Gary Lock

Archaeology and Geographical Information Systems: A European Perspective

A view from across the water: the North American experience in archaeological GIS GIS and archeological resource management - a European agenda To be or not to be: will an object-space-time GIS/AIS become a reality or end up an archaeological entity? Beyond GIS Perceiving time and space in an isostatically rising region Cumulative Viewshed Analysis: a GIS-based method for investigating intervisibility, and its archaeological application The impact of GIS in archaeology: a personal perspective Another way to deal with maps in archaeological GIS.

Hillforts, Emotional Metaphors, and the Good Life: a Response to Armit

Hillforts have always been central to interpretations of Iron Age society and Ian Armits paper in this journal (2007) re-introduces the question of whether or not they represent ‘endemic warfare’. This response will critique claims for warfare in the Early and Middle Iron Age of Wessex and present an alternative view of hillforts and how they may have been used. It is argued that within dispersed small scale agricultural societies the communal building, maintenance, and use of hillforts can act to structure the sociality of people whose interests are in creating a harmonious existence. Within this view, hillforts act as metaphors for the managing of emotional relationships within groups of people as they go about their daily lives.

A simple algorithm for the mapping of TIN data onto a static grid: Applied to the stratigraphic simulation of river meander deposits

Abstract Triangulated irregular networks (TIN) in landscape evolution models have the advantage of representing geologic processes that involve a horizontal component, such as faulting and river meandering, due to their adaptive remeshing capability of moving, adding and deleting nodes. However, the moving node feature is difficult to integrate with the accumulation of a three-dimensional (3D) subsurface stratigraphy, because it requires 3D subsurface interpolation, which results in stratigraphic data loss due to heterogeneity of the subsurface and averaging effects. We present a simple algorithm that maps any changes in the configuration of TIN landscape nodes onto a static grid, facilitating the creation of a fixed stratigraphic record of TIN surface change. The algorithm provides a practical solution not only for the stratigraphic problem, but also for other problems that involve linking of models that use TIN and raster discretization schemes. An example application is presented using the river meandering module incorporated in the CHILD landscape evolution model. Examples are shown of cross-sections, and voxel distributions and geo-archaeological depth–age maps. These illustrate the type of insights that can be obtained from process-based modeling of subsurface fluvial architecture, and highlight potential applications of stratigraphic simulation.

Continuity and Religious Practices in Roman Britain: The Case of the Rural Religious Complex at Marcham/Frilford, Oxfordshire

This paper presents the interim results of Oxford Universitys on-going excavations at the Roman religious complex at Marcham/Frilford, Oxfordshire. This site has been the focus of debates about continuity from the Iron Age into the Roman period since the original excavations at the temple by Bradford and Goodchild in the 1930s. New findings from the current excavations are brought to bear on this question, in particular how the Iron Age activity influenced the design and layout of the Roman complex. In addition, the paper uses preliminary analysis of the finds from the excavations to discuss the nature of religious practices and activities at the site.

Methods for developing 3D visualizations of archaeological data: a case study of the Early Bronze Age Helike Corridor House

ABSTRACT The Digital Helike Project aims at the digitization of archaeological data from the Helike Project, Achaia, Greece. This paper advances understanding of Early Bronze Age house building techniques with focus on corridor houses. The Helike Corridor House is a fine example of an architectural style of the Early Helladic period EH II/Early EH III on the Greek mainland and it is used here as a case study. A methodology for 3D reconstruction is described supporting both structural integrity simulations and advanced visualization studies. The paper focuses on three aspects: firstly, it highlights technological innovations in the Bronze Age period by drawing attention to structural integrity studies recently carried out by the research team; secondly, it describes a methodology for building fully geo-referenced 3D models supporting structural integrity studies and visualization on GIS-Geographic Information Systems; and thirdly, it leads to the universal access of data and visualization over the Internet through the selection of appropriate open source, open standards and freely available tools and applications. The methodologies proposed here deepen insights on archaeological data enabling new inferences and knowledge to be gained through the implementation of universally shared low cost applications.