Academic literature on the topic 'Archaeology Geographic information systems. Archaeological site location'

This chapter examines a number of current practices relating to the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing, including developments in LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) in landscape archaeology. It explains landscape archaeology and what it encompasses; whether remote sensing and GIS are a formal part of landscape archaeology; whether GIS and remote sensing are the same or completely different subfields; and whether remote sensing covers both satellite and ground-based remote sensing. Also discussed are challenges faced by archaeologists with regards to the application

The general interest of linking GIS capabilities and location-allocation (L-A) techniques to investigate certain spatial problems should be evident. The techniques and the technology are often complementary. A GIS can provide, manage, and display data that L-A models require; in turn, L-A models can enhance GIS analytic capabilities. This combination of information management and analysis should have wide appeal. The technique and technology may be especially wellmatched when one considers many of the special requirements of archaeological applications of L-A models. We intend to investigate and illustrate the value of such a combined approach though the example of a regional settlement analysis of the Late Horizon Basin of Mexico. Geographic information systems are increasingly common in archaeology. Their ability to manage, store, manipulate, and present spatial data is of real value, since the spatial relationship between objects is often an archaeological artifact in its own right. Space is central to both archaeological data (Spaulding 1960; Savage 1990a) and theory (Green 1990). Although GIS may not always offer intrinsically new and different manipulations or analyses of the data, they can make certain techniques easier to apply. There is a wide spectrum of GIS-based modeling applications in archaeology (Allen 1990; Savage 1990a). The anchors of this spectrum range from the use of GIS in the public sector in cultural resource management settings to more research-oriented applications. The strongest development of GIS-based archaeological modeling is probably in the former context. Models developed here are predominantly what Warren (1990) identifies as “inductive” predictive models where patterns in the empirical observations are recognized, usually using statistical methods or probability models. This type of application is usually identified with “site location” modeling (Savage 1990a). As defined, these models do not predict the probable locations of individual sites but rather calculate the probability that a geographic area will contain a site, given its environmental characteristics (Carmichael 1990: 218). The primary role of GIS in many of these applications is to manage and integrate spatial information and feed it to some exterior model.

A geographic information system is an ideal tool for use in interdisciplinary studies because it provides automated means of linking and relating different spatial databases. In this paper we discuss GIS applications to ongoing archaeological and paleoecological studies at Olorgesailie, an early hominid archaeological locality in the rift valley of southern Kenya and one of the most noted Acheulian handaxe sites worldwide (Isaac 1977). The questions being asked in early hominid archaeology require thinking beyond individual artifacts and site excavations to broader spatial scales within welldefined time intervals (or chronostratigraphic units) (Blumenschine and Masao 1991; Potts 1991). The sedimentary exposures at Olorgesailie permit the smallest spatial scale of individual artifacts and fossils to be integrated with regional-scale studies. Since many of the GIS applications are still in initial form, the purpose here is largely to illustrate the conceptual framework by which GIS integrates the analysis of spatial data at varying geographic scales in the Olorgesailie basin. Covering over 4000 km in length, the African Rift System trends southward from the Afar Triangle in the Red Sea region to south of the Zambezi River in Zambia. The numerous continental rift basins that make up the rift system have a complex structural and volcanic history. For most of its length, the African Rift traverses Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. The rift is divisible into eastern and western portions, which merge into a broad faulted region in northern Tanzania (Baker et al. 1972). Between the eastern and western rifts, occupying portions of Uganda, Tanzania, and northern Kenya, is an uplifted plateau 1000 to 1200 m in elevation. Uplifted, elongated domal structures located in Ethiopia and Kenya form the structural base from which the East African Rift System has developed. The rocks that make up this shield complex are Precambrian gneisses, quartzites, and schists. In addition to intrusions by dikes and plutons, these basement rocks have been altered by partial melting and metamorphism. Significant though episodic uplift of the Kenyan dome and its flanks during the late Cretaceous and middle and late Tertiary contributed to the development of a graben structure (Baker 1986; Baker et al. 1972).

This chapter comments on the Ottoman frontier, historical archaeology, Ottoman archaeology, and suggests future developments in these studies. The history of the frontiers of the Ottoman world played out in significantly different ways at each point along their great distance. Geographical and climatic circumstance and human conditions conspired to produce uniqueness. Meanwhile, the fortuitous degree of overlap between archaeological and historical data at Anavarin encourages people to search for a better understanding of the matters dealt with here. Each of the projects documented is this volume is tied to a specific geographic location. This simple fact opens up opportunities for virtual representation of historical and archaeological findings using GIS (Geographical Information Systems) software. GIS provides a means of digitally storing and analysing large amounts of data relating to defined locations.