Digital Archaeology: Bridging method and theory

256 Pages·2006·4.44 MB·English

DIGITAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Digital Archaeology is a unique edited work addressing the changing and growing role of
digital technologies in all aspects of archaeology and heritage management. Exploring the
wide potential of IT across the discipline, this book goes beyond the prevailing notion
that computers are merely a methodological tool, and considers their influence on the
very nature of archaeological study.
Blending rigorous archaeological theory with the extensive practical knowledge of
professionals in the field, Digital Archaeology is a highly accessible text that shows and
discusses the ways in which computing can be holistically incorporated into archaeology.
The book discusses elements of archaeological theory and reveals how computers can be
used to reintegrate theoretical questions into the application of field work and analysis.
Beginning with a history of the growth of computing within the field, the book goes
on to look at examples of how and why different technologies have been implemented
into archaeological theory and method. It includes GIS, virtual reality modelling, internet
publishing and archiving, and on-site digital recording using such examples as the
integrated digital recording of the Ferrybridge Chariot and other case studies from around
the world. This volume also discusses ways in which technology can now be used in
normal excavations and how this affects the study of archaeology as a whole, from
planning to publication.
Thomas L.Evans is Head of Geomatics for Oxford Archaeology and a Research
Associate at the University of Oxford’s Institute of Archaeology.
Patrick Daly is currently a British Academy Reckitt Travelling Fellow in
Archaeology based at the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, University of
Cambridge.

DIGITAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Bridging method and theory
Edited by
Thomas L.Evans and Patrick Daly

Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York,
NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & brands Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of
thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.
© 2006 Thomas L.Evans and Patrick Daly
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the
information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any
errors or omissions that may be made.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Evans, Thomas L. (Thomas Laurence)
Digital archaeology: bridging method and theory/Thomas L.Evans & Patrick Daly. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Archaeology—Methodology. 2. Digital
electronics. 3. Electronic digital computers. 4. Archaeology— Philosophy. 5. Antiques—Collection
and preservation. 6. Cultural property—Protection. I. Daly, Patrick T, 1975– II. Title. CC75.7.E93
2005 930.1′028—dc22 2004028972
ISBN 0-203-00526-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-31048-2 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-31050-4 (pbk)
TLE
TO DR CARMEN ELISA OQUENDO CIFUENTES
My wife, my love, my best friend. Without her support and affection, this would never
have been completed.
PD
TO EZRA, MIKE, AND PHIL
For the push down the road to where I am now—the blame or credit lies at least partially
with you all.
CONTENTS

List of figures and tables viii
Notes on contributors xiii
Acknowledgements xvi

1
PART I Where we’ve been and where we are going

Introduction: archaeological theory and digital pasts 2

PATRICK DALY AND THOMAS L.EVANS
1 Digital archaeology: a historical context 8

EZRA B.W.ZUBROW

28
PART II Data collection

2 Archaeological survey in a digital world 29

MATT BRADLEY
3 Drowning in data? Digital data in a British contracting unit 43

PAUL BACKHOUSE

50
PART III Quantification made easy

4 You, me and IT: the application of simple quantitative techniques in the 51
examination of gender, identity and social reproduction in the Early to

Middle Iron Age of northeastern France
THOMAS L.EVANS

82
PART IV Modelling the past

5 Jouma’s tent: Bedouin and digital archaeology 83

CAROL PALMER AND PATRICK DALY
6 Digital archaeology and the scalar structure of pastoral landscapes: 113
modeling mobile societies of prehistoric Central Asia
MICHAEL FRACHETTI
7 What you see is what you get? Visualscapes, visual genesis and hierarchy 132

MARCOS LLOBERA

153
PART V Virtual worlds

8 ‘Digital gardening’: an approach to simulating elements of 154
palaeovegetation and some implications for the interpretation of

prehistoric sites and landscapes
BENJAMIN R.GEAREY AND HENRY P.CHAPMAN
9 At the edges of the lens: photography, graphical constructions and 173
cinematography
GRAEME P.EARL

190
PART VI Disseminating the data

10 Electronic publication in archaeology 191

JULIAN D.RICHARDS
11 Computers, learning and teaching in archaeology: life past and present 202
on the screen
GARY LOCK
12 What’s another word for thesaurus? Data standards and classifying the 210
past
ANDREW BAINES AND KENNETH BROPHY

222
PART VII Conclusion

Afterword 223

PATRICK DALY AND THOMAS L.EVANS

Index 227
FIGURES AND TABLES
Figures

1.1 Intellectual dialectic 10
1.2 List of spatial physical realities 17
2.1 Internal north elevation nave, Dorchester Abbey 33
2.2 Internal north elevation quire, Dorchester Abbey 34
2.3 Internal east elevation People’s Chapel, Dorchester Abbey 35
2.4 Simplified version of real-time CAD based line drawing of 39

Ferrybridge Chariot
2.5 GIS contour model of Ferrybridge Chariot, during excavation 39
2.6 Photorectified CAD model of Ferrybridge Chariot, used during 40

excavation
2.7 Simple photorectified GIS contour model of Ferrybridge 42

Chariot used for initial post-excavation phase
4.1 Geographic situation of sites 53
4.2 Cemetery population and number of cemeteries by phase 59
4.3 Comparison of USB populations by gender category 60
4.4 Gender artefact mean frequencies by phase 62
4.5 Non-engendered artefact frequency 63
4.6 Comparison of USB frequencies of warrior to torc bearing 66

assemblage
4.7 Ceramics in all categories 67
4.8 Ceramics: masculine to feminine only 68
4.9 Personal ornamentation, excluding torcs 68
4.10 Fibula 69
4.11 Bracelets 70
4.12 Total artefact frequency and population 72
5.1 The Wadi Faynan study area 86
5.2 Map of study area showing sites included in the Bedouin 89

Camp Survey in 1999, coded by tribal affiliation
5.3 A black tent, bayt al-sha’r, in the Wadi Faynan 91
5.4 Distribution of all finds for sites (a) WF92, (b) WF869 and (c) 94

WF982
5.5 View of WF942 looking south-east 97
5.6 Distribution of all finds at WF942 98
5.7 Discarded articulated left hind limb from primary butchery at 100

WF942
5.8 Distribution of all finds at WF869 101
5.9 A sardine tin modified into a toy and a plastic piping 104

shepherd’s flute and broken music cassette
5.10 Distribution of all finds at WF982 105
5.11 WF909 showing platforms and hearths from an encampment 106