Our February MAYA session was something very interesting and unusual.  It was led for us by MAYA volunteers Rob and Caroline and was about Artificial Intelligence and Archaeology.

The session began with Rob showing us a PowerPoint about the origins of AI, explained how it worked and talked about the pros and cons of using AI.  Rob had asked an AI programme to actually write the PowerPoint for him which was amazing!

After this Caroline talked about how AI was helping modern archaeology and how it might develop in the future, e.g. reconstructing archaeological sites using virtual reality while they were actually being excavated, developing 3-D models, and enhancing LiDAR and geophysical surveys.  She also showed us some fascinating on-line videos using AI to animate stone carving on the walls of Greek and Roman temples.

After a break we split up into small groups and designed plans for our own AI programmes which could help archaeologists in the future.  Ideas included on-site analysis of pottery and flint, translating Egyptian hieroglyphs, using a 3-D printer to instantly print models of aerial photos of new archaeological sites, and an automatic cat-shaped wheelbarrow which tidied up your excavation tools!

This was a fascinating session and really got our young archaeologists to use their imagination.  They are the ones who will be using AI more often in future, and this was an intriguing insight into what the future of archaeology might be.