Placing Objects in Time
and Space Via A
Landscape Approach
Archaeological Survey and
Sampling
Jun Ueno Sunseri, UCSC, 2005
Topics to Cover
• What we are looking for ?
– Archaeological sites, landscapes, and
regions
• How do we find them?
– Survey and sampling
• Processing what we’ve found: tools and
approaches
– GIS applications, syntheses, interpolations
What are we looking for?
• Sites: places
with
archaeologically
discernible
human behavior
– Large sites:
dense
concentrations
of artifacts,
architecture,
activity areas
What are we looking for?
• Sites: places with
archaeologically
discernible
human behavior
– Small sites:
perhaps one
clear activity or
maybe ONLY
occur away from
big sites (mines,
cemetaries,
fields, etc.)
What are we looking for?
• Landscapes:
natural and
cultural ”canvas” for
spatial
patterning
– Ritual
Landscapes:
Indigenous
knowledge
systems
What are we looking for?
• Landscapes:
natural and
cultural ”canvas” for
spatial
patterning
– Ethnic
Landscapes:
Intersections
of resources,
cultures, and
politics
What are we looking for?
• Landscapes:
natural and
cultural ”canvas” for
spatial
patterning
– Settlement
ecology:
culturallyconstructed
product of
peoples’ lives
in the
environment
What are we looking for?
• Culturally constructed regions
– the relation of sites
to each other
(networks)
– Relations to the
environment (clay
sourcing)
– Multiple cultures on
the landscape
• Frontiers
• Routes
How do we find them?
• Survey : attempt to create more complete
picture of human behavior in 2D
– Remote sensing: aerial photography,
satellites, etc.
– Surface inspections: on foot, by vehicle, by
boat
– Non-invasive technologies: Ground
penetrating radar, magnetic interferometer,
etc.
Archaeological Survey
• Remote sensing
– Aerial Photography
(Early example:
Charles Lindbergh)
– More recently, satellite
imagery
• NASA databases
• decommisioned military
images:800,000 Cold
War CORONA images)
[e.g. Tell Brak, Syria]
Archaeological Survey
• Surface
inspections: on
foot, by
vehicle, by
boat
– Ground truth
of some
remote
sensing
– Design for
maximum use
of human and
time resources
Archaeological Survey
• Non-invasive
technologies: Ground
penetrating radar,
magnetic
interferometer, etc.
– reduces excavation and
increases happiness with
some communities
– saves time and money
on sampling (sometimes)
Sampling
• Getting part of a region or site with time
and money constraints
• Systematic: space sample units evenly
– squares, transects, etc.
• Random: gain representative sample of
large areas
– based on probability theory
Sampling
• Selective: research or community specific
Processing What We Find: GIS
• Interpolation: data about “non sites” and
the “scatter between”
• Synthesis: various analyses (faunal,
ceramic, lithic) can be integrated into a
multi-dimensional understanding of a
site/region/era
• Multiple scales of utilization for an
analytical tool: regional, site sized,
bones
• GIS as an
analytical tool for
landscape
research
– Geomorphology,
salvage
archaeology, and
placita-level
landscape
analysis
• GIS as an
analytical tool
for landscape
research
– Valley level
analysis of
agricultural
patterns related
to different
settlement
groupings
Request for Loaners
• El Rito, NM – summer Anth 3 course
• Diversity of students/goals of project
• Rio Arriba economics
Would you please consider giving or loaning
your course texts and reader to El Rito
students for the summer? I will assume
responsibility for the safe return of loaner
materials.
BREAK TIME
Thank you!