GIS in North American archaeology: A summary of activity for the Caere project

Kenneth Kvamme

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1998, 9, 127-146

Abstract

Fifteen projects, running in a variety of hardware and software environments, are reviewed from throughout the United States and Mexico; work in other parts of the world by North Americans is also represented. Most applications occur at the regional level and represent either state sponsored archaeological management data bases or research databases. Most employ GIS to manage regional data queries and undertake visualization tasks; others focus more analytically on patterns of prehistoric settlement and land use at the regional level, with predictive models of archaeological location a management expression that relies heavily on research and analysis. Large interest is also shown in comprehensive within-site databases. Remotely sensed satellite data are being employed to construct base maps at the regional level while geophysical information is being incorporated in within-site databases. Although cost-surfaces and viewshed studies receive relatively little focus, there seems to be large interest in multitemporal studies that compare cultural differences and settlement patterns across the fourth dimension. The linkage of GIS with virtual reality and the increasing importance of the World Wide Web point to future directions the technology will take.

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