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 geo-referenced 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

The temporal dimension in a 4D archaeological data model: applicability of the geoinformation standard

Moving beyond the traditional border of two-dimensionality towards handling the third and even fourth, temporal, dimension in a GIS has been attracting many researchers. Archaeological data are inherently 3D and linked with time, which makes a 4D GIS tailored to archaeological data beneficial. Such a system would facilitate the handling of the three spatial and temporal dimension simultaneously and so enable better insights and more complex analyses. Its basis must be a conceptual data model, which pays attention to existing data models and standards. Therefore, this chapter focusses on the applicability of the ISO 19108 geoinformation standard to describe temporal information, which is a crucial aspect in archaeological research. For a set of six common temporal categories, e.g. the excavation time, the appropriate description according to this standard is determined. This will indicate in which cases the internationally recognized standard is suitable for use in an archaeological data model. Furthermore, part of the West European archaeological time scale is constructed as temporal ordinal reference system. For the first version, the NBN EN ISO 19108:2005 structure is used, whereas the second and third are based on geological variants. The results of the performed analysis are favorable to the usability of the ISO 19108 standard in archaeology; however, other temporal standards or data models may yield up better results

THE TEMPORAL DIMENSION IN A 4D ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA MODEL: APPLICABILITY OF THE GEOINFORMATION STANDARD

In recent years, the interest of many researchers in various domains is triggered to move beyond the traditional border of twodimensionality and explore the possibilities of the third and even the fourth, temporal, dimension. The emerging research interest concerning 3D and 4D and the handling of these additional dimensions can bring many benefits to archaeology as well. A 4D GIS tailored to archaeological data would facilitate better insights and more complex analyses. Its basis must be a conceptual 4D archaeological data model, which pays attention to existing data models and standards. Although in some cases more complex, archaeological data are closely related to geography and geo-information. Since the temporal dimension is a, and possibly the most, substantial element in archaeological research, this paper focusses mainly on this dimension. In this paper, the applicability of the ISO 19108 geo-information standard on temporal information for archaeological data is investigated. For a set of common temporal categories, e.g. the excavation time, the appropriate description according to this standard is determined. This will indicate in which cases the internationally recognized standard is suitable for use in an archaeological data model. Furthermore, three versions of the West European archaeological time scale as temporal ordinal reference system are constructed. For the first version, the ISO 19108 structure is used, whereas the second and third are based on geological variants. The results of the performed analysis are favourable to the usability of the ISO 19108 standard in archaeology; however, other temporal standards or data models may yield up better results

Bridging archaeology and GIS: influencing factors for a 4D archaeological GIS

In archaeology, the intensive application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) with their specialized capabilities in analysing spatial objects and relations, is hampered by the data particularities. Consequently, the idea arises to develop a comprehensive four-dimensional (4D, i.e. 3D and time) GIS tailored to archaeology, which would facilitate simultaneously handling the spatial and temporal dimensions. This paper endeavours to propose a methodological framework for the development of such a 4D archaeological GIS. This methodology is centred on the usability of the system and therefore integrates a methodology based on human cognition and the approach of the user-centred design cycle. The proposed framework consists of three pillars: (i) the user-oriented, (ii) data-oriented and (iii) analysis-oriented pillar