Using Computers in Archaeology: Towards Virtual Pasts

317 Pages·2003·15.29 MB·English

by  Gary Lock

USING COMPUTERS IN
ARCHAEOLOGY
As computing becomes increasingly essential to the work of the archaeologist,
archeologists require a clear understanding of the impact of information technology
upon their discipline.
This non-technical introductory volume discusses and explains the influence of
computers on all aspects of archaeological research and interpretation, from survey,
excavation and landscape to museums, education and communicating the past. The
author meets the need of the archaeologist to keep abreast of how computers can assist
at all stages of archaeological research and data analysis.
Theoretical information, focusing on Geographical Information Systems, for example,
is presented through description of archaeological processes, and is consistently
practical and free from jargon. The author acknowledges the problem of obsolescence in
computing and presents archaeological technology as an on-going, constantly changing
process rather than as a final, achievable state. The book will thus remain relevant
through future advances in technology and informative about the general principles of,
and the issues arising from, the relationship between computers and archaeology.
Highly illustrated and referenced throughout with case-studies and examples, Using
Computers in Archaeology: Towards Virtual Pasts is a timely survey of this increasingly
important area of archaeology, catering for both the student and the experienced
archaeologist.
Gary Lock is Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Oxford, editor of Beyond
the Map: Archaeology and Spatial Technologies (2000) and co-editor of On the Theory and
Practice of Archaeological Computing (2000).

USING COMPUTERS IN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Towards virtual pasts
Gary Lock
First published 2003
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
© 2003 Gary Lock
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.
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
Lock, G. R. (Gary R.)
Using computers in archaeology: towards virtual pasts / Gary Lock.
p.cm.
1. Archaeology–Data processing. 2. Archaeology–Information technology.
3. Geographic information systems. I. Title.
CC80.4.L63 2003
930.1´028–dc21 2002035669
ISBN 0-203-45107-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-45698-X (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–16620–9 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–16770–1 (pbk)
IN MEMORY OF DICK SPICER,
A GOOD FRIEND AND A
STIMULATING COLLEAGUE

CONTENTS
List of illustrations ix
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xv
1 Archaeology and computers 1
Data and theory 1
Modelling the past 5
Towards contextuality 9
Theory into practice – the next six chapters 12
2 Survey and prospection 14
Working with aerial photographs 17
Managing AP collections 26
Using satellite imagery 30
A change of scale – geophysical surveys 33
Topographic surveys – working with points and lines 48
Surface survey 69
Towards data integration 77
3 Excavation and computers 78
Background 78
Excavation recording 85
The written record 86
Harris Matrix generation 98
Integrating spatial data 101
Towards information systems 110
4 Beyond excavation 124
Dating and chronology 124
Artefact studies 129
Specialists 142
Modelling, simulation and archaeology 147
Three-dimensional modelling 152
vii
CONTENTS
5 Digital landscapes 164
The attraction of GIS within archaeology 164
Predicting the past? 168
Quantifying space 170
Towards digital places 174
The GIS bandwagon 182
6 Preserving and managing evidence of the past 183
CRM and increasing computer usage: an international trend 183
CRM in England: dealing with diversity 198
At the county level 199
At the national level 205
Museums, computers and archaeological collections 211
7 Communicating archaeology 219
Museums into the future 220
Going interactive 222
Interacting world-wide 229
Teaching and learning 231
Research resources 240
Electronic publication 247
8 Virtual futures 253
Information as product? 253
Virtuality, the self and culture 260
The past meets the future in a digital present 263
Notes 269
Bibliography 273
Index 293
viii
ARCHAEOLOGY AND COMPUTERS
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1.1 The integration of computers into the hermeneutic spiral showing
the area of mediation between the past and the present 7
1.2 A suggested development of archaeological computing showing the
relationship between technological and theoretical developments 8
2.1 Manipulation of a digital image by histogram, or contrast, stretching 18–19
2.2 Mapping from aerial photographs 21–23
2.3 A computer-drawn contour plan of Mam Tor hillfort in the Peak
District, England 25
2.4 Describing crop-marks within the MORPH system 27
2.5 Output from Photonet showing oblique aerial photographic coverage 28–29
2.6 The use of satellite imagery in the Archaeological Mission of Zeugma
Project 31–32
2.7 Grid balancing of geophysical data 34
2.8 Stages in the computer-based analysis and display of resistivity data
from Freens Court, Hereford 35–38
2.9 The results of a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey at
Leominster Priory 40–42
2.10 Working with vector data at Alfred’s Castle, Oxfordshire 43–47
2.11 Digital mapping and surveying demonstrated by the COMPASS
(now ForeSight) System and the Thailand Archaeometallurgy Project 49–52
2.12 RCHME (now English Heritage) computer-assisted surveying of
Pilsdon Pen hillfort, Dorset 55–58
2.13 Surface modelling of a Bronze Age ring cairn on Stapeley Hill,
Shropshire with possible ridge and furrow 59
2.14 Experiments in the required density of points in a topographic survey
illustrated by the simulated site of Clonehenge 60–61
2.15 Planning the ancient city of Sámárra, Iraq 63–65
2.16 RCHME (now English Heritage) survey of Holne Moor, Dartmoor
using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology 66–68
2.17 Surface survey and the Najerilla Project, Spain 71–75
ix