Forgotten Landscapes Project, Blaenavon WHS - Man and the Environment (original) (raw)
Related papers
SEAD: Strategic Environmental Archaeology Database, planning report
2006
The volume of data on past environmental and climate changes, as well as human interactions with these, has long since passed the level where it is manageable outside of large scale database systems. The Strategic Environmental Archaeology Database project aims to not only store and disseminate such data, but also provide tools for querying and analysing them, whilst maintaining a close connection with the archaeological and ecological data that are essential for their comprehensive interpretation. Large scale, geographically and chronologically unrestricted databases provide us with essentially unlimited scope for putting individual sites into a broader context and applying locally collated data to the investigation of earth system level changes. By providing integrated access to data from a variety of proxies, including plant macrofossils, pollen, insects and geochemistry, along with dating evidence, more complex questions can be answered where any single proxy would not be able to provide comprehensive answers.
Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2021
The awareness that cultural heritage plays an influential role in shared identities and in both spatial and environmental development has significantly increased in recent years. International collaboration and treaties, such as the 'FARO-convention' in 2005 emphasize the importance of heritage in relation to aspects of human rights and demography. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clear that historical perspectives are essential for making well-informed choices regarding environmental challenges (e.g. spatial planning, sustainable development, climate adaptation). This increased awareness not only emphasizes the importance of cultural heritage for present-day challenges, but equally presents a new set of conditions and standards, and requires the development of new methodologies. Besides conservation, more than ever there is a need for cultural heritage to become contextualized and sustainably accessible. The organisational pinnacle of cultural-heritage conservation is world heritage: sites that are judged to contain a set of cultural and/or natural values which are of outstanding value to humanity. However, to what extent world heritage meets these newly set criteria is unknown. Nevertheless, these sites often reflect an eminent status, scientifically as well as economically (i.e. through tourism). Consequently, world heritage often enjoys interest from multiple stakeholders including governmental, scientific, public, and commercial parties, all of whom engage in contrasting activities and have different interests and needs. As a result the need for accessibility and integrated overviews of these sites is high but equally challenging. In this paper we will focus on the world-heritage site of Schokland (NL). This former island in the Dutch Zuiderzee both reflects outstanding historical and archaeological importance. We will show that the dynamics surrounding this site require tailormade conservation methodologies, which greatly depend on data integration. We present a new Historical Geographical Information System (HGIS) specifically designed to integrate cultural and geoscientific data and facilitate dynamic heritage management. Results show that such a system greatly adds to the contextualization and (digital) accessibility of the heritage site and is essential for substantiating conservation methodologies. Furthermore, it shows great research potential for diachronological reconstructions of dynamic-lowland development. The system facilitates multidisciplinary scientific analyses, integrated monitoring, and public outreach and shows great application potential for other (world-)heritage sites.
Developing a Spatial Data Infrastructure for Archaeological and Built Heritage
International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research, 2011
Although the INSPIRE Directive provides a roadmap and technical specifications for providing interoperability of spatial information created and held by public bodies across Europe, its relevance to archaeological and built heritage information is unclear. Whilst there is a clear need for access to information about the historic environment by a range of audiences actively engaged in the management of Europe's rich heritage, delivery of relevant services is restricted to a narrow interpretation of the Annex I Protected Sites theme that focuses on statutory designations. This paper explores business reasons for adopting a more expansive interpretation of what information should be considered as and distributed as part of the Protected Sites theme in order to support policies and activities that impact upon the wider historic environment. The paper also considers the range and potential of information created through investigation and recording of the historic environment, often at public expense or interest. The potential for data reuse generating savings, inspiring smarter working practices, and developing sustainable datasets is explored through case studies from Scotland and Ireland and proposals to establish a thematic geo-portal, web services and applications through the EU Culture funded project ArchaeoLandscapes Europe (ArcLand), are discussed.
Information
The Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) Directive (2007) requires public organisations across Europe to share environmentally-related spatial datasets to support decision making and management of the environment. Despite the environmental focus of INSPIRE, it offers limited guidance for archaeological datasets. Most primary data is created outside, but ultimately curated within, the public sector. As spatial evidence from fieldwork activities is not considered by the Directive, it overlooks a range of barriers to sharing data, such as project-based fieldwork, a lack of data standards, and formatting and licencing variations. This paper submits that these challenges are best addressed through the formalised management of primary research data through an archaeological Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). SDIs deliver more efficient data management and release economic value by saving time and money. Better stewardship of archaeological data will also lead to more...
Archaeological Databases and GIS: Working with Databases
European Journal ofInformation Technologies and Computer Science, 2021
Digital databases are considered nowadays, necessary for the organization of a recent archeological project. Typically, one of the main issues at the stage of archaeological surface research preparation is the method of recording all the archaeological information that will emerge, which is directly dependent on two factors, the difference of each area in terms of its geomorphology, including the climate and general environmental conditions, and the different approach to the objectives to be achieved by the leading archaeologists. As a consequence of all of this, there is no such thing as a uniquely generated form that can act as a guideline. This paper provides some basic database knowledge as well as a case study with a database example.