College:
Wolfson College
Supervisors:
Dr Paul Collins & Professor Jacob Dahl
Thesis Title:
Change and Continuity in Old Babylonian (1894–1595 B.C.) to Kassite (1595–1155 B.C.) period Cylinder Seals: Harnessing the Power of Digital Humanities.
Educational Background:
MRes| University of Birmingham| Distinction| Cuneiform and Ancient Near East Studies
BA (Hons)| University of Iowa| Cum Laude| Art History
BA (Hons)| University of Iowa| Cum Laude| French Literature
Research Interests:
My research focuses on the motifs of Old Babylonian and Kassite cylinder seals, examining both change and continuity over time. I utilise advanced digital tools, including 2D and 3D modelling, image annotation software, and machine learning, to analyse these transformations. I'm particularly interested in how technology can broaden access to ancient artefacts and deepen our understanding of their historical significance.
Cylinder seals; Old Babylonian and Kassite periods; Digital humanities; Mesopotamian visual representation; Archaeology of the ANE; Cultural heritage.
Publications:
*Bampfield, Lara, and Elizabeth Knott, eds. Digital Documentation on a Roll: Recent Advances in Digital Unwrapping Techniques and Technologies used for Ancient Artefacts. Oxford: Archeopress, Forthcoming (2025).
*Bampfield, Lara and David Young. " SIANE: Enhancing Visual Documentation of Ancient Near Eastern Cylinder Seals via 3D Modelling and Digital Unwrapping." In Digital Documentation on a Roll: Recent Advances in Digital Unwrapping Techniques and Technologies used for Ancient Artefacts, edited by Lara Bampfield and Elizabeth Knott, Pages TBC. Oxford: Archeopress, Forthcoming (2025).
Wagensonner, Klaus, Émilie Pagé-Perron, Joseph Barber, Gustavo Fernandes Pedroso, and Lara Bampfield. 2024. “User Guides: Images Acquisition and Processing.” Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. August 28, 2024. https://cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/docs/images-acquisition-and-processing.
Recent Conferences and Academic Involvement:
“The SIANE Device: Advancing Digital Documentation of Ancient Near Eastern Cylinder Seals”, Digital Ancient Near Eastern Studies Conference (DANES), 2024.
“Harmonising Glyptic Studies: Leveraging Getty Vocabularies for Integrated Databases”, The American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), 2024.
“Future of Assyriology – Implication of Digital Humanities”, Oxford Postgraduate Conference in Assyriology, 2024.
“AI, Annotation, and Mesopotamian cylinder seals”, The American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), 2023.
“When Modern Collides with Ancient: Digital Technologies and Mesopotamian Cylinder Seals”, Oxford Postgraduate Conference in Assyriology, 2023.
“The use of VASA in the data collection and image-tagging of Old Babylonian Cylinder Seals”, Oxford Postgraduate Conference in Assyriology, 2022.
I contribute to the work of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative https://cdli.ucla.edu; am a research lead on the SIANE project https://custom-imaging.co.uk/siane/ and co-organise the Oxford Postgraduate Conference in Assyriology (OPCA) https://oxfordassyriology.wordpress.com/. I am also the student representative of BANEA https://www.banea.org/.
