Geographic Visualization in Archaeology

Archaeologists are often considered frontrunners in employing spatial approaches within the social sciences and humanities, including geospatial technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS) that are now routinely used in archaeology. Since the late 1980s, GIS has mainly been used to support data collection and management as well as spatial analysis and modeling. While fruitful, these efforts have arguably neglected the potential contribution of advanced visualization methods to the generation of broader archaeological knowledge. This paper reviews the use of GIS in archaeology from a geographic visualization (geovisual) perspective and examines how these methods can broaden the scope of archaeological research in an era of more user-friendly cyber-infrastructures. Like most computational databases, GIS do not easily support temporal data. This limitation is particularly problematic in archaeology because processes and events are best understood in space and time. To deal with such shortcomings in existing tools, archaeologists often end up having to reduce the diversity and complexity of archaeological phenomena. Recent developments in geographic visualization begin to address some of these issues and are pertinent in the globalized world as archaeologists amass vast new bodies of georeferenced information and work towards integrating them with traditional archaeological data. Greater effort in developing geovisualization and geovisual analytics appropriate for archaeological data can create opportunities to visualize, navigate, and assess different sources of information within the larger archaeological community, thus enhancing possibilities for collaborative research and new forms of critical inquiry.     

Review of Archaeological Research in Angola

This article examines the historical processes that shaped the development of archaeological practice in Angola during the Portuguese colonial period and the aftermath of political independence. Using published works, unpublished reports, and photographic records, we examine the research themes, actors, scholars, and institutions that influenced archaeological research in the country. We also used documents and museum collections in Angola and Portugal to create a GIS database of Angola’s archaeological findings. This study highlights the events, personalities, and priorities that motivated earlier investigations, and the geographical distribution of prehistoric sites. We hope this study will be a resource for guiding future archaeological research in Angola.

     

An archaeological signature of multi-level social systems: The case of the Irish Bronze Age

Recent research suggests that contemporary human social groups are structured according to principles of fission and fusion that are also observed in some of our primate relatives, raising the possibility that such social systems have been a feature of hominin society throughout prehistory. The current paper examines the possibility of identifying archaeological signatures of multi-level social structures through the examination of site size distributions. Data on the sizes of Irish Bronze Age stone circles and predictions for the size of aggregations they could accommodate are compared with simulations parameterized using data on modern human groups. The results suggest that the presence of hierarchically inclusive, multi-level social structures provides a better explanation for the data than more traditional archaeological accounts based on the rank-size rule and related inferences concerning the emergence of political elites.     

Inferring Human Behaviors from Isotopic Analyses of Rat Diet: a Critical Review and Historical Application

Rat (Rattus spp.) bone collagen stable isotope values are often assumed to reflect an average of food stuffs that were available to archaeological populations. This paper considers the feasibility of using stable isotope evidence from rat remains as a source of proxy information for human food-related social, economic, and sensorial behaviors. First, a literature review of archaeological and modern ecological rat isotope work reveals that, while rat dietary signatures are often a reasonable proxy for human food waste, they will not always record an unbiased average of foods which are available in a given environment. Second, an overview of ethological, biological, and environmental factors that can influence rat diets is given from the perspective of archaeological bone chemistry, to help identify factors that require explicit and critical consideration when rat stable isotope data is taken as a proxy for human food-related behaviors. Finally, rat stable isotope values are considered to provide new evidence about the social and economic responses of an important historical English fishing community at Ferryland (CgAf-02) to conflict and political turmoil at the turn of the eighteenth century. These results also highlight how information on rat diets can provide a counterpoint to other common faunal isotope approaches that focus on dogs and pigs as a proxy for human dietary behaviors.     

Landscape Archaeology and the Medieval Countryside: Settlement and Abandonment in the Nemea Region

This paper examines the processes of settlement and abandonment of the medieval countryside as revealed by archaeological surveys undertaken in southern Greece. The Nemea region, the focus of an intensive archaeological survey, serves as a case study. Early archaeological surveys approached this time period primarily from a historical point of view. Political history provided the textual frame while the archaeological data were expected to “fill in” the gaps of the historical record. In contrast, in the last twenty-five years the second generation of surveys has taken an active interest in the archaeological documentation of the medieval countryside. The settlement trends observed in Nemea are viewed as manifestations of a variety of political, social, and economic processes.     

WHAT I BELIEVE: REFLECTIONS ON HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL ECOLOGY AS RESEARCH FRAMEWORKS IN SOUTHEASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY

Research themes centering on human-environment interaction have a long history in the writings of Southeastern archaeologists. However, many of the past theoretical frameworks that center on the environment do not articulate well with concepts such as agency and history as mechanisms for understanding the past. Two exceptions to this are research agendas that incorporate concepts derived from both historical and political ecology. In this paper, I explore the overlap and complementarity of various concepts from both of these frameworks. I suggest that the melding of these concepts offers a more robust avenue to consider the environment in archaeological research, which also explicitly takes into consideration both agency and history. In closing, I consider why such a perspective might benefit archaeological research in the Southeast.     

Driven by drink: The role of drinking in the political economy and the case of Early Iron Age France

The practice of drinking alcoholic beverages has several characteristic important social roles in traditional small-scale societies, particularly in terms of political economy. Cross-cultural survey of ethnographic data reveals that drink is very frequently a fundamental social artifact which plays an integral role in implementing the social relations expressed and created through hospitality. This intimate association with the institution of hospitality, and its frequent ritual and symbolic significance, imbue drinking with a potent social value which is important in its many economic and political roles. It is widely employed in the work-party feast as a mechanism of labor mobilization, and in the implementation of both institutionalized political authority and the informal power associated with leadership in societies without specialized political roles. Moreover, drinking can have a profound influence in producing changes in social relations, and consideration of drinking patterns can be very informative about society and culture in general. The relevance of this anthropological perspective on drinking to the analysis of archaeological data is demonstrated through a model which offers fresh insights for the interpretation of a specific archaeological problem: the process of trade and culture contact between the Greek and Etruscan states and the indigenous peoples of Early Iron Age France.     

The “War on Terror” and the Military–Archaeology Complex: Iraq, Ethics, and Neo-Colonialism

The archaeological response to the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq is often portrayed as a crusade to rescue antiquities, destroyed either directly by the military action itself or indirectly by the looting of archaeological sites and museums. I argue in this paper that this narrative is awfully inadequate, and masks the ethical and political dimensions at the core of this historical episode. I contend that, in their often well-intended attempts to rescue antiquities, most archaeologists involved have projected a professionalized, apolitical and abstract response, devoid of the social and political context, and based on the fetishisation of a narrowly and problematically defined archaeological record. I argue further that the increasing collaboration of many archaeologists with the invading militaries and occupation authorities since 2003, assisted by the “cultural turn” especially within the US military, have laid the foundations for an emerging military-archaeology complex. I trace the contours of this phenomenon by examining various archaeological and museum discourses and practices. This new development (with historical resonances that go as far back as the 18th century, if not earlier) is linked directly with the ontology and epistemology of archaeology, and deserves further close scrutiny and analysis. The thesis advanced here does not advocate inaction and withdrawal in situations of warfare, but a critical engagement that safeguards the autonomy of the scholar; critiques the political agendas and power structures of contemporary warfare; deconstructs its discursive basis and its ideological overtones; and shows its catastrophic consequences for people and things alike, past and present.     

Augmenting Phenomenology: Using Augmented Reality to Aid Archaeological Phenomenology in the Landscape

Explorations of perception using GIS have traditionally been based on vision and analysis confined to the computer laboratory. In contrast, phenomenological analyses of archaeological landscapes are normally carried out within the particular landscape itself; and computer analysis away from the landscape in question is often seen as anathema to such attempts. This paper presents initial research that aims to bridge this gap by using augmented reality (AR). AR gives us the opportunity to merge the real world with virtual elements, including 3D models, soundscapes, and social media. In this way, aspects of GIS analysis that would usually keep us chained to the desk can be experienced directly in the field at the time of investigation.     

Places in Interaction: The National Archaeological Park Project as an Integrated Approach to Public Archaeology in China

The aim of this paper is to re-examine how concepts of public archaeology have been established and developed in varying social and political contexts in China, and how the recent national archaeological park project is structured as an important approach for improving public-archaeology relationships and promoting the public uses of archaeology. Since all archaeological activities in China are exclusively regulated by the state, all archaeological resources are administered for the benefit of the public. As such, concepts of public archaeology demonstrate the efforts of Chinese archaeologists to re-evaluate public-archaeology relationships and uses of archaeology through public engagement as well as archaeological communications with the public. The national archaeological park project was launched in 2006 to expand the practice of archaeology with the creation of archaeological communications, public space, and community-driven programmes. The project facilitates multiple perspectives on public archaeology practice through public education, community cohesion, re-creation of public space, and local economic development.     

平粮台龙山文化遗存分析

平粮台城址是新石器时代中晚期域址中非常典型的一个代表,本文借鉴西方环境考古与聚落考古学的理论和方法,着重从聚落形态的角度出发,用考古材料研究社会关系,具体在各种物质遗存中从政治权利、阶层分化、生产生活、组织规划、民风民俗、神灵信仰等方面抽取提炼出非物质的信息,重建其社会组织结构,复原地区聚落模式和社会复杂化进程,以取得...     

A tetradic analysis of GIS and society using McLuhan's law of the media

The social implications of GIS have been debated over the past five years among scholars in several disciplines. GIS have been either conceived by practitioners as value‐free, neutral tools for problem‐solving or castigated by critical social theorists as socially biased technologies serving only corporate and state interests. Neither of these polarized views is very helpful in understanding the complex relationship between GIS and society. This paper argues that GIS are increasingly becoming media for communicating various crucial social and environmental information to the general public. By reconceptualizing GIS as media, the paper conducts a detailed tetradic analysis on the social implications of GIS using Marshall McLuhan's law of media. The analysis reveals the paradoxical and ambivalent nature of GIS technology. To make GIS fulfill democratic ideals in society, this paper calls for a shift of perspective, from viewing them as instruments for problem‐solving to viewing them as media for communication. This shift from instrumental to communicative rationality enables us to examine more critically and holistically how space, people and environment have been represented, manipulated and visualized in GIS and thus promotes a more critical and democratic GIS practice .     

Public participation geographic information systems across borders

Geographic information systems (GIS) technology is increasingly being used by nongovernmental organizations, grassroots organizations and other activist groups involved in transforming social, economic and environmental policy in multiple countries. The use of GIS represents a response to the fact that environmental problems are multidimensional and refuse to acknowledge political borders. It also represents a growing awareness that, for activism to compete in an era of globalization, it must utilize tools that scale from a local to a multinational level .
A research field called public participation GIS (PPGIS) has emerged to investigate the use and value of GIS by marginalized peoples and communities engaged in social change. It has yet to formally examine cross‐border and multinational applications. This paper makes a substantial contribution to moving the PPGIS research agenda forward to pace existing nonprofit activities. The paper considers the critical aspects of PPGIS being used across borders and in scaling up nonprofit organizations. The paper briefly reviews the PPGIS literature on issues of resources and data access and the role of GIS expertise. It then analyzes the use of PPGIS across borders as a function of building organizational capacity. Theory is reinforced with examples of nonprofits currently using GIS in multiple countries. A transnational PPGIS is framed, which can serve as a base for further investigation and discussion .     

伊洛地区裴李岗至二里头文化时期复杂社会的演变——地理信息系统基础上的人口和农业可耕地分析

The Yiluo basin is the heartland of the origin of early states in China.Based on the archaeological data from the undergoing Yiluo Project,as well as theories and methods of population estimation,carrying capacity,and catchment productivity developed during the past decades in the West,this paper constructs a GIS based study detailing population fluctuation and development of social complexity in the surveyed region from the Peiligang to Erlitou period.The basic framework of this paper's study consists of t...     

良渚遗址群考古地理信息系统构建探索

运用GIS软件对良渚遗址群多源数据进行数字化处理,构建良渚遗址GIS应用模型,为进一步考古研究与文物保护提供更为科学的方法和便捷的管理手段。本文阐述良渚遗址群考古信息的空间数据库与属性信息库的建设,并简单介绍了数据采集与处理过程。     

Ethnicity in complex societies: Archaeological perspectives

It is often difficult to identify ethnic groups in the archaeological record, yet archaeology has much to contribute to understanding the long-term social and political dynamics of ethnicity. This review considers recent anthropological perspectives on ethnic groups and their boundaries, emphasizing the role of state formation in their creation and maintenance. It then reviews recent archaeological studies of ethnicity in complex societies and discusses current questions facing archaeological research on these topics.     

Some remarks on ethnicity in medieval archaeology

Recent critiques of the culture‐historical approach to ethnicity have denounced the idea that archaeological cultures are ‘actors’ on the historical stage, playing the role that known individuals or groups have in documentary history. But the critique has gone as far as to claim that, because archaeologists supposedly have no access to the meaning of cultural traditions, medieval ethnicity cannot be studied by archeological means. Ethnicity should be banned from all discussions, if medieval archaeology is to make any progress in the future. The paper examines the theoretical malaise at the root of this scepticism verging on nihilism. The understanding of the archaeological record not as an imprint, but as a text allows for much learning about meaning in the past. Symbols, style and power are the key concepts that currently guide anthropological research on ethnicity as a ‘social construction of primordiality’. As several archaeological examples show, medieval ethnicity was a form of social mobilization used in order to reach certain political goals. Ethnic identity was built upon some pre‐existing cultural identity, in a prototypic manner.     

Using measures of cost distance in the estimation of polity boundaries in the Postclassic Yautepec valley,Mexico

The reconstruction of polity boundaries is essential for the study of political evolution, but few enhancements to archaeological boundary estimation methods have been proposed in recent years. New techniques of terrain modeling and geographical analysis provide the means to augment traditional methods of boundary estimation. In this paper, I review archaeological methods for estimating the spatial location of boundaries between independent polities and ways to modify these methods to explore the processes of political expansion in the evolution of complex societies. I demonstrate several of these methods using data from Postclassic polities in the Yautepec valley, Morelos, Mexico. Through time, seven independent polities were founded, expanded, and were ultimately incorporated within two levels of regional political administration. I apply new quantitative methods for the estimation of polity territories and explore the processes that resulted in the formation of a regional polity. The resulting boundaries are objective estimates of the location of borders based on energetic efficiency that can be systematically tested against theoretical models. These estimated boundaries provide a basis for exploring the social meaning of territorial divisions. Additionally, energetic boundaries provide a means for delineating local zones for landscape utilization and comparative analyses.     

An island-wide assessment of the chronology of settlement and land use on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) based on radiocarbon data

The archaeological landscape on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) contains a palimpsest of surface archaeological features reflecting a long history of settlement and land use. The popular narrative of societal collapse prior to European contact relies on chronometric data from the late pre-European contact period and also cites major settlement shifts as evidence for societal collapse and socio-political reorganization. This paper explores the archaeological evidence for proposed changes in settlement by assessing the spatial and temporal distribution of radiocarbon determinations collected from archaeological and landscape contexts. A corpus of over 300 determinations is placed into an island-wide GIS database and analysed. The results of this study suggest that Rapa Nui settlement and land use exhibit continuity rather than punctuated, detrimental change during the late pre-European contact period.     

Feasts in Motion: Archaeological Views of Parades,Ancestral Pageants,and Socio-Political Process in the Hueda Kingdom, 1650–1727 AD

This paper examines the socio-political processes surrounding spectacular religious parades and more private acts of veneration and supplication within the Hueda Kingdom (c. 1650–1727 AD) in the Republic of Bénin, West Africa. The first goal of this paper is to posit the role that such public and private ceremonies played in framing negotiations of political and moral authority. It argues that ceremonial hosts and assembled audience members worked to channel toward their own interests the social, political, and economic outpouring that resulted from ritually sanctioned performances of wealth. The second goal of the paper is to illustrate material and spatial dimensions of such ceremonial spaces. These themes, drawn from a historically well-known polity, work together to aid in comparative theory building on feasting and the politics of spectacle in the deeper archaeological past.