Mark Gillings - Böcker

Maps have always been a fundamental tool in archaeological practice, and their prominence and variety have increased along with a growing range of digital technologies used to collect, visualise, query and analyse spatial data. However, unlike in other disciplines, the development of archaeological cartographical critique has been surprisingly slow; a missed opportunity given that archaeology, with its vast and multifaceted experience with space and maps, can significantly contribute to the field of critical mapping. Re-mapping Archaeology thinks through cartographic challenges in archaeology and critiques the existing mapping traditions used in the social sciences and humanities, especially since the 1990s. It provides a unique archaeological perspective on cartographic theory and innovatively pulls together a wide range of mapping practices applicable to archaeology and other disciplines.This volume will be suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as for established researchers in archaeology, geography, anthropology, history, landscape studies, ethnology and sociology.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and related spatial technologies have a new and powerful role to play in archaeological interpretation. Beginning with a conceptual approach to the representation of space adopted by GIS, this book examines spatial databases; the acquisition and compilation of data; the analytical compilation of data; the analytical functionality of GIS; and the creation and utilization of critical foundation data layers such as the Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The ways in which GIS can most usefully facilitate archaeological analysis and interpretation are then explored particularly as a tool for the management of archaeological resources. Formal analysis of archaeological material, and the use of trend surface, contouring and interpolation procedures are considered along with predictive modeling analysis of visibility and intervisibility. Finally there is a discussion of leading-edge issues, including three-dimensional GIS, object-oriented GIS, the relationship between GIS and 'Virtual Reality' technologies, and the integration of GIS with distributed systems and the Internet.The approach is light, and technical detail is kept to a minimum, recognizing that most readers are simply interested in using GIS effectively. The text is carefully illustrated with worked case-studies using archaeological data. Spatial Technology and Archaeology provides a single reference source for archaeologists, students, professionals, and academics in archaeology as well as those in anthropology and related disciplines.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and related spatial technologies have a new and powerful role to play in archaeological interpretation. Beginning with a conceptual approach to the representation of space adopted by GIS, this book examines spatial databases; the acquisition and compilation of data; the analytical compilation of data; the analytical functionality of GIS; and the creation and utilization of critical foundation data layers such as the Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The ways in which GIS can most usefully facilitate archaeological analysis and interpretation are then explored particularly as a tool for the management of archaeological resources. Formal analysis of archaeological material, and the use of trend surface, contouring and interpolation procedures are considered along with predictive modeling analysis of visibility and intervisibility. Finally there is a discussion of leading-edge issues, including three-dimensional GIS, object-oriented GIS, the relationship between GIS and 'Virtual Reality' technologies, and the integration of GIS with distributed systems and the Internet.The approach is light, and technical detail is kept to a minimum, recognizing that most readers are simply interested in using GIS effectively. The text is carefully illustrated with worked case-studies using archaeological data. Spatial Technology and Archaeology provides a single reference source for archaeologists, students, professionals, and academics in archaeology as well as those in anthropology and related disciplines.

Whether implicit in terms such as ‘environment’ or ‘territory’, or more explicitly articulated, an active concern with landscape lies at the heart of all archaeological enquiry. Past individuals and social groups lived out their lives somewhere, and it has long been realized by archaeologists that a detailed understanding of the character of their lived worlds is integral to any attempt to write histories of the deep past. Indeed, an active concern with the ways in which past activities and settlements were arranged across the surface of the earth has characterized over a century of research and investigation. However, despite its centrality to archaeological enquiry, the last twenty or so years has witnessed the dawning recognition that there had been a tendency to treat the concept as largely self-evident; until recently, many researchers had blithely sought to study landscape without feeling any obligation to define what precisely it was that they were setting out to study. Moreover, when critical attention was finally brought to bear it rapidly became clear that, rather than a coherent body of theory and practice, the result had instead been a flurry of radically different landscapes each of which had spawned its own academic cottage industry. In Chris Gosden’s words, landscape might best be defined as a ‘usefully ambiguous concept’. Consequently, as the learned editors of this new four-volume collection from Routledge note, a fledgling archaeological student of landscape might well be forgiven for not knowing whether first to direct his critical attention to walking boots and a map or to Julia Kristeva’s writings on intertextuality.The bold ambition of the editors of this ‘mini library’ of key works is not only to map out the full breadth of landscape approaches, and the many kinds of landscape (and therefore past) they encompass, but also to capture the dynamism and energy of the ongoing debates within the discipline as to the status of landscape. The collection’s structure allows scholars to access the crucial writings that have framed and guided current debates and the often eclectic traditions of scholarship that have informed and inspired them. Indeed, Landscape Archaeology meets a pressing need for a wide-ranging and authoritative reference work to enable users to appreciate both the inherent slipperiness of the term ‘landscape’ and the wide range of landscape archaeologies that have emerged as a direct result.

Drawing on new research data accumulated by the authors in their fieldwork at the archaeological site at Avebury, this title examines the range of meanings and interpretations Avebury has accumulated over 4500 years.

Effective spatial analysis is an essential element of archaeological research; this book is a unique guide to choosing the appropriate technique, applying it correctly and understanding its implications both theoretically and practically. Focusing upon the key techniques used in archaeological spatial analysis, this book provides the authoritative, yet accessible, methodological guide to the subject which has thus far been missing from the corpus. Each chapter tackles a specific technique or application area and follows a clear and coherent structure. First is a richly referenced introduction to the particular technique, followed by a detailed description of the methodology, then an archaeological case study to illustrate the application of the technique, and conclusions that point to the implications and potential of the technique within archaeology. The book is designed to function as the main textbook for archaeological spatial analysis courses at undergraduate and post-graduate level, while its user-friendly structure makes it also suitable for self-learning by archaeology students as well as researchers and professionals.

Effective spatial analysis is an essential element of archaeological research; this book is a unique guide to choosing the appropriate technique, applying it correctly and understanding its implications both theoretically and practically. Focusing upon the key techniques used in archaeological spatial analysis, this book provides the authoritative, yet accessible, methodological guide to the subject which has thus far been missing from the corpus. Each chapter tackles a specific technique or application area and follows a clear and coherent structure. First is a richly referenced introduction to the particular technique, followed by a detailed description of the methodology, then an archaeological case study to illustrate the application of the technique, and conclusions that point to the implications and potential of the technique within archaeology. The book is designed to function as the main textbook for archaeological spatial analysis courses at undergraduate and post-graduate level, while its user-friendly structure makes it also suitable for self-learning by archaeology students as well as researchers and professionals.

Maps have always been a fundamental tool in archaeological practice, and their prominence and variety have increased along with a growing range of digital technologies used to collect, visualise, query and analyse spatial data. However, unlike in other disciplines, the development of archaeological cartographical critique has been surprisingly slow; a missed opportunity given that archaeology, with its vast and multifaceted experience with space and maps, can significantly contribute to the field of critical mapping. Re-mapping Archaeology thinks through cartographic challenges in archaeology and critiques the existing mapping traditions used in the social sciences and humanities, especially since the 1990s. It provides a unique archaeological perspective on cartographic theory and innovatively pulls together a wide range of mapping practices applicable to archaeology and other disciplines.This volume will be suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as for established researchers in archaeology, geography, anthropology, history, landscape studies, ethnology and sociology.