GIS, critique, representation and beyond (in: Journal of Social Archaeology, 2012) (original) (raw)
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The purpose of this paper is to critically explore the role of Geographical Information Systems in the archaeological research. Currently some archaeologists seem largely captivated by new computing technologies believing that the sofisticacion of powerful software outputs will lend respectability by itself. In our opinion GIS is merely a set of techniques to visualize and manage large amounts of georeferenced data. There thus must be other tools to move from visualization to explanation, which fall within the domain of Spatial Analysis
Assessing the state of archaeological GIS research: Unbinding analyses of past landscapes
The early pioneers of archaeological Geographic Information Systems (GIS) advocated for a future where this technology was more than a data-management tool. To this end, they emphasized harnessing the analytic power of GIS to advance innovative understandings of past social landscapes. This paper introduces the special issue, explaining its aims to offer a current assessment of how this vision has been realized. Three themes related to both persistent questions and emergent horizons in archaeological GIS are explored in the context of the contributions. We present our own set of ideas for how to unbind our analyses from some of the methodological and conceptual constraints inherent in the analytic GIS approaches on which we have long relied to explore past landscapes. We argue it is important to keep moving beyond analytic approaches tethered to discrete points, to push forward geospatial modeling of cultural processes across entire landscapes, and to incorporate uncertainty and iteration directly into our work. Through such efforts, we can develop robust insights into the ways past communities considered, reconfigured, and renewed patterns of social, economic, and ideological interaction, flow, and circulation through the variegated landscapes they inhabited. In doing this, we will get closer to realizing the ambitious vision early pioneers had for archaeological GIS e a technology they believed could let us ask entirely new questions about the past.
Going over old ground: GIS, archaeological theory and the act of perception
Computing the past: computer applications and …, 1993
This paper is an attem pt to red irect and refocus the recent acad em ic d iscussion about the application of GIS technology onto som e broad er theoretical issues. These issues, it is argued , have tend ed to be obscured w ithin the d etailed m ethod ological d iscussions of the last few years, w ith the result that GIS applications in archaeology are now characterized by a largely hid d en agend a. This is found to encourage a functionalist approach to archaeological explanation, w ith all the associated explanatory w eaknesses w hich have caused m any archaeologists to reject sim ple functionalism . The notion of GIS as a `theoretically neutral' tool is consid ered and found to be untenable w hen the influence of sim ilarly im portant technological ad vances on archaeological theory is consid ered .
Scholten, H. J., R. van de Velde and N. van Manen (eds.): Geospatial Technology and the role of location within Science. Springer, Dordrecht (GeoJournal Library , Vol. 96), pp. 59-86., 2009
The popular view of archaeologists digging with pickaxe and trowel is far removed from present-day archaeology, in which Geo-ICT is increasingly used to support archaeological research. The relatively rapid uptake of Geo-ICT, especially geographical information systems (GIS), by archaeologists in the 1980s and early 1990s1 (see e.g. Kvamme 1995 for an extensive overview) can be explained by he inherent spatiotemporal nature of the archaeological record and the traditional mportance of mapping in archaeology at different scales, from intra-site to egional level. Equally important is the development of archaeology from a culturalhistorical, monodisciplinary science into a multidisciplinary, partly geo-based discipline. As a result of this development, environment and topography have acquired more prominent roles. Also important was the introduction of archaeological surveying, or walking the field. Currently available surveying techniques generate large amounts of spatial data, and consequently a need for spatial analysis. However, the advance of Geo-ICT in archaeology is not as obvious and common as might be expected. For many years the appropriate use of Geo-ICT in archaeology has been – and still is – a fierce subject of debate, especially in the academic community, which has led to a rather patchy application of Geo-ICT throughout the discipline. To understand this variation we will take a closer look at the history and cultural aspects of archaeology itself, its characteristics in terms of location and space, its practitioners and stakeholders.
Trends and Problems in Archaeological GIS Applications
Abstract: Archaeology counts two decades of GIS applications. In terms of theory and practice it is time to evaluate GIS methods and explore ideas about future advancements. Two distinct research trends have been developed in Archaeology until now: landscape studies and intra-site applications. Each field still bears unresolved problems. In this paper we attempt a description of the major problems within these fields from an archaeological viewpoint and try to categorize them under three important notions that in our view should become of central focus in future research: Ontology, Visualization and Time. Key-Words: GIS applications, Archaeology, Intra-site, Landscape, Ontology, Visualization, Time
Advancing Theory? Landscape Archaeology and Geographical Information Systems
Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 2012
This paper will focus on how Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have been applied in Landscape Archaeology from the late 1980s to the present. GIS, a tool for organising and analysing spatial information, has exploded in popularity, but we still lack a systematic overview of how it has contributed to archaeological theory, specifically Landscape Archaeology. This paper will examine whether and how GIS has advanced archaeological theory through a historical review of its application in archaeology.
Mapping the Past, Plotting the Future. GIS in Archaeology, Programme and book of abstracts
International Workshop organized by the Athena RC (and hosted by the British School at Athens) on the occasion of the establishment of the Archaeological GIS laboratory, AeGIS Athena at Xanthi (http://aegis.athenarc.gr/). Through selected case studies, each of which makes different use of the dynamic and flexible environment offered by GIS, the meeting aims to address some key issues in GIS application in archaeology. Participants Antoniadis V., Bonnier A., Boyd M.J., Campbell R., Donati J.C., Efkleidou K., Evangelidis V., Giannakoula G., Herbst J., Indjerd H., Karta M., Katevaini A., Katsianis M., Kennedy W., Kopanias K., Lolos Y., Loy M., Malaperdas G., Meyer N., Mourthos Y., Mousouris S., Nenci N., Orengo H., Renfrew C., Sarris A., Tsiafaki D., Tzavella E., Vassiliou A.
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