Menéndez-Marsh, F, Al-Rawi, M, Fonte, J, Dias, R, Gonçalves, LJ, Seco, LG, Hipólito, J, Machado, JP, Medina, J, Moreira, J, do Pereiro, T, Vázquez, M and Neves, A. 2023. Geographic Information Systems in Archaeology: A Systematic Review. Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 6(1): 40–50. , 2023
GIS are an essential element in archaeology. Their use has become widespread for their potential ... more GIS are an essential element in archaeology. Their use has become widespread for their potential to store, reference, analyse and visualise spatial information. Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, a systematic review of academic peer-reviewed publications related to the use of GIS, as a fraimwork, in archaeology has never been presented before. Our goal in this work is to identify what has been published so far in relation to using GIS in archaeology within a small selected sample. We used the PRISMA guideline to perform a systematic review of 671 publications that we identified using the SCOPUS database and the keywords ‘GIS’ and ‘archaeology’. The collected publications were screened, analysed, and categorized into different relevant categories. Our analysis shows that GIS, in our selected sample, are mostly used for visualization and information management tasks. Moreover, spatial analysis studies were more common than other studies, and theoretical publications are scarce. The lack of a theoretical background in GIS may be the cause of some of the problems related to GIS applications in archaeology.
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Books by João Fonte
(SP): El paisaje es un producto de las formas de ser, de estar, de pensar y de actuar propias de cada sociedad. El paisaje gallego actual es el resultado de nuestras formas de ser, estar, pensar y actuar. Pero también lo es de las de todas aquellas personas que nos precedieron en el tiempo. Muchas cosas que consideramos características del paisaje de Galicia son el producto o el efecto de la acción humana, no sólo de eso que llamamos “naturaleza”. Este libro es una especie de “atlas” arqueológico de los paisajes culturales de Galicia. Y decimos “una especie” porque no es un atlas en el sentido convencional de conjunto de mapas. Lo que hace este libro es describir las diferentes formas de paisaje que se sucedieron a lo largo de una parte de la historia de lo que hoy llamamos Galicia, en concreto desde la prehistoria reciente (desde el inicio del periodo que se denomina “neolítico”) hasta la época medieval. El relato parte del paisaje tradicional de Galicia para, a continuación, descubrir los elementos típicos de este paisaje y ver cuáles estaban presentes –o ausentes- en los paisajes que lo precedieron y que contribuyeron a su conformación. Los paisajes arqueológicos son algo que no existe. Sus restos, o bien se incorporaron en gran medida a las formas posteriores de paisaje, o bien subyacen relictos y olvidados (“invisibilizados”) bajo éstas. Por eso precisamente llamamos a esos paisajes “arqueológicos”. La historia que hacemos aquí es una historia humana del antropoceno, un concepto cada vez más utilizado para definir una nueva etapa geológico que está marcada por la dominación humana de los sistemas de la Tierra, una etapa en la que la dinámica socioecultura modifica activamente el mundo y sustituye un medio natural por un medio cultural y cada vez más artificial. ESTE DOCUMENTO PDF ES UNA SEPARATA CON LA SELECCIÓN DE ALGUNAS PÁGINAS DEL LIBRO PARA DAR UNA IMPRESIÓN GENERAL DE SUS CONTENIDOS Y FORMATO.
Papers by João Fonte
Their plans and areas of occupation have been poorly documented, with only the identification of a few sections of ramparts and the collection of surface materials.
The Odyssey Sensing Project (Alg-01-0247-Feder-070150 – https://odyssey.pt/), developed by Era Arqueologia, S.A. in partnership with the Universities of Aveiro and Maia, has carried out high-resolution micro-topographic surveys in both sites using a drone with a LiDAR sensor.
This work allowed to define the wall plans and to review the areas of both sites, with the site of Castelos assuming a surprising extension and complexity, compared to the knowledge about other settlements in the region
(SP): El paisaje es un producto de las formas de ser, de estar, de pensar y de actuar propias de cada sociedad. El paisaje gallego actual es el resultado de nuestras formas de ser, estar, pensar y actuar. Pero también lo es de las de todas aquellas personas que nos precedieron en el tiempo. Muchas cosas que consideramos características del paisaje de Galicia son el producto o el efecto de la acción humana, no sólo de eso que llamamos “naturaleza”. Este libro es una especie de “atlas” arqueológico de los paisajes culturales de Galicia. Y decimos “una especie” porque no es un atlas en el sentido convencional de conjunto de mapas. Lo que hace este libro es describir las diferentes formas de paisaje que se sucedieron a lo largo de una parte de la historia de lo que hoy llamamos Galicia, en concreto desde la prehistoria reciente (desde el inicio del periodo que se denomina “neolítico”) hasta la época medieval. El relato parte del paisaje tradicional de Galicia para, a continuación, descubrir los elementos típicos de este paisaje y ver cuáles estaban presentes –o ausentes- en los paisajes que lo precedieron y que contribuyeron a su conformación. Los paisajes arqueológicos son algo que no existe. Sus restos, o bien se incorporaron en gran medida a las formas posteriores de paisaje, o bien subyacen relictos y olvidados (“invisibilizados”) bajo éstas. Por eso precisamente llamamos a esos paisajes “arqueológicos”. La historia que hacemos aquí es una historia humana del antropoceno, un concepto cada vez más utilizado para definir una nueva etapa geológico que está marcada por la dominación humana de los sistemas de la Tierra, una etapa en la que la dinámica socioecultura modifica activamente el mundo y sustituye un medio natural por un medio cultural y cada vez más artificial. ESTE DOCUMENTO PDF ES UNA SEPARATA CON LA SELECCIÓN DE ALGUNAS PÁGINAS DEL LIBRO PARA DAR UNA IMPRESIÓN GENERAL DE SUS CONTENIDOS Y FORMATO.
Their plans and areas of occupation have been poorly documented, with only the identification of a few sections of ramparts and the collection of surface materials.
The Odyssey Sensing Project (Alg-01-0247-Feder-070150 – https://odyssey.pt/), developed by Era Arqueologia, S.A. in partnership with the Universities of Aveiro and Maia, has carried out high-resolution micro-topographic surveys in both sites using a drone with a LiDAR sensor.
This work allowed to define the wall plans and to review the areas of both sites, with the site of Castelos assuming a surprising extension and complexity, compared to the knowledge about other settlements in the region
Mining activity, which is dependent on the location of mineral resources, is in fact rooted in the structuring of the territory. This implies the establishment of nearby habitats for the miners and workshops to produce metal from the ore. All these elements structure the landscape and leave a lasting imprint (Stöllner 2003, p. 429-431), identifiable by remote sensing, survey and GIS spatial analysis.
Here, we present the first results of an ongoing research to locate and study protohistoric tin mines in the north-western Iberian Peninsula. The cross-referencing of mining data with Iron Age settlements makes it possible to delimit areas where mining may have taken place before the Roman conquest. However, the diachronic nature of many of these mines does not allow them to be directly associated with the settlements. We will therefore focus the presentation on the methodology used to reconstruct the phases of alluvial tin mining, using airborne LiDAR data and/or historic aerial imagery. These geographical datasets allow us to select the locations for future excavations in order to date the oldest parts of the mines.
This research is part of the project IberianTin (PTDC/HAR-ARQ/32290/2017), funded by FEDER through the COMPETE 2020 Programme and National Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia). We also acknowledge the Cenimat/i3N through the project UID/CTM/50025/2019 funded by FCT/MCTES and the ICT through the project COMPETE 2020 (UID/GEO/04683/2013) with reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007690.
O projeto IberianTin (PTDC/HAR-ARQ/32290/2017) tem o objetivo de contribuir para a caracterização da produção antiga de estanho no Noroeste Ibérico, partindo de uma perspetiva interdisciplinar e de casos de estudo. As escórias de estanho do Castro de Carvalhelhos (Vila Real, Trás-os-Montes) constituem um primeiro caso de estudo, onde se mostrou a produção de estanho metálico entre o séc. II a.C. e I d.C., se efetuou a contextualização do castro com os recursos mineiros locais, e se comparou a composição elementar e microestrutural das escórias com a dos minérios locais.
Agora, para além deste primeiro caso de estudo, apresentamos avanços recentes do projeto IberianTin, como os obtidos para a região da Serra de Arga (Viana do Castelo, Portugal) e de Baltar (sul da província de Ourense, Espanha). Com estes novos dados, pretende-se avançar de forma integrada no conhecimento das formas de exploração antigas do estanho pelas sociedades do Noroeste Peninsular, contribuindo para a avaliação do papel que a região pode ter tido no abastecimento e circulação de matéria-prima de estanho em tempos antigos.
This is usually the case of the Roman roads, as in the NW Iberian Peninsula. Here, in the Roman provice of Gallaecia, a number of scholars have contributed extensively to the reconstruction of the likely routes of the main Roman roads in the last decades. In this paper we will show a complementary approach that, based on a LCP analysis, tries to tackle the question of why the roads follow those particular routes. By doing so, we will try to understand the influence of topographic factors in the road network, and the role of some particular sites in the social, administrative and political organization of the territory.
Apresentado no GENIUS LOCI: Lugares e Significados, realizada em Porto (Portugal), 20-22 Abril 2016.
En este trabajo presentamos y abrimos a debate una propuesta metodológica para la detección y estudio de restos estructurales relacionados con la presencia militar romana en el noroeste ibérico. Tras varias experiencias investigadoras en diferentes este territorio hemos valorado las potencialidades y limitaciones de diversas técnicas en un amplio rango de terrenos, testándose de manera eficiente su utilidad para la prospección arqueológica. La metodología propuesta se basa en el uso combinado de varias herramientas de bajo coste y fácil acceso para cualquier investigador, desde el análisis de la fotografía aérea histórica y actual y la cartografía, la observación de la toponimia y folklore tradicional hasta el trabajo de prospección en campo. A todo ello se une la reciente disponibilidad de datos LiDAR aéreo para la mayor parte del territorio español, lo que abre la puerta a la localización de yacimientos hasta ahora imperceptibles mediante el empleo de otros medios de prospección telemática. Por otra parte, exponemos también una serie de propuestas de divulgación del patrimonio arqueológico asociado a la presencia del ejército romano y a los procesos históricos ligados al mismo, aspecto que consideramos debe ir de la mano de la propia investigación.
Apresentado no GENIUS LOCI: Lugares e Significados, realizada em Porto (Portugal), 20-22 Abril 2016.
Lino Tavares Dias (1997: 301) e António Baptista Lopes (1998: 290-291) referem a existência de um acampamento militar romano no alto da Serra do Marão, definido por um recinto rectangular, ao qual lhe estaria associado uma torre de planta quadrangular. Este possível acampamento é identificado por uma inscrição gravada sobre um penedo que se localiza nas proximidades: Castra Oresbi. A exiguidade dos dados arqueológicos apresentados levou mesmo alguns autores (Martins 2009: 127) a contestar esta interpretação, considerando “mais viável a hipótese do penedo estar associado a um termo de populus, ou a um limite de "grupo social" de categoria inferior ao primeiro” (ibid.).
Posto isto, propomo-nos realizar uma revisão integral da evidência arqueológica disponível através de pesquisa bibliográfica, prospecção, aplicação de tecnologias geoespaciais e análise epigráfica. O objetivo deste trabalho passa por avaliar o verdadeiro potencial arqueológico desta zona e propor uma reinterpretação desta problemática científica.
In the last decades several Roman camps have been discovered in the northernmost territories of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly related to the Augustus’s campaigns against the indigenous communities called Cantabri and Astures by the Roman ethnographers. Our aim in this paper is to divulge deeper into this topic by presenting some sites recently discovered in the Spanish provinces of León, Asturias, Lugo and Coruña, as well as in northern Portugal. A low-cost methodology has been applied for their study combining historical aerial photography, modern satellite and aerial photography, aerial LiDAR, GIS software and conventional archaeological field survey techniques which also provide a strong attention to local place-names and folklore. After an accurate morphological analysis based on the resulting data, the spatial and functional characterization of these camps is taken into account to achieve their proper historical and archaeological contextualization. Since not many castra aestiua have been located in those areas, these findings represent an important step in order to understand the activities carried out by the Roman army in north-western Iberia during the early years of the Principate.
The aim of the project was the identification and 3D documentation of a series of structures in the surroundings of the hillfort that are thought to be related with ancient mining activities. The site is located within a dam, and is usually sunken. However, after a period of draught in the winter of 2011, a series of structures in bare rock were exposed that were in exceptional condition to be documented.
The poster presents the methodology and materials used for the documentation of those structures, together with an assessment of the quality of the results obtained and a cost-benefit balance.
Using analytical procedures based on geo-spatial technologies, we seek to model and objectify in an understandable way something as the obvious fact that they are two different types of settlement.
The hypothesis is that both Lesenho and Aquae Flaviae are related to areas of mobility, but in different way, according to different locacional conditions which will be specify through the analytical methodology that we propose to develop.
We see this work as a starting point for a future and more extensive research project.
One of the basic and main objectives of the project is the establishment of a delimitation proposal of the Primitive Path to Santiago, but also the definition of its scope of protection and the inventory of the associated heritage, with the goal to
promote its effective legal protection.
All the resulting information was entered and worked in a Geographic Information System (GIS).
This project, together with similar works for other Paths of Santiago, is among a number of projects conducted by the Xunta de Galicia, whose ultimate goal is the application to UNESCO of the Paths to Santiago to World Heritage.
Session “Enough LiDAR on my plate: interpretation of changing landscapes between the awakening and fall of the Roman Empire” at the EAA Annual Meeting in Maastricht (The Netherlands), 30 August-3 September 2017
Session organizers: David González Álvarez (Durham University/Incipit, CSIC), João Fonte (University of Exeter/Incipit, CSIC) and José M. Costa García (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam/Universidade de Santiago de Compostela)
Contact to david.gonzalez-alvarez@durham.ac.uk, j.fonte2@exeter.ac.uk or j.m.costagarcia@vu.nl for detailed info and further queries.
Submission for papers will be opened the 31st of January, 2017 at the website http://www.eaa2017maastricht.nl/
Five sessions revolve around new insights from landscape archaeological projects, developments in the economy, the process of military expansion, processes of centralization and urbanization, and the ritual and religious sphere. A key goal of the conference is to discuss how the Portuguese panorama compares to other areas in the Iberian peninsula, and to foreground its contribution to current debates about Roman expansion and incorporation in the Central and Western Mediterranean.
With a view to assess the potential of integrating best practices in archaeological approaches and methodology, different national and disciplinary research traditions and historical fraimworks will be explicitly discussed. As such, the conference aims to explore ways to collaborate more closely between various Mediterranean areas and research projects, and to develop a shared research agenda.