The image on the left shows a visibility graph analysis in DepthmapX. The visibility graph analysis is made by adding a 3 rectilinear grid to the map, as shown in the image. Next, this map is filled with a simple fill algorithm and a matrix is created to compare the number of visibility relationships that can exist (Turner, 2001, 31.1). Step 4: Performing Space Syntax Analyses Afterwards, I ran various spatial analyses in order to better understand likely patterns of movement, interaction, and visibility within the buildings. By running several calculation filters in DepthmapX, the plans could now be used to obtain precise Spatial Syntax data for future research and use in future publications. The image on the left is a visual integration analysis in DepthmapX, which shows how visually integrated spaces in the building are with regards to the shortest path one would have to take to see a room. Step 5: Modeling buildings in SketchUp Finally, I modeled one of the buildings in a 3D modeling software called SketchUp. The 3D model allowed us to obtain an idea of what the building looked like before it was reduced to its foundations and can provide insight into patterns of visibility and movement in the building. Results After completing the research project, I was able to gather the evidence and to answer some of my research questions. In particular, I noticed several new observations in the DepthmapX analyses that were completed. As an example, I will show some of the results that I found with a monumental building at the Cypriot site of Enkomi, known as the “Ashlar Building”. As Prof. Fisher argues, the building is quite permeable from the outside street, which encircles it (Fisher, 2007, 128). 4 This screenshot taken of DepthmapX is calculating a measurement called “step depth”, which is a measurement based on visibility from a particular point, which is the red dot on the image. This measurement colours different areas from cool to warm colours based on the number of steps a person would have to take to see the area. This is also a useful way to see how the rooms were connected, and it is visible from the image that the street surrounding the building (in green-blue) played an important role in the accessibility of all the rooms in the building. The orange areas are clearly harder to access and would have been more private than the blue and green areas. This next screenshot was also taken in DepthmapX of the same “Ashlar Building” at Enkomi, except the road area was omitted. This image also shows step depth calculations from the central room in dark blue. By omitting the surrounding road and closing off the entrance points, we can gather a better idea of which areas of the building would have truly been more private and secluded, especially for building occupants. The dark blue area encompasses most of the hall room, which would have been the central, most public room of the cultic area, known as the “Sanctuary of the Horned God”. The areas in grey are completely inaccessible from the central court room once the surrounding road was removed and the doorways are closed. These rooms are thought to have been private apartments. This could mean that these rooms served a more private function if the central hall was the main point of entrance, or perhaps simply served functions that were completely separate from the main hall and did not require access to the public hall area. Another interesting area to mention is the small room indicated by the arrow. This room is referred to as the “holy-of-holies”, and housed the statue of the “Horned God” deity to which this religious precinct would have been dedicated (Fisher, 2009, 190). This room was likely host to exclusive cult activities because of the nature of its narrow 5 entrance, and because there was an offset viewing portal for the statue to make it less accessible (Fisher, 2009, 190). This is because rituals associated with the statue itself were most likely reserved for the elites, who were able to see the statue while keeping it separate from the public spaces of the building. This is another feature visible in DepthmapX that correlates with the evidence from this time period of social stratification and monumental building. The DepthmapX analysis of the building backs this separation of spaces and solidifies the evidence between private and public areas of the building as well as the emerging social hierarchy. Learning Experience By participating in this research project, I have gained new skills and tools that have helped me immensely in my own student career. I will be starting a Master of Philosophy in Classical Archaeology at the University of Oxford in October, and I will be focusing my thesis on the built environments of Bronze Age Crete. With Prof. Fisher’s guidance and collaboration, I have learned to use new software programs and I have been exposed to a wealth of new information and tools that can enhance my own analyses of built environments. By researching Bronze Age Cyprus, I have also noticed patterns that appear in both Cypriot architectural features, and those of other Mediterranean sites as well. My goal for my MPhil program is to study the effects of Minoan built environments on social interaction and vice versa, in order to understand the reasons behind the design and planning of Minoan palatial architecture. Since Cyprus and Crete were contemporaries in the Bronze Age, I also plan to compare the built environments on Crete to the ones that were analyzed during my research on the Cypriot buildings. My hope is to find certain parallels that were previously unnoticed, and to perhaps propose new uses and architectural elements in Cretan buildings that have so far been unknown. Like Charles Gates, I also believe that there is a need for comparative research in archaeology in order to make connections and conclusions with limited data sets (Gates, 3). The research that I have conducted with Prof. Fisher during the course of this year has also provided me with valuable experience in formulating research questions and methodology. The research will provide me with a basis for applying for future research grants and conferences at which I hope to present my results from this project, as well as those that I will research during my upcoming master’s degree. I am very grateful for the opportunity that I had to participate in research at the undergraduate level. I feel that this experience has enriched my undergraduate experience and prepared me for future work in the academic field of Classical Archaeology. I am very thankful to Prof. Fisher, who was infinitely patient in guiding me through all the steps of this project, and whose advice has helped me a great deal in organizing my own research methods. I look forward to continuing my research on Bronze Age built environments at the master’s level. 6 Bibliography Fisher, Kevin D. Building Power: Monumental Architecture, Place and Social Interaction in Late Bronze Age Cyprus. Thesis. University of Toronto, 2007. Fisher, Kevin D. "Placing Social Interaction: An Integrative Approach to Analyzing past Built Environments." Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 28.4 (2009): 43957. Fisher, Kevin D. "Elite Place-making and Social Interaction in the Late Cypriot Bronze Age." Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 22.2 (2009). Gates, Charles. Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome. London: Routledge, 2003. Hillier, Bill, and Julienne Hanson. The Social Logic of Space. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1984. Turner, Alasdair. “Depthmap: A Program to Perform Visibility Graph Analysis.” Proceedings, 3rd International Space Syntax Symposium. Atlanta 2001. 7