Spatial statistical analysis applied to magnetometric archaeological data

José Antonio Esquivel, Beatriz Benjumea, José Antonio Peña

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1997, 8, 55-65

Abstract

Geophysical techniques applied to archaeological exploration involve specific problems of data interpretation, due to the spatial characteristics that they possess and to the particularities of material remains in archaeological sites. This work shows an application of statistical spatial analysis to the study of data in 2D coordinates together with the value of a variable z, that quantifies a spatial soil characteristic (in the magnetometric survey these values correspond to the magnetic intensity or gradient values). The analysis includes exploratory statistical non-spatial methods and other methods extracted from the statistical spatial analysis, and performs thematic maps by means of a new algorithm that finds the greater contrasts in the z values. This methodology and the algorithm have been applied to the microspatial study of magnetometric data in a Roman settlement in Las Gabias (Granada, Spain) and verified with the excavation carried out on this site.

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