Christine Spencer | University College London (original) (raw)
Uploads
Papers by Christine Spencer
Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 2024
Although maritime seascapes afford potentials for connectivity and mobility, they are also greatl... more Although maritime seascapes afford potentials for connectivity and mobility, they are also greatly impacted by seasonality and available sailing technology. These crucial environmental and technological parameters are often considered in the reconstruction of potential maritime routes, especially for long-distance open water voyaging, but their formal incorporation into quantitative models of maritime mobility remains limited. The present paper considers seasonality, distance, temporality, and sailing technology in exploring potentials for mobility from Crete across the larger east Mediterranean during the LBA. Using GIS functionality, we create a cost-surface model that incorporates seasonal winds with archaeological and technological variables to create a more dynamic and representative seascape illustrated by modeling mobility from the site of Kommos, Crete. We also demonstrate how null models that rely only on Euclidean distance as a parameter for mobility across land and sea can be improved with more dynamic, cost-surface maritime models.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2018
This paper builds spatial models of Bronze Age settlement using published survey datasets from th... more This paper builds spatial models of Bronze Age settlement using published survey datasets from the Mirabello region in east Crete. Methodologically, we examine how point process modelling can account for uncertainties in legacy survey datasets, and thereafter can highlight patterns of both cultural change and continuity in Mirabello settlement. Comparison of fitted models over different chronological periods gives an insight, we argue, into the kinds of settlement and subsistence choices that lay behind settlement patterns, holding constant the broadly similar environmental constraints faced by inhabitants throughout the Bronze Age. Overall, the results suggest prehistoric preference for, and exploitation of, agriculturally favourable parts of the landscape, although contrasting emphases in different periods do emerge despite this unsurprising overall preference. Many of the analytical results prove robust to a sensitivity analysis which addresses commonplace uncertainties associated with settlement survey data. The results also dovetail well with previous archaeological interpretations of changing settlement and Bronze Age life in the Mirabello region. Survey datasets are also relatively common in other archaeological settings worldwide and we advocate for more widespread application of similarly formalised methods to them.
Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 2024
Although maritime seascapes afford potentials for connectivity and mobility, they are also greatl... more Although maritime seascapes afford potentials for connectivity and mobility, they are also greatly impacted by seasonality and available sailing technology. These crucial environmental and technological parameters are often considered in the reconstruction of potential maritime routes, especially for long-distance open water voyaging, but their formal incorporation into quantitative models of maritime mobility remains limited. The present paper considers seasonality, distance, temporality, and sailing technology in exploring potentials for mobility from Crete across the larger east Mediterranean during the LBA. Using GIS functionality, we create a cost-surface model that incorporates seasonal winds with archaeological and technological variables to create a more dynamic and representative seascape illustrated by modeling mobility from the site of Kommos, Crete. We also demonstrate how null models that rely only on Euclidean distance as a parameter for mobility across land and sea can be improved with more dynamic, cost-surface maritime models.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2018
This paper builds spatial models of Bronze Age settlement using published survey datasets from th... more This paper builds spatial models of Bronze Age settlement using published survey datasets from the Mirabello region in east Crete. Methodologically, we examine how point process modelling can account for uncertainties in legacy survey datasets, and thereafter can highlight patterns of both cultural change and continuity in Mirabello settlement. Comparison of fitted models over different chronological periods gives an insight, we argue, into the kinds of settlement and subsistence choices that lay behind settlement patterns, holding constant the broadly similar environmental constraints faced by inhabitants throughout the Bronze Age. Overall, the results suggest prehistoric preference for, and exploitation of, agriculturally favourable parts of the landscape, although contrasting emphases in different periods do emerge despite this unsurprising overall preference. Many of the analytical results prove robust to a sensitivity analysis which addresses commonplace uncertainties associated with settlement survey data. The results also dovetail well with previous archaeological interpretations of changing settlement and Bronze Age life in the Mirabello region. Survey datasets are also relatively common in other archaeological settings worldwide and we advocate for more widespread application of similarly formalised methods to them.