Geographic Information Systems/Science

Geographical Information Systems has moved from the domain of the computer specialist into the wider archaeological community, providing it with an exciting new research method. This clearly written but rigorous book provides a comprehensive guide to that use.

From the very beginning of archaeological practice, maps have been one of the most fundamental tools in the discipline. The number, variety and prominence of maps in archaeology have increased further since the beginning of the 1990s due to the availability of a growing range of digital technologies used to collect, visualise, query, manipulate, 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 can significantly contribute to the multidisciplinary field of critical mapping, thanks to its vast and multifaceted experience with space and maps. The volume is a pioneering book to think through the cartographic challenges in archaeology posed by the critique of existing mapping traditions in social sciences and humanities that has emerged especially since the 1990s. ...

Archaeology is fundamentally concerned with both space and time: dates, chronologies, stratigraphy, plans and maps are all routinely used by archaeologists in their work. To aid in their analysis of this material, the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) by archaeologists has become widespread. ...

Geographic information systems (GIS) applications are viewed with increasing interest by the archaeology community and this book, with its diversity of topics and authorship, should be a useful resource.

The use of GIS is the most powerful technology introduced to archaeology since the introduction of carbon 14 dating. The most widespread use of this technology has been for the prediction of archaeological site locations. This book focuses on the use of GIS for archaeological predictive modeling.

The idea of putting together this book was inspired by the session Thinking beyond the Tool: Archaeological Computing and the Interpretive Process, which was held at the Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) conference in Bristol (2010). The session, as well as the regular format of paper presentations, included a round table discussion at the end of the session, to provide a debate forum for the participants, and encourage the development of the dialogue which emerged from the various presentations. This format not only facilitated the discussion on a better theorised approach to computer applications in archaeology, but also allowed delegates with diverse backgrounds to elaborate on common concerns from different perspectives. The overarching theme of the session, which revolved around how the various computational tools affect the ways we practice archaeology and interpret and disseminate aspects of the past, generated a series of stimulating debates.

Native American societies, often viewed as unchanging, in fact experienced a rich process of cultural innovation in the millennia prior to recorded history. Societies of the Hocking River Valley in southeastern Ohio, part of the Ohio River Valley, created a tribal organization beginning about 2000 bc. The Emergence of the Moundbuilders: The Archaeology of Tribal Societies in Southeastern Ohio presents the process of tribal formation and change in the region based on analyses of all available archaeological data from the Hocking River Valley.

The objective of this research is to develop a model of social interaction for the Natufian culture in Southwest Asia through interpretation of environmental and material-culture variability.