GIS for Archaeology

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• You will be able to work with Geographic Information Systems in many disciplines.
• You will develop skills that will enable you to solve problems by referring to documentation and online sources.
• You will be able to design and implement spatial databases using industry-standard GIS software, and will have a sound grasp of the principles of a range of spatial technologies.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• How the use of GIS has contributed to theoretical and methodological developments of landscape archaeology.
• How Archaeology has used GIS in the past.

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• You will be able to represent, map and analyse archaeological data with GIS.
• Grasp the archaeological implications of new sources of spatial data, such as LiDAR and GPS.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Critically evaluate archaeological knowledge claims based on GIS analysis.

Typically the syllabus will cover the following topics:

• Introduction to GIS
• Understanding and making maps
• Spatial databases and metadata
• Elevation models and their products
• Remote sensing and aerial survey (LiDAR etc.)
• Sites, territories and distance
• GPS survey data and geodetics
• Visibility and intervisibility
• Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) and GIS

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching will be a combination of:

• Lectures on the theory and practice of spatial technology, and on the ways in which these have been applied to archaeological research and management;
• Practical classes in which you will be encouraged to develop practical ability to design and implement spatial databases, and to analyse archaeological spatial information.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Aldenderfer, M. and Maschner, H.D.G (1996). Anthropology, space and geographic information systems, Spatial information series. New York: Oxford University Press.

DeMers, M. N (1997). Fundamentals of geographic information systems. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Conolly J and Lake M (2006). Geographic Information Systems in Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Burrough, P. A. and R. A. McDonnell (1998). Principles of geographic information systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lock G.R (2000). Beyond the map: archaeology and spatial technologies. Amsterdam: IOS Press.

Bodenhamer DJ, Corrigan J and Harris TM (2010). The spatial humanities: GIS and the future of humanities scholarship.. Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press.

Allen, K.M.S., Green, S. and Zubrow, E.B.W (1990). Interpreting space: GIS and archaeology, Applications of Geographic Information Systems. London: Taylor & Francis.

Wheatley D & Gillings M (2002). Spatial technology and archaeology. London: Taylor & Francis.

Lock, G.R. and Stancic, Z (1995). Archaeology and geographical information systems: a European perspective. London: Taylor & Francis.

Chapman H (2006). Landscape Archaeology and GIS. Oxford: Tempus.

Westcott, K.L. and Brandon, R.J. (2000). Practical applications of GIS for archaeologists: a predictive modelling kit. London: Taylor & Francis.

Maschner, H.D.G (1996). New methods, old problems: geographical information systems in modern archaeological research. Carbondale: Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Lock, G.R. and Molyneaux B.L (2006). Confronting scale in archaeology. New York: Springer.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External