GIS Applications in Archaeology
GIS Applications in Archaeology
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1. Introduction
The term GIS has appeared frequently in archaeological studies since the
1980s, even if already in the 1970s scientific studies had been conducted on
computer applications, statistic and cartographic applications in the archaeo-
logical field, which were somehow referable to GIS technologies. The first
applications, were developed mostly in North America and referred mainly
to the modeling of surfaces related to materials of archaeological interest,
through various types of polynomial functions, and the production of DEMs
and digital thematic maps of archaeological sites or excavation areas.
GIS applications in archaeology started to spread in Europe only ten
years later, in the early 1990s, and are mostly related to Cultural Resource
Management (CRM) which, still today, and above all in the European ambit,
is the chief applicative sector. Obviously, thanks to the availability of high
performance laptop computers and modern topographic instruments (total
stations, GNSS receivers, laser scanners) capable of acquiring and georef-
erencing data of the excavation area, GIS applications have also continued
to evolve up to now; data inventory and management, once performed in a
subsequent phase with respect to the excavation campaigns, are increasingly
carried out simultaneously (Conolly, Lake 2006), significantly reducing the
length of data processing as well as interpretation errors.
It is evident, on the other hand, how a use limited to data inventory and
management, or more simply to visualization as occurred in the early years,
is actually restrictive, with respect to GIS potentialities, since it is above all a
spatial analysis tool supporting decision making.
This basic function of GIS can be found, instead, in the applications
related to predictive location modeling of archaeological sites, which started
to spread in the 1980s, above all in North America. This kind of approach is
based upon GIS potentialities in terms of predictive models: i.e., the capacity
to extract information and build models based on geographic data aiming at
the production of predictive maps supporting archaeological surveys.
Archaeological data have a dual nature, as they are distributed both in
space and time. A characteristic, common to all GIS software, is the capacity
of managing multi-layer and multi-scale georefenced geographic data: this
potential makes GIS applications ideal for managing archaeological data.
Given the nature of most archaeological data, GIS technology is probably
the most flexible and complete system for analyzing the spatial context of
historical and pre-historical data.
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the archaeological sector also, in which they are essential for on-site data
storage and management of surveyed data.
In order to increase communication in this sector, which has up to
now been limited to the definition of projects and results and never directly
to data, various experimental research projects have been started, aiming at
the integration of GIS within the web. With WebGIS, GIS applications, tra-
ditionally developed for stand-alone users or within LAN environment, may
be implemented on map-servers, enabling interaction through the Internet
with cartography and its associated data.
Moreover it should be mentioned that GIS also shows critical aspects,
mostly related to the fact that, in spite of all the efforts of the international
scientific community1, it has not been possible yet to solve the problem of a
unique standard format allowing a full data interoperability.
2. Data acquisition
Data populating an archaeological GIS do not substantially differ from
the ones of a generic GIS and may be divided into tabular and spatial data
(Fig. 1).
1
On this issue, it is worth mentioning the INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information
in Europe) project, drawn up by the European Commission in 2007.
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3. Surface models
The construction of 3D surface models is one of the fundamental po-
tentials of GIS. DEMs can be obtained from various sources (Remote Sensing
through satellite stereo-images, aerial photography, LiDAR, DGPS, contour
lines and spot heights) and play a fundamental role in the implementation of
archaeological GIS (Fig. 2).
Rasterization process of elevation data, discrete by nature, is called in-
terpolation and it is at the basis of a GIScience discipline, the so-called geosta-
tistics. The result of this operation almost always consists of a monochrome
raster image (DEM), where the orthometric height of a point is associated to
every pixel. It is possible to generate an elevation data model alternative to
the raster one, the Triangular Irregular Network (TIN). This model represents
the terrain surface through an irregular triangle grid (Delaunay triangula-
tion): from the point of view of theoretical classification, TIN, even keeping
its autonomy, might be considered as a GIS data model closer to the vector
format than to the raster one.
The choice of the most suitable interpolation method (IDW, Kriging,
Spline, etc.) should be made in relation to two components: the distribution
of sampled points and the expected result.
From a DEM model it is possible to automatically derive a series of fun-
damental products (Fig. 3), which are useful in the archaeological ambit:
– Slope map. DN of every pixel represents its slope, in degrees or percent-
age.
– Aspect map. DN of every pixel represents the wind direction, in degrees,
towards which the pixel is oriented.
– Visibility map. Having set the observer’s position, function of the geographic
localization of adjacent sites, all pixels visible are extracted.
– Contour lines, with pre-set interval.
It is also possible, with the help of specific hydrological tools, to extract
flow accumulation pixels and hydrological basin boundary.
The use of DEMs is also at the basis of various analytical methods
typical of the archaeological sector including:
– Real-Time viewing of terrain topography.
– Cost-distance analysis and least minimum cost path analysis.
– Predictive models. Visibility and intervisibility analysis.
– Simulation of natural processes, such as erosion and alluvial phenomena.
– Virtual Reality.
Moreover, DEMs give a fundamental support also during archaeological
excavations, since they make it possible to obtain a flexible on-site manage-
ment of various stratigraphic layers.
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5. Spatial analysis
Archaeological field surveys may be divided into two fundamental types:
sampling and prospection. As for the first type, an archeological sampling is
carried out if excavations have been conducted in accordance with a specific
sampling design. This strategy is mostly adopted when the study area is so
large that it cannot be totally investigated. Therefore, sampling strategies stem
from the need to maximize inferable information from excavation campaigns,
minimizing at the same time the costs of surveys. This need (efficiency crite-
rion) comes together with the wish to dispose of a representative sample of
the studied population (totality criterion).
As for the second type of survey, a survey carried out with a pre-de-
termined objective such as, for instance, the identification of a specific type
of site is called archeological prospection. With respect to the archaeologi-
cal prospection, the efficiency criterion is still in force, meaning that costs
minimization (time, resources, labor) remains an objective to pursue. On the
other hand, totality criterion becomes a negligible one. It is not necessary to
dispose of a representative sample but rather to obtain, with the minimum
effort, the best possible examples for the research in course.
While there exists a vast literature on archeological sampling proce-
dures (for instance, Heizer, Graham 1967; Mueller 1974; Watson et al.
1971), archaeological prospection has been, except for some rare exceptions
(Zubrow, Harbaugh 1978), almost totally ignored by specialists. The class
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Standard SQL constructs are much more numerous than the ones briefly
presented here, but, in general, the language is very simple and accessible to
every professional in the archaeological sector.
In any case, full management of geospatial data is possible thanks to
spatial extension of relational database management software, that can be
expanded with a set of functions useful to store in a compact form (usually
binary) graphics data that describe spatial features, and make spatial query
based on spatial index managed by these extensions.
Today spatial database managers with spatial extensions also allow us
to describe 3D objects with complex forms together with their spatial and
qualitative attributes. To do this it is necessary to use a solid modeler or CAD
software that allows us to model a 3D scene and transfer it (with its vector
objects) to the spatial GIS database. An experiment of this type was carried
out in a research project called Management and use of distributed 3D data
by open source Web-GIS software2 in which a part of the research activity
was aimed at studying the way to write geospatial 3D objects modeled by
Blender in a spatial database structure managed by PostgreSQL. Scianna
and Ammoscato (2010) describe how it is possible to transfer 3D geospatial
information, built by a 3D solid modeler like Blender, characterized by its
own graphic primitives, to a database archive managed by Relational Da-
tabase Management System like PostgresSQL with the addition of a spatial
extension like PostGIS.
5.2 Statistical methods
Statistics play an important role in archeological research carried out
with GIS technology. In literature, there is a great variety of statistical methods,
which it is possible to divide into non-parametric and parametric methods.
The first ones do not depend on the type of distribution of population and are
not based upon distribution parameters, consequently it is possible to apply
them also in the case of qualitative data. The parametric methods employed
in solving univariate and multivariate problems have, as a limitation, the need
to use very restrictive hypotheses, often unjustified if not impossible to justify,
unrealistic, not always clear, not easily interpretable, or ad hoc formulated
to produce inference.
It must be added to this that the assumptions validating the application
of those methods (normality, homoschedasticity, independence and equal
distribution of the stochastic erratic component) are hardly ever satisfied
and, in those cases where they are satisfied, results are often obtained by fol-
2
This project is part of the Italian PRIN project 2007 Interoperability and cooperative
management of geographic, dynamic, multidimentional and distributed data with Free and Open
Source GIS, Principal Investigator Paolo Zatelli, University of Studies of Trento, Italy.
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From the point of view of the development of models, there is the “nu-
merical” and the “weighed” approach. Numerical approach uses statistical
techniques to identify possible associations among archaeological sites and
specific features of the surrounding physical environment. In the numerical
approach all variables used in the generation of the model concur with the
same weight to the potential site location. The weighed approach starts from
the assumption that all variables contribute with different weights to the
detection of the potential site location.
The development of a predictive model entails the preliminary analysis
of the representativeness of the variables, of the database quality and of the
model representation scale. The production stages of a predictive model are
normally three: the first stage concerns the development of base hypotheses
as well as the data acquisition and organization. The second consists of the
development of the model and of its initial testing. The last stage consists of
continuous applications of the model and of the ongoing tuning.
Interesting applications of predictive models may be seen in the websites
of the following research projects: Minnesota Archaeological Predictive Model
(http://www.dot.state.mn.us/mnmodel/) and North Carolina GIS Archaeologi-
cal Predictive Model Project (http://www.informatics.org/ncdot/).
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6. WebGIS
In the archaeological field, the use of multimedia and the Internet has
been considered, since their creation and diffusion, more for their didactic
potential, and as byproducts of a research project rather than as a real and ef-
fective research tool. The first exceptions are to be seen in the web publication
of specialized databases, followed by the first archaeological GIS projects. The
WebGIS applications in the archaeological field are mostly related to CRM.
Projects with this objective are always growing, and they tackle the issue of
cultural heritage management under different perspectives, both from the
point of view of methodology and content as well as from the technological
one. Among the most interesting international projects it is worth mention-
ing the Digital Crete (http://digitalcrete.ims.forth.gr/) project about the ar-
chaeological heritage of the Island of Crete; The archaeological Web-GIS of
Iowa (http://www2.uiowa.edu/i-sites/public.htm); and MAGIS, an archive
of archaeological projects within the Mediterranean area carried out by a
consortium of American universities (http://cgma.depauw.edu/MAGIS/).
Fig. 8 shows the data flow, starting with the survey of an archaeological
site and ending with information sharing through the Internet3. Data collected
on site, after a first local pre-processing are transmitted to the headquarters
of the archaeologist where data can be processed and/or analyzed and made
available on the NET.
At this point all other archaeologists can browse that data comparing
them with data they just surveyed, in order to facilitate considerations about
similarities of findings, etc. This is an advanced way to operate that today
is already possible. But in order to do this, we require some techniques and
methodologies emerging from the latest evolution of computer science for
information sharing.
In particular, information can be shared through Internet thanks to a
SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture), i.e. a set of principles and methodologies
for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Service-oriented_architecture). One of the SOA
elements are web services by which data can be accessed from Internet, and
query the database with standard calls. Therefore, the aspect of standardiza-
3
FIRB Project 2005 – Research Unit at Department of Representation, University of Pa-
lermo, Italy.
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7. Virtual Reality
The utility of GIS can be observed also in the field of Virtual Reality
(VR) applied to archaeology. In this sector the objective of researchers is to
create 3D historical-archaeological environments where the spatial component
of data is maintained.
In the case of the Geospatial Virtual Reality, each monument is ac-
curately reproduced from survey data and each landscape is generated on
the basis of the geographical data constituting it. In a VR application the
starting data, which often require a large amount of computer memory, are
dynamically managed by the computer in a rapid way by means of specific
optimization techniques. These techniques obtain their best results when 3D
data are used by the web.
Virtual 3D musealization applications are particularly interesting: in
some of these cases the user has the possibility of interacting with the 3D
model of the monument or of the whole site. The most diffused languages
in this sector are VRML, X3D, Java 3D and QuickTime. In these systems,
possible user queries are often rather restrictive.
In the future an increasingly broad use of various types of collaborative
network based tools may be expected. It is worth mentioning, as an example, the
Google Earth system, which has been following this direction for some time.
In recent years two important virtual reconstruction projects applied to
archaeology have been developed in Italy: the Virtual Museum of the Ancient
Via Flaminia project (http://www.vhlab.itabc.cnr.it/flaminia/) and the Virtual
Rome project (http://3d.cineca.it/storage/demo_vrome/htdocs/). The first of
these presents two aspects of primary methodological importance: the use
of specific models of spatial archaeology making the visual experience im-
mersive and the creation of an operating chain based upon an open source
architecture, as for the GIS process directed to web fruition (Calori et al.
2006; Camporesi et al. 2007). The Virtual Rome project has the objective
of studying and reproducing the ancient Roman landscape and visualizing it
by means of Internet dedicated virtual reality tools based upon open source
libraries (Pescarin et al. 2008).
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receiver, to work with metrical accuracy without use of other GPS reference
stations, located at points having a known position. This framework is based
on the acquisition and RT processing of the observations from each permanent
station by the data control and processing network centre, which are then
able to broadcast the carrier-phase corrections to any connected user4.
The foremost limitation of current GPS networks is found in the base-
line length, which is not always short enough to obtain sufficient precision
in connection through GSM or GPRS line. Reference stations are usually
positioned in provincial capitals and enable centimetric precision within a
range below 30 km.
The need to have georeferenced photographic archives, not only in ar-
chaeology, can be found in some new products of recent years, namely, digital
cameras with integrated GPS, or capable of Wi-fi connection with compat-
ible GPS. The introduction of both these technological solutions permits the
automatic association of each photograph with the coordinates x, y, z of the
exposure station. Many GIS mobile software packages, for example, focus on
photos georeferencing through specific functions, both for connecting mobile
GIS to the camera and to create and manage hyperlinks.
At present, in archaeology, DGPS is used, both with single frequency
and dual frequency receivers, for georeferencing of geophysical measurements
and satellite or airborne digital images, for surveying GCPs and in some cases
for generating micro-DEMs through RTK techniques.
PDA makes all geographic information (topographic and thematic base
map, digital orthophotos, geophysical data) available in the field as well as an
alphanumerical database, usually available only in laboratories. Along with
the advantages constituted by field consultation and updating of archives,
these tools and their relevant GIS software are preset to be connected to
various devices, among which GPS receivers, thus permitting the background
visualization of geographic information with the real time operator position
in overlay.
With regard to this application, the Pocket Archeonav project is par-
ticularly interesting (Scianna et al. 2005). It is a standalone application on
PDA, exploiting the capability of performing an absolute GPS positioning to
4
A Virtual Reference Station (VRS) is an imaginary, unoccupied reference station which
is only a few meters from the RTK user. For this position, observation data are created from the
data of surrounding reference stations as though they had been observed on that position by a
GPS receiver. A Multi Reference Station (MRS) RTK is a complex, yet natural extension of single
reference station RTK. It provides better protection against station outages because a network
solution can still be calculated even if individual reference station data is missing. However, due to
the current trend of sparse network station spacing, the absence of any individual reference station
would likely cause pockets within the network with less than desirable performance. Even under
these conditions, the network solution is still more likely to provide a solution better than that from
a single reference station.
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5 6
Figs. 5-6 – 5. Pocket ArcheoNAV, a first version of multimedia guide; 6. The evolution of multi-
media guide.
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on a simple GIS SDK with which it is possible to combine both raster and vector
data. No web service call possibility or NET oriented use has been planned. The
functions for supporting GPS receiver have also been built from scratch.
The new version, even as it functions today as stand-alone software,
is very different as it is based on SDK and on techniques that should permit
the access to web remote information deployed through OGC standard web
services and the application access to a local web service that makes available
the geospatial and multimedia data necessary for navigation in the archaeo-
logical site. This is a significant evolution with respect to the first version
which was conceived only four years ago and with this application, even
an Internet access is not required for many reasons (difficulty of setting up
a proper network infrastructure in a wide area not always well maintained
with limited plants such as an electrical grid, not fully controlled in terms of
access by people).
The need to get information from the Internet in a fluid and progressive
way brings us to structure information using some useful techniques such as
that adopted for raster data shown in Fig. 7 (map tiling). In the first version
of multimedia guide, background raster map was loaded for opening the
application while in the second version, a map is divided in many tiles that
are progressively loaded (when moving map function is on) just before it
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Fig. 8 – Potential archeological data flow and sharing through web services.
These kinds of applications open new scenarios and use cases like that
illustrated in Fig. 8 in which archaeological surveyed data are coded (after
the survey) according to a GIS standard model, like GIANT (Scianna et al.
2008), then sent to a web server implementing a 3D vector web service – like
WFS3D (Scianna 2010) – with which the data of the archaeological site with
its finds could be made available to many users in the world, and thus they
could make their contributions to specific aspects and hypotheses regarding
that site, its findings and similarities with other sites and findings.
Usually, GIS are time-insensitive: when describing a process they do not
take into account its evolution in time and, therefore, some space-time cor-
relation connections among the various spatial entities are neglected. For this
reason the first studies on TGIS were carried out where the fourth dimension,
viz. time, plays a crucial role. TGIS are extremely useful in the field of social
sciences (evolutionist theories, settlement dynamics, etc.) and therefore in the
archaeological field also.
Among the most innovative solutions presented recently, it is worth
mentioning the FGIS, a system which, based on the fuzzy set theory, aims at
including ambiguity in data structure. This approach starts from the simple
statement that, in the process of formalization of information (both alphanu-
meric or spatial), decisions made do, very often, affect final results.
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5
The fuzzification comprises the process of transforming crisp values into grades of mem-
bership for linguistic terms of fuzzy set (Coppi et al. 2006).
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ABSTRACT
The diffusion of the use of Geographical Information Systems in archaeology has con-
siderably increased in recent years. This multiplicity of applications is due mainly to the the
growing interest of archaeologists in modern methodologies for the management of archaeo-
logical data, surveyed by topographic, photogrammetric and remote sensing techniques. GIS
have become a fundamental tool for managing, sharing, analyzing and visualizing spatially
referenced data and they are completely substituting the traditional techniques used by ar-
chaeologists, based upon filling out forms, graphics and other paper documents. Besides in the
modern global society, dominated by mass media such as Internet, the issue of utilization has
become more and more important, and most of the more recent GIS applications (Multimedia
GIS, WebGIS) take this aspect into consideration.
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