A Doctoral Training Network on the Study Of Premodern Ceramic Heritage: Integrating Experimental and AI-Enhanced Interdisciplinary Research
SOPHIA-DN is a doctoral network that uses ceramics, the most widespread and informative form of material heritage, to investigate how craft traditions emerged, evolved, and connected cultures across the ancient world. It unites leading European scholars and institutions in a unique alliance offering advanced training and innovative research through an experimental approach. Material experimentation is central to reconstructing and testing ancient techniques, showing how past societies advanced technologically, overcame production challenges, and sustained long-term traditions. SOPHIA-DN stresses that such achievements were cumulative, intergenerational knowledge rooted in enduring practices. These embodied tacit wisdom (sophia in Greek), reflecting deep familiarity with raw materials, processes, and tools refined through centuries of observation and repetition. By highlighting this human dimension, the project emphasises the intellectual depth and cultural continuity of ceramic production, treating traditions as living repositories of experiential knowledge. The network integrates material characterisation and archaeological interpretation with hands-on engagement across the chaîne opératoire, testing observations through data-driven experimental reconstruction. In parallel, it employs digital humanities and artificial intelligence to process and link large datasets of material, technological, and cultural information. AI-assisted pattern recognition and machine learning unlock new analytical potential, redefining how ceramic legacies are studied and communicated. This integrated experimental–digital framework enables doctoral fellows to test hypotheses on archaeological artefacts while developing innovative methods of data integration and interpretation. Spanning Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Arabian Gulf, SOPHIA-DN explores understudied ceramic technologies and contributes to reshaping how ancient history and archaeology are understood.
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Imported from OpenAIRE Italy | Grant 101312286.
Open sourceOverview
Grant agreement 101312286 | SOPHIA-DN
Open sourceSOPHIA-DN is a doctoral network that uses ceramics, the most widespread and informative form of material heritage, to investigate how craft traditions emerged, evolved, and connected cultures across the ancient world. It unites leading European scholars and institutions in a unique alliance offering advanced training and innovative research through an experimental approach. Material experimentation is central to reconstructing and testing ancient techniques, showing how past societies advanced technologically, overcame production challenges, and sustained long-term traditions. SOPHIA-DN stresses that such achievements were cumulative, intergenerational knowledge rooted in enduring practices. These embodied tacit wisdom (sophia in Greek), reflecting deep familiarity with raw materials, processes, and tools refined through centuries of observation and repetition. By highlighting this human dimension, the project emphasises the intellectual depth and cultural continuity of ceramic production, treating traditions as living repositories of experiential knowledge. The network integrates material characterisation and archaeological interpretation with hands-on engagement across the chaîne opératoire, testing observations through data-driven experimental reconstruction. In parallel, it employs digital humanities and artificial intelligence to process and link large datasets of material, technological, and cultural information. AI-assisted pattern recognition and machine learning unlock new analytical potential, redefining how ceramic legacies are studied and communicated. This integrated experimental–digital framework enables doctoral fellows to test hypotheses on archaeological artefacts while developing innovative methods of data integration and interpretation. Spanning Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Arabian Gulf, SOPHIA-DN explores understudied ceramic technologies and contributes to reshaping how ancient history and archaeology are understood.