Archeological Gis

Azlin Samsudin, Tarmiji Masron, Mokhtar Saidin, Jeffrey Abdullah and Saiful Shahidan.(2010). LEMBAH BUJANG, SEBUAH KERAJAAN LAMA YANG BERPUSAT:
DARI PERSPEKTIF SISTEM MAKLUMAT GEOGRAFI (GIS).IN: Seminar Prosiding: Penanda Arasan Penyelidikan Arkeologi di UKM (Editor: Asyaari Muhamad, Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abd. Rahman and Zuliskandar Ramli).Institut Alam Dan Tamadun Melayu (ATMA), Bangi.Pages: 305 - 325

Abstract:

Lembah Bujang telah dikaji sejak sedekad yang la/u dan dikatakan sebagai kerajaan Kedah Tua dari abad ke 1 masihi hingga 14 masihi. Ia juga dilaporkan sebagai salah satu kerajaan lama yang penting dalam abad tersebut sebagai salah satu persinggahan dalam perdagangan di rantau Asia Tenggara. Ma/ah dikatakan juga, penempatan di Lembah Bujang adalah merupakan satu kerajaan atau negeri yang mempunyai penyusunan masyarakat yang tersusun dan jaringan pertukaran barangan tersendiri dengan menggunakan sungai-sungai sebagai penghubung antara kawasan. Fungsi setiap tapak juga telah ditafsirkan berdasarkan kepada kajian o/eh Jane Allen pada tahun 1988. Kesemua tersebut adalah hasil daripada kajian arkeologi melalui  tinjauan dan ekskavasi yang dilakukan oleh pengkaji-pengkaji terdahulu. Bagaimanapun, kajian terhadap taburan tapak-tapak arkeo/ogi di Lembah Bujang dengan menggunakan pendekatan Sistem Maklumat Geografi (GIS) tidak pernah dilakukan /agi. 0/eh itu, ana/isis GIS telah dilakukan ke atas taburan tapak-tapak arkeologi yang sedia ada untuk menentukan polo penempatan dan pusat penempatan tersebut dan sungai utama yang menjadi nodi dalam kerajaan lama. Ana/isis yang dijalankan menunjukkan taburan tapak-tapak adalah tertumpu pada dua lembangan iaitu kawasan tadahan sungai Merbok dan Sungai Muda. Kedua-dua sungai ini memainkan peranan dalam kerajaan Kedah Tua. Ana/isis terhadap polo taburan tapak-tapak arkeologi pula berdasarkan kepada 3 atribut iaitu ketinggian, kecerunan dan fungsi setiap tapak menunjukkan bahawa wujud polo penempatan dan pusat kerajaan Kedah Tua. Polo penempatan Lembah Bujang ada/ah berkisar kepada Sungai Merbok sebagai sungai utamanya berbanding dengan sungai Muda. Ma/ah ana/isis tersebut juga menunjukkan bahawa kawasan Pengkalan Bujang dan sepanjang sungai Pengkalan Bujang kemungkinan merupakan pusat kerajaan Kedah Tua. Sekitarnya merupakan kawasan aktiviti ekonominya. Kewujudan pusat kerajaan, menunjukkan wujudnya kerajaan lama dan penempatan di Lembah Bujang merupakan sebuah penempatan satu negeri yang mempunyai kerajaan berpusat.

Trabajo correspondiente a la Tesis Doctoral: Sistema de Información Arqueológica: propuesta de normalización, desarrollo conceptual e informático, dirigida por Alfred Mauri i Martí y Julio Núñez Marcén. Desarrollada dentro del Programa de doctorado: Medio Ambiente, Territorio y Cultura: perspectivas desde la Geografía, la Prehistoria y la Arqueología, del Departamento de Geografía, Prehistoria y Arqueología, de la Universidad del País Vasco.
En este trabajo, continuación y ampliación de la propuesta anterior: Sistema de Información Geográfico Arqueológico: SigArq. Construcción de herramientas informáticas para la gestión arqueológica, presentamos una propuesta de normalización de los procesos de Registro Arqueológico, o al menos de algunos de ellos, considerando la Información y su gestión, como el pilar básico de toda actividad científica, y la preservación del conocimiento como el objetivo definitorio de todo Sistema de Información. Por lo tanto, el primer requerimiento estratégico de cualquier Sistema es garantizar una correcta captura informativa de los datos brutos que posteriormente se transforman en conocimiento. Capturar, almacenar, preservar y custodiar correctamente estos datos, hasta su definitiva y posterior implementación en el archivo digital administrativo, escenario ideal de gestión informativa, suponen el objetivo estratégico de este trabajo.
La propuesta de normalización se concreta por una parte en el desarrollo de un corpus conceptual y por otra, en la implementación de una herramienta, o conjunto de herramientas informáticas interconectadas, junto a unas normas y protocolos de actuación, que permiten una aplicación instrumental real de la propuesta teórica que recoge este trabajo y que en conjunto, acaban configurando el Sistema de Información Arqueológica propuesto.
En breve subiremos una versión de la misma incorporando algunas de las aportaciones más esenciales apuntadas por los miembros del tribunal durante la defensa de la tesis.

Archaeology, like several other disciplines studying the physical landscape, is inherently about three-dimensional data; that is, about physical objects and volumes and their associated properties. Yet our records of this 3D reality have traditionally perforce been reduced to two dimensions, restricting the subsequent analysis to 2D, or at most 2.5D, as well. GIS have been the tools typically used to manage and analyse these 2D/2.5D spatial data sets since the early 1990s. Within the last decade, technological developments in data capture (such as laser scanning and image based modelling) have begun to generate large quantities of 3D data, giving rise to '3D' as the new buzzword. However, such data can be visually inspected but not spatially analysed in this form. We believe that what is lacking is a software infrastructure that can encompass both 'traditional' 2D and 'new' 3D archaeological data in the same 3D environment, and can allow for analysis in three dimensions. We propose here to construct such an infrastructure from pre-existing FOSS4G components, and to create a number of additional bespoke query and report functions in order to achieve the functionality required by archaeological researchers.

A team of earth scientists conducted a series of exploratory transects across the summit of Eratosthenes Seamount in 2010 and 2012 to better understand the geologic structure of this unique flat-topped feature in the East Mediterranean Sea. and optical imaging systems. The researchers could instantaneously communicate with archaeologists on shore by utilizing a high bandwidth satellite system on the E/V Nautilus. This system allowed researchers and archaeologists to better take advantage of this series of discoveries. The data collected during these field seasons, presented and discussed in this article, contributes to existing literature on the maritime traffic patterns of the ancient Eastern Mediterranean, and of open-sea travel over the underwater plateau from 800 BC— 800 AD.

In a PhD-project at the University of Basel (CH) the completely excavated Insula 30 of the roman city Augusta Raurica (Augst/Kaiseraugst, CH) is in the focus of an archaeological interpretation. For the first time in Augusta Raurica this work is achieved by the aid of a geographical information system (GIS). GIS is already established in different application fields of archaeology. In Augusta Raurica it is used since 2005. The introduced pilot project shows the method and procedure how archaeological records can be efficiently extrapolated as a source with the aid of GIS. Within the many advantages and possibilities of this interpretation method the sustainability has to be emphasized. The digitally extrapolated sources and the Data in the GIS are comprehensively available to the scientific community for their own research.

The first and foremost task of archaeological heritage protection is the spatial identification of archaeological sites. Our study proposes the introduction of predictive archaeological models in Hungary based on studies involving the known Hungarian site register. These could mean extensive tools, already available at the initial planning phase of the construction works, by which the preliminary protection of national sites can be secured.

La cartografia e la geografia acquistano un particolare ruolo quando le consideriamo in relazione alla problematica dei BB.CC. Tecniche e scienze tra le più antiche esse stesse spesso diventano oggetto delle nostre ricerche ed osservazioni. La storia e l’evoluzione del territorio diventano tutt’uno con la rappresentazione dello spazio geografico. Il desiderio, o più spesso, la necessità di rappresentare lo spazio coniuga un linguaggio, quello cartografico, che per millenni è sempre stato legato a se stesso e scandito dalla alterna evoluzione delle scienze e delle tecnica.
L’avvento nel XX secolo dei calcolatori, in particolare  del personal computer, ha comportato una significativa diffusione anche della cultura geografica e dei sistemi per il trattamento e la elaborazione delle informazioni a carattere geografico o spaziale, attraverso le discipline legate alla geografia quantitativa.
La diffusione della cultura geografica nel nostro Paese risente ancora di una “querelle” tra i geografi tradizionali rappresentativi ed i nuovi tecnici quantitativi; una questione molto dibattuta ed accesa negli anni ‘80 e ’90 del secolo scorso, che non ha certo trovato ancora una chiara definizione anche a carattere accademico.
La rappresentazione dello spazio ed in particolare  la definizione e ricostruzione di uno spazio “storico”, dove il termine  “storico” può acquistare una serie indeterminata di valenze e significati, certamente costituisce uno degli ambiti di applicazione della geografia più ampi e suggestivi possibili.
Lo sviluppo tecnologico apportato dalle discipline  informatiche ha permesso in poco più di un ventennio di ampliare notevolmente le possibilità di organizzare e gestire informazioni e modelli dello  spazio geografico, attraverso i modelli “georelazionali” si è passati a sistemi sempre più complessi capaci di gestire forme sempre più profonde della conoscenza. Il lavoro traccia una serie di esemplificazioni nell'usodei sistemi quantitativi applicati a diversi contesti di ricerca.

Die Reihe "Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie" soll einem in der jüngeren Vergangenheit entstandenen Bedürfnis Rechnung tragen, nämlich Examensarbeiten und andere Forschungsleistungen vornehmlich jüngerer Wissenschaftler in die Öffentlichkeit zu tragen. Die etablierten Reihen und Zeitschriften des Faches reichen längst nicht mehr aus, die vorhandenen Manuskripte aufzunehmen. Die Universitäten sind deshalb aufgerufen, Abhilfe zu schaffen. Einige von ihnen haben mit den ihnen zur Verfügung stehenden Mitteln unter zumeist tatkräftigem Handanlegen der Autoren die vorliegende Reihe begründet. Thematisch soll darin die ganze Breite des Faches vom Paläolithikum bis zur Archäologie der Neuzeit ihren Platz finden.

The investigated area was characterized by a great diversity of vegetation. Wetlands were occupied by riparian forests, and in some places by alder forests or small grass communities. The slopes and the moraine plateau were covered by beech forests with admixture of other tree species, while dry sandy hills were grown by coniferous forests. Woodlands provided building and fuel material, and after some adaptation (burning the forest floor and undergrowth) they were used as areas of less intensive grazing, hunting and gathering.
Nutritional needs of the community were met in a variety of ways, combining the use of products derived from crops and livestock, wild plants and possibly wild animals. Excavations carried out at Mozów, site 23 and at other settlements dating to the seventh and eighth centuries have not yielded many faunal remains. Few finds of animal bones, mostly cattle and small ruminants, only confirm the results of pollen analysis indicating the presence of open plant communities which were used as pastures. In the sediments of the discussed layer dating to the beginnings of the Middle Ages disappear heather Calluna vulgaris and common bracken Pteridiumaqilinum, which are the species characteristic mostly of forest communities and peat lands. In addition, after a long absence returns the occurrence of sorrel pollen grains Rumex, typeacetosa/acetosella, the plant associated with grazing. Slightly later appears plantain Plantagolanceolata, which is the indicator of a similar value. Furthermore, the sediments dating to the beginning of the early medieval phase contained rye pollen grains Secale and a single pollen of other grains cerealia, as well as nitrophilous ruderal plants of the goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae. The period after the probable time of functioning of Mozów settlement is characterised by the occurrence of stronger indicators of anthropogenic impact, including mugwort Artemisia, nettle Urtica, or weeds of cereal crops - cornflower Centaureacyanus. Their presence is probably related to younger settlement dated from the ninth to the tenth century, represented by numerous remains recovered in the area of Sulechów and the village of Kije (where two strongholds dated to the same period existed at that time), or at Zawady, site 1.
The occurrence of pollen grains and weeds is the direct evidence of human activity. Although few in number, they point towards people’s presence and penetration of surrounding areas. The transformations described above, as well as the changes in the proportion of particular ecosystems indicate the initial phase of anthropogenic impact on the environment, the process which continues uninterrupted until today.
The settlement discovered at Mozów, site 23 is one of the most comprehensively excavated remains of occupation from the older phases of the Early Middle Ages in the Middle Odra region. In the studied period also two other settlements functioned in Mozów-Sulechów microregion: Sulechów, site 14, which was similar in size to Mozów, site 23, and a slightly smaller one, known as Sulechów, site 10. A relatively high density of occupation indicates that the second half of the seventh century at the latest was already the period of stable settlement structures of a permanent character in the region.
Further development of this and other similar settlement clusters in the area enabled probably the emergence in the second half of the ninth century of many heavily fortified strongholds which served the role of central points for small tribal communities.
The study of the early medieval site at Mozów has provided new data on possible ways of the organization of space within the settlement in the older phases of the Early Middle Ages. Spatial structure of the site, reconstructed on the basis of recovered relics, was strongly influenced by local topography, which has analogies in other nearby well recognized settlements, e.g. Sulechów, site 10 or Jordanowo, site 7.

Wczesnośredniowieczna osada w Zawadzie, stan. 1, leżąca na obszarze doliny środkowej Odry należy na tym terenie do nielicznej grupy stanowisk rozpoznanych za pomocą metod wykopaliskowych. Zdecydowana większość pozostałych punktów osadniczych z tego obszaru, datowanych na zbliżony okres, do stanowiska w Zawadzie, jest znana wyłącznie z odkryć powierzchniowych. Utrudnia to formułowanie ostatecznych wniosków na temat osadnictwa. Dlatego też badanie najbliższego tła osadniczego dla omawianego tu stanowiska, podobnie jak w przypadku analiz osadnictwa związanego z grodziskiem w Nowińcu, stan. 2 (Łuczak, Gruszka 2012), należy traktować jako aktualne na obecnym etapie rozpoznania archeologicznego.

In this study we detect and discuss possible find locations of Palaeolithic artefacts in the intra-montane Mugello basin (Italy), investigating landforms and the respective landscape forming processes based on soil erosion dynamics. The recent fluvial terrace landscape of the basin shows three main Pleistocene terraces with several Middle and Upper Palaeolithic artefacts. Fresh artefact edges on the higher terraces indicate short transport distances. On the contrary, the more rounded material from the lower terrace point to water related transport and erosion processes. Beside the application of a hydro-erosive model to understand the present day, as well as the ancient landscape dynamics and the respective distribution of artefacts, we performed a detailed terrain analysis. Static and dynamic model information was utilized to explain the present day spatial distribution of artefact assemblages. Finally, we trained a stochastic model based on boosted regression trees to predict pote...

This study tests the use of Frequency Ratio (FR), Statistical Index (Wi), and Binary Logistic Regression (BLR) methods for establishing predictive maps for Iron Age sites in the Bekaa (Lebanon). As such it stands as the first attempt to use archaeological predictive modelling on a national level. The models were generated using an archaeological database consisting of 42 Iron Age I and 30 Iron Age II sites located in the Bekaa valley in Lebanon and six geo-environmental factors: distance to rivers, distance to cropland, slope, aspect, elevation, and terrain texture. The accuracy and predictive capacity of these models were tested using Kvamme’s Gain value. The results indicate that the FR method is more reliable in locating areas of archaeological potential than Wi and BLR. The analysis of the FR- and Wi-based models shows that distance to rivers, terrain texture, and elevation provide the most significant classes affecting settlement incidence. On the other hand, in the BLR, distance to crops and distance to rivers are the most statistically significant explanatory variables for identifying areas with high archaeological probability. The archaeological predictive maps produced in this study form a valuable tool for cultural heritage management and any future archaeological investigation of the Bekaa region.

This paper arises from the experience of the participation of a group of archaeologists in the drafting of the Landscape Plan of the Tuscany Region in the years 2011-2015. In the light of the latest experience in the field of applied archaeological research (Landscape Plans) it can be said that the ordering of archaeological record and its dynamic processing can result in more extensive developments. The promotion of appropriate insights can be the starting point for cognitive pathways aimed at describing (even very complex) planning problems inherent in the history of individual and specific geographic areas. Historical and archaeological reconstruction therefore actively and directly contributes to the evaluation of the critical issues present in the different horizons, takes part in the process of building the disciplines of use and helps to better target the pursuit of quality objectives in future planning.

1 Sono particolarmente grata a tutti i colleghi della Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma (SSBAR) che hanno favorito la realizzazione del SITAR. Desidero ringraziare vivamente tutto il gruppo di lavoro che collabora quotidianamente con me da alcuni anni alla strutturazione del Sistema e che, anche se indirettamente, ha contribuito alla realizzazione di questo testo: Dove per scala ovviamente non s'intende la scala metrica, ma il livello di approfondimento che occorre dare agli oggetti rappresentati, essendo ben coscienti che la rappresentazione GIS ha una scala 1:1. Su tale argomento si veda da ultimo Azzena 2011, 37-38.

Ladislav Čapek – Ondřej Malina – Ladislav Rytíř: Jenišovice (Kr. Písek) – Erforschung eines
untergegangenen mittelalterlichen Dorfes mit Hilfe von Oberflächenprospektionen.
Gegenstand der Untersuchung war die Dorfwüstung Jenišovice bei Milevsko. Die Besiedlung des Ortes ist
anhand von Funden aus früheren Feldbegehungen in das 13. – 16. Jahrhundert datiert. Die hier vorgestellte
Untersuchung wurde durch Baumaßnahmen veranlasst, die zwar nicht direkt den vermuteten Kern der
Besiedlung berührten, jedoch in dessen unmittelbarer Nachbarschaft verliefen.
Die ältesten schriftlichen Belege für das Dorf sind erst aus dem 16. Jahrhundert überliefert. Die Dorfgründung
kann aber anhand archäologischer Funde und ggf. auch im Zusammenhang mit der entstehenden
Herrschaft des Klosters Milevsko bereits im 13. Jahrhundert vermutet werden. Die durchgeführte Rettungsgrabung
lieferte keine Reste von Gebäudekonstruktionen oder Gruben und auch keine Kulturschicht.
Zum verbesserten Kenntnisstand über die Dorfwüstung trug insbesondere die analytische Feldbegehung
bei, die im Vorfeld der Grabung nicht nur die von den Baumaßnahmen betroffene Fläche und die eigentliche
Dorffläche umfasste, sondern auch das weitere Umfeld. Bei der Feldbegehung und deren Auswertung
wurden GPS- und GIS-Technologien eingesetzt, welche zur Anwendung moderner und auf diese Art von
Daten anwendbarer Methodik beitragen. Das gewonnene Keramikmaterial wurde in mehrere Warengruppen
unterteilt und einer Verbreitungsanalyse mit dem Hauptziel unterzogen, den Dorfkern zu identifizieren.
Die Methoden älterer Untersuchungen (Feldbegehung von Z. Brom) wurden mit den von den Autoren
angewandten Methoden verglichen. Im Rahmen der GIS-Verarbeitung verfolgten sie u. a. den Einfluss von
Erosion auf die Keramikfunde. Die Auswertung der Funde bestätigt die Lage des Siedlungskerns an der
bereits von Z. Brom ermittelten Stelle. Die angewandte Methodik trägt dennoch zur Erfassung von Grubenobjekten
in der Siedlungsfläche bei und erweitert die bestehenden Kenntnisse über die Siedlungsstruktur
des ehemaligen Dorfes und dessen Lage in Bezug auf seine natürliche Umgebung.
Deutsch von A. Klosar

From 2005 the Italian Archaeological Expedition of the University of Naples “l’Orientale” (Naples, Italy) under the direction of Rodolfo Fattovich is conducting archaeological investigations in the area of Aksum, mainly focussing along the slopes of Bieta Giyorgis hill and in the plain north of it. The project is aimed at integrating by mean of a multidisciplinary approach different technological and research procedures in order to reconstruct the long-term dynamics of man-environment interaction occurred in the region between 3000 BC and AD 1500 with a particular reference to the urban development of the ancient capital city of Ethiopia, and to better understand the process of human exploitation, manipulation, and management of the territory in ancient times.  The project includes research in archaeology (survey and excavation), palaeoethnobotany, palinnology, archaeozoology, geology, geomorphology, geoarchaeology, ethnoarchaeology and ethnohistory as well as mapping and GIS and remote sensing analysis.

This paper provides the first results of the new research project focused on the territory of Selvena (a medieval castle in southern Tuscany). The main difference between the new research and the old one is the perspective on the landscape as well as on the castle. We opted for a re-evaluation of the previous results starting from the still standing architecture. But we also started a new excavation outside the upper plateau where we detected a late and post-medieval sequence, whose complexity is encouraging for further research. The second main difference with the old project is the timeline that spans from the Protohistory to the 20th century CE. In the field activity this produced a stimulating coop- eration between prehistorians and medieval archaeologists. This led to emphasize more the continuities in the landscape rather than the breaks. The new timeline encouraged to link the present situation with postmedieval sources and maps, as well as material records on the field. Two intriguing sites (Monte Civitella and Monte Penna) proved to be more linked to Selvena than we previously thought. They also provide evidence of protohistoric funerary and possibly ritual places.