Integrating Anthropological Science in Archaeological Practice: The Importance of Spatial Data (original) (raw)
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Archaeological Spatial Analysis: A Methodological Guide, 2020
This book comprises twenty-three detailed chapters describing key spatial analytical techniques and their application to archaeology. As the title of the book suggests the focus is on methodology, and the chapters herein cover a range of techniques, both established and emerging. Although the emphasis is on practice-the how to do it-it is crucial to stress from the very start that underlying any application of these techniques must be the why we do it. Each chapter in the volume offers an introduction covering the background of that particular technique. Here we present some thoughts on the development of 'spatial archaeology' more generally and why we think it is fundamental to much of what we do as practicing archaeologists. We start by considering the centrality of space to everyday life and archaeology as a discipline, and open up this discussion further by laying out some of the relations that archaeological space finds itself entangled with, such as time, practice and representation. Following this, we offer a brief historical overview of the development of spatial analysis in archaeology. This explores the contribution of the early antiquarians, through the formulation and zenith of formal spatial techniques in the late 1950s to early 1980s, their fall from favour and then second coming in the 1990s due to the introduction of a range of spatial technologies, not least Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This is then followed by a consideration of why concepts of space and spatiality underlie much archaeological thought, what can be called 'spatial thinking' in archaeology, and how this relates to what is understood by 'spatial analysis'. The chapter concludes with a careful consideration of what it means to think spatially in order to foreground the goal of the volume as a whole, which is to make a positive contribution to the ongoing development of archaeological spatial literacy at a time of significant theoretical and methodological transformation. Being human embodies space and spatial relationships within a material world and just as this applied to people living in the past, so it applies to those of us concerned with trying to understand those past lives through their remaining material residues. Most, if not all, archaeological material has a spatial component and it is not surprising, therefore, that spatial thinking and spatial analysis has been a central archaeological endeavour since the beginnings of the discipline. While some other social sciences and humanities disciplines , particularly history, have claimed a fairly recent 'spatial turn'
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2019
There are only a few collective burials that include a large number of individuals during the PPN (Pre-Pottery Neolithic) and PN (Pottery Neolithic) settlements of the Near East. However, analyses of this type of burial are highly important since they provide enormous information about a variety of cultural and biological aspects of a society. In this study, a large collective burial from Tepecik-Çiftlik is evaluated. The main goal of this study is to examine and understand the formation process of this burial. Following excavation, the human skeletal remains were curated and analyzed. In this analysis, at least 42 individuals were documented in the burial. A calculation of the Most Likely Number of Individuals (MLNI) has indicated there may be as many as 47 individuals present. The burial includes both sexes and all age groups, with the exception of infants below the age of 1.5 years. In summary, we argue that the final stage of the burial was formed through multiple factors and the reasons behind the complexity of this assemblage include successive burials over time, movement of the primary burials by human agents, and the secondary deposition of several individuals.
Študijné zvesti, 2019
The paper deals with the study of ceramic inventory in La Tène graves. It brings insight into the function of these grave goods not only through the assessment of the spatial relationship of pottery and human remains but also the combination of individual vessel types. Usage of microtopography method, combines the spatial and qualitative attributes of individual vessels. On the example of the cemetery in Malé Kosihy, we present the advantages and pitfalls of this method as well as possible interpretative levels. At the end of the paper, the presented procedure is confronted with other approaches to the interpretation of the function of vessels in the grave inventory.
Near Eastern Archaeology, 2013
Archaeologists often come across ancient human burials during excavations. Less often, however, do human burials come across archaeological excavations. This happened though, at a site in southeastern Turkey a few years ago. When a funeral procession interrupted operations on the mound of Ziyaret Tepe, archaeologists confronted the dilemma of maintaining an excavation site as a scientific space in real-world contexts that are anything but sterile (void of contemporary meaning) or controlled (void of competing claims). The funeral event exposed the salience of the mound as both a sacred and scientific landmark, and brought to the fore numerous historical, political and cultural factors that rarely receive acknowledgement in the field or in publication. We outline these various influences on archaeological practice at Ziyaret Tepe, and use this unexpected funeral to advocate for a community archaeology that broadens the value of excavation by respecting a site’s valence as something other than a scientific space.
STUDIA ASIANA 10, 2015
The team of Florence University carried out an archaeological survey at Uşaklı Höyük, the largest site by area on the upper course of the Eğri Öz Dere, north of the Kerkenes Dağ, and its catchment area within a 5km range [1]. The aim of the research was to attempt to determine the date of occupation at the site and place it in a wider regional and chronological context, pinpointing the presence of further nearby sites and the development of settlement pattern over the course of time [2]. Combining extensive and intensive methods and varying sampling strategies, mounded sites, fields, grazing land, uplands and valley floors were explored over the course of five work seasons [2.1]. Along with collecting archaeological materials, focused scraping operations on the steep slope of the high mound were planned in order to obtain more information on the settlement sequence. An intensive sampling strategy of all the artefacts relating to the main topographical or surveyed units had the initial aim of obtaining a detailed scatter of the different categories of finds. In each of the surveyed units we marked, mapped and picked up all of the artefacts found on the surface. This systematic collection yielded a sufficient amount of pottery to identify the ware and shape groups and, accordingly, to date the occupation of the site in terms of wide chronological periods [2.2]. Moreover, the dispersal of specific categories of materials provided an indication of areas where some of these periods may be better documented [2.3]. The surveying and collecting carried out in the field enabled us to sketch a rough history of settlement in the area, from the Late Chalcolithic to the Ottoman period [3]. According to our results, the site of Uşaklı shows an intensive phase of occupation dating to the 2nd millennium, and evidence for a significant settlement dating to the 1st millennium [4]. Özetçe. Arkeolojik araştırmalar: yöntem ve buluntular. Floransa Üniversitesi’ne bağlı bir ekip tarafından gerçekleştirilen arkeolojik araştırmalar, Eğriöz deresinin yukarı çığırı boyunca ve Kerkenes Dağı’nın kuzeyinde yer alan ve bölgedeki en geniş yüzölçümüne sahip sit olma özelliğini taşıyan Uşaklı Höyük ile onu çevreleyen 5 km yarıçaplı havzası üzerinde odaklanmıştır [1]. Araştırmanın hedefi, sit yakınında sonraki dönemlerde başka yerleşmelerin de gözlendiğine ve yerleşim düzeninin zaman içerisindeki gelişimine dikkat çekerek, sit kapsamındaki yerleşmeyi tarihlenmek ve daha geniş bir bölgesel ve kronolojik bağlam içerisinde değerlenmektir [2]. Yaygın ve yoğun yöntemleri birleştirmek ve farklı örnekleme stratejilerinden yararlanmak suretiyle tümsekli araziler, tarlalar, otlaklar, yaylalar ve alçak vadiler beş çalışma sezonu boyunca dikkatle araştırılmıştır [2.1]. Arkeolojik buluntuların toplanmasına en olarak, yüksek höyüğün dik yamacı boyunca gerçekleştirilen odaklı yüzey kazıma operasyonları ile yerleşim sekansına dair daha fazla bilgi elde edilmesi planlanmıştır. Başlıca topografik veya araştırmaya tâbi ünitelerle ilişkilendirilen tüm artefaktları kapsayan yoğun bir örnekleme stratejisi ile, öncelikle farklı buluntu kategorilerinin ayrıntılı bir saçılımını elde edebilmek hedeflenmiştir. Araştırılan her bir ünite için yüzeyden elde edilen tüm artefaktlar işaretlenmiş, haritalandırılmış ve toplanmıştır. Bu sistematik buluntu toplama işlemi sayesinde teşhis edilerek şekillere göre gruplandırılmak için yeterli sayıda çanak çömlek ele geçirilmiş olup, buradan hareketle alandaki yerleşmenin daha geniş bir kronolojik dönem içerisinde tarihlendirilmesi mümkün olmuştur [2.2]. Buna ek olarak, belirli kategorilerdeki buluntuların dağılım düzeni, tarihi dönemlerden bazılarının daha iyi tespit edilmesinin mümkün olacağı alanların varlığına işaret etmektedir [2.3]. Yürütülen araştırma ve toplama çalışmaları sayesinde, alanın yerleşim tarihinin genel hatlarıyla Geç Kalkolitik Çağı ile Osmanlı Dönemi arasında uzandığı belirlenmiştir [3]. Elde edilen sonuçlar doğrultusunda, Uşaklı sitinin M.Ö II. milenyuma uzanan yoğun bir yerleşim sürecinden geçtiğini ve M.Ö I. milenyuma tarihlendirilebilen önemli bir yerleşim düzeninin varlığına dair kanıtlar sunduğunu söylemek mümkündür [4].
2007
Author: Arkadiusz Marciniak. Arkadiusz Marciniak 2007: 'Digging a Site, Nation beside Nation. The Case of Çatalhöyük, Anatolia, Turkey,' in From Concepts of the Past to Practical Strategies: The Teaching of Archaeological Field Techniques. Peter Ucko, Editor-in-Chief Qin Ling and Jane Hubert Editors. Commissioning Editor and General Editor: Sajid Rizvi. ISBN 9781872843704. London: Saffron 2007. Because of its size and complexity, at an early date, the site of Çatalhöyük became of international importance, in particular because it lay outside the Fertile Crescent. It was first excavated between 1961 and 1965 by the British archaeologist James Mellaart. From 1993 onwards, archaeologists from a variety of countries investigated the site as a part of the large project directed by Ian Hodder. The core of the project is a Cambridge-Stanford-based team that excavated and continues to excavate a number of areas on the mound. In subsequent years other excavation teams, mostly national, joined the project and started excavating a number of areas of the mound and on the adjacent chalcolithic mound, Çatalhöyük West. The teams came from the US, Poland, Turkey, Greece, and Germany. Central questions of the project concern the origins of the site and its early development, social and economic organisation and variation within the community, the reasons for the adoption and intensification of agriculture, the social context for the early use of pottery, temporal trends in the life of the community, and trade and relations with communities that existed on other sites in the region. This paper discusses how similar theoretical frameworks, shared by the project partners, accommodate heterogeneity of excavation and laboratory practices. Furthermore, this paper examines the relationship between practical strategies implemented by particular teams and their embeddedness in different national traditions of doing fieldwork, as well as personal experience of the project directors... Follow links for further info on this book.