Archeologia e Calcolatori

22, 2011, 337-363

GIS APPLICATIONS IN ARCHAEOLOGY

1. Introduction
The term GIS has appeared frequently in archaeological studies since the
1980s, even if already in the 1970s scientific studies had been conducted on
computer applications, statistic and cartographic applications in the archaeo-
logical field, which were somehow referable to GIS technologies. The first
applications, were developed mostly in North America and referred mainly
to the modeling of surfaces related to materials of archaeological interest,
through various types of polynomial functions, and the production of DEMs
and digital thematic maps of archaeological sites or excavation areas.
GIS applications in archaeology started to spread in Europe only ten
years later, in the early 1990s, and are mostly related to Cultural Resource
Management (CRM) which, still today, and above all in the European ambit,
is the chief applicative sector. Obviously, thanks to the availability of high
performance laptop computers and modern topographic instruments (total
stations, GNSS receivers, laser scanners) capable of acquiring and georef-
erencing data of the excavation area, GIS applications have also continued
to evolve up to now; data inventory and management, once performed in a
subsequent phase with respect to the excavation campaigns, are increasingly
carried out simultaneously (Conolly, Lake 2006), significantly reducing the
length of data processing as well as interpretation errors.
It is evident, on the other hand, how a use limited to data inventory and
management, or more simply to visualization as occurred in the early years,
is actually restrictive, with respect to GIS potentialities, since it is above all a
spatial analysis tool supporting decision making.
This basic function of GIS can be found, instead, in the applications
related to predictive location modeling of archaeological sites, which started
to spread in the 1980s, above all in North America. This kind of approach is
based upon GIS potentialities in terms of predictive models: i.e., the capacity
to extract information and build models based on geographic data aiming at
the production of predictive maps supporting archaeological surveys.
Archaeological data have a dual nature, as they are distributed both in
space and time. A characteristic, common to all GIS software, is the capacity
of managing multi-layer and multi-scale georefenced geographic data: this
potential makes GIS applications ideal for managing archaeological data.
Given the nature of most archaeological data, GIS technology is probably
the most flexible and complete system for analyzing the spatial context of
historical and pre-historical data.

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Archaeology is based on the study of man in the past through mate-

rial and traces which have come down to us. Analysis focuses upon objects,
but what we want to know and to explain is man’s behavior, and the reason
why things happened. Given this premise, it is clear that the first important
difference between a conventional GIS and an archaeological one lies in
their objectives: a public administration, or even a company, usually create
an information system to manage current situations, or to forecast future
scenarios, for making decisions; in an archaeological project above all GIS is
used for explaining past situations.
In this sense, two approach issues can be identified: the different educa-
tional background of researchers with respect to the interdisciplinary level of
teams; the profound lack of homogeneity between the actual archaeological
methodological premises and the implementation of computer procedures
consistent with mathematical logics.
As for spatial analysis, the European approach has been mostly focused on
the Landscape Archaeology tradition. Landscape Archaeology is an intellectual
tradition, founded by W.H. Hoskins, that stems from 18th century Romanticism.
This tradition differs from the spatial statistics tradition in its concentration
on extracting a cultural meaning from different landscape elements and their
spatial relations (Harris, Lock 1996). In other words this tradition not only
produces a spatial structure of archaeological features, but it also relates it with
a social, economic or political model in order to build a theory.
A different attitude, directed to the construction of a different relation
between archaeological culture and information technology, on the other
hand, was responsible for the creation of various GIS versions: from the now
well established Temporal GIS (TGIS), aiming at including time as the fourth
variable to add to the spatial ones (x, y, z), to the innovative Object-Oriented
GIS (OOGIS).
Virtual GIS (VGIS), developed with virtual reality techniques, aims at a
cognitive path where the traditional archaeological reality is not presented in
static form, but is experienced in full immersion through various navigation
types, sensorial or software based.
While the above-mentioned applications represent an innovative and
original model for the visualization and formalization of information, other
solutions seem to address more specifically the use of GIS as a helping tool
in data interpretation, and namely the reconstruction of a man-environment
integration. This is the objective of the visibility, inter-visibility and cost-surface
analyses, up to new applications including movement, visual perception and
a sort of sensorial interaction within the man-environment interaction.
In conclusion, today the use of applications on mobile devices, such as
Smartphones or palmtop computers (GPS/GIS or Mobile GIS) is becoming
more and more important; this development, as a consequence, has involved

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Fig. 1 – Archaeological GIS data.

the archaeological sector also, in which they are essential for on-site data
storage and management of surveyed data.
In order to increase communication in this sector, which has up to
now been limited to the definition of projects and results and never directly
to data, various experimental research projects have been started, aiming at
the integration of GIS within the web. With WebGIS, GIS applications, tra-
ditionally developed for stand-alone users or within LAN environment, may
be implemented on map-servers, enabling interaction through the Internet
with cartography and its associated data.
Moreover it should be mentioned that GIS also shows critical aspects,
mostly related to the fact that, in spite of all the efforts of the international
scientific community1, it has not been possible yet to solve the problem of a
unique standard format allowing a full data interoperability.

2. Data acquisition
Data populating an archaeological GIS do not substantially differ from
the ones of a generic GIS and may be divided into tabular and spatial data
(Fig. 1).

1
On this issue, it is worth mentioning the INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information
in Europe) project, drawn up by the European Commission in 2007.

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Alpha-numeric tabular data are organized in GIS with the relational

model: the most used GIS software packages have a relational DBMS inside or
make use of an external software (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server,
etc.). A more sophisticated model of database, subsequent to the relational
one, is object-oriented. Object-Oriented (OO) databases share some princi-
ples of OO languages, such as, for instance, Java. OO databases, grounding
on OO-GIS, are based upon data aggregation and functioning in structures
named, exactly, objects. OO-GIS represents the experimental application in
archaeological research of a model, the object-based one, born as a concep-
tual development of databases. This model aims at pointing out physical or
logical values defined by a set of features and behavior rules expressing its
state, both dynamic and static.
It should be pointed out that relational databases and OO are not (to-
day) in competition with each other, both for the by now dominant position
of the relational model, and above all, for the object-based approach which
is useless in applications managing large quantities of non complex data.
Spatial data are all those data to which it is possible to associate a ref-
erence system. There are a lot of systems and methods for the acquisition of
spatial data which use the typical geomatics methods and instruments such
as:
– Remote Sensing techniques (digital images obtained through airborne and
satellite sensors);
– Topographic techniques (total stations and digital levels);
– Photogrammetric techniques (analogical and digital images produced by
aerial and terrestrial cameras);
– GPS techniques;
– Aerial and terrestrial laser-scanning techniques.
An additional classification of GIS data is the traditional one, dividing
data according to raster and vector format. In general in GIS applications,
and therefore also in the archaeological sector, the two data formats show
strengths and weaknesses, briefly illustrated in Table 1:

Features Strengths Weaknesses

It is preferable for modeling values Essential for 3D modeling Large amount of computer
Raster memory required.
which continuously vary within the and for Map Algebra.
format Images blur at zoom
territory. increase.
Small amount of computer It is not suited for modeling
It is preferable for modeling discrete memory required. values such as elevation,
Vector values. Classic primitives of this It is not influenced by water depth, temperature,
format model are: points, polylines and zooming. It is at the basis of rainfall, continuously
polygons. GIS topological rules. varying upon earth surface.

Tab. 1 – Characteristics of data formats for archaeological GIS.

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3. Surface models
The construction of 3D surface models is one of the fundamental po-
tentials of GIS. DEMs can be obtained from various sources (Remote Sensing
through satellite stereo-images, aerial photography, LiDAR, DGPS, contour
lines and spot heights) and play a fundamental role in the implementation of
archaeological GIS (Fig. 2).
Rasterization process of elevation data, discrete by nature, is called in-
terpolation and it is at the basis of a GIScience discipline, the so-called geosta-
tistics. The result of this operation almost always consists of a monochrome
raster image (DEM), where the orthometric height of a point is associated to
every pixel. It is possible to generate an elevation data model alternative to
the raster one, the Triangular Irregular Network (TIN). This model represents
the terrain surface through an irregular triangle grid (Delaunay triangula-
tion): from the point of view of theoretical classification, TIN, even keeping
its autonomy, might be considered as a GIS data model closer to the vector
format than to the raster one.
The choice of the most suitable interpolation method (IDW, Kriging,
Spline, etc.) should be made in relation to two components: the distribution
of sampled points and the expected result.
From a DEM model it is possible to automatically derive a series of fun-
damental products (Fig. 3), which are useful in the archaeological ambit:
– Slope map. DN of every pixel represents its slope, in degrees or percent-
age.
– Aspect map. DN of every pixel represents the wind direction, in degrees,
towards which the pixel is oriented.
– Visibility map. Having set the observer’s position, function of the geographic
localization of adjacent sites, all pixels visible are extracted.
– Contour lines, with pre-set interval.
It is also possible, with the help of specific hydrological tools, to extract
flow accumulation pixels and hydrological basin boundary.
The use of DEMs is also at the basis of various analytical methods
typical of the archaeological sector including:
– Real-Time viewing of terrain topography.
– Cost-distance analysis and least minimum cost path analysis.
– Predictive models. Visibility and intervisibility analysis.
– Simulation of natural processes, such as erosion and alluvial phenomena.
– Virtual Reality.
Moreover, DEMs give a fundamental support also during archaeological
excavations, since they make it possible to obtain a flexible on-site manage-
ment of various stratigraphic layers.

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Fig. 2 – Data types for DEMs production.

Fig. 3 – DEMs products.

4. GIS applications in CRM

In the CRM sector, the use of GIS is mostly related to the need for man-
aging huge quantities of (graphic and alphanumeric) data. The first step in GIS
exploitation has certainly been to convert information from the analog format
to the digital one, in order to substitute and improve operations and procedures
which were often carried out by hand. At first, GIS were used as tools for re-
cording and storing information and the sole implemented tools were limited
to the visualization of data and to the production of thematic maps.
In CRM the capability of GIS to record, manipulate and analyze re-
markable amounts of geographic and environmental variables, through the
algebraic superimposition of thematic maps, appears to be of immediate
and extraordinary interest. A first substantial field of application was the
integration of archaeological information in urban planning. In this sector,
predictive simulations, based on the construction of settlement patterns, can
play a significant role (Kvamme 1997); although such an approach is partly
conditioned by a determinism of an environmental kind, due to its bias towards
geographic variable analysis with respect to cultural ones, we must admit that
GIS might be of great usefulness in defining predictive models. Therefore, the
use of spatial technologies has opened new scenarios in the conservation and
protection of historical-archaeological heritage.

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Yet another, different direction in the use of this technology could be

taken if GIS were not considered as neutral techniques, viz. simple physical
interpreters. Some authors (i.e. Harris, Lock 1996) claim that GIS are not
impartial tools: they represent the social reproduction of knowledge and,
in this sense, the development of the methodology cannot be divided by the
progress of theory necessarily grounding it. Other researchers (i.e. Wheat-
ley 1993) did stress a reconsideration of the profound effects which would
be produced by the creation and the use of GIS, from the point of view of
methodology, research and eventually of archaeological theory itself. After an
initial phase, mostly devoted to the creation of applications, we witness today
a phase of reflection and maturation stemming from the need for a profound
understanding of the relation between GIS and archaeological theory. GIS
are certainly a spatial information science and their broad utilization, even in
regional planning, impose on archaeologists a new awareness of the potential
of information technology tools. Computational methods offer, today, the
opportunity of thinking of preservation activity not only as a simple defense
of the asset, but rather as an exploitation and dynamic integration of the
archaeological heritage in the urban and landscape fabric.

5. Spatial analysis
Archaeological field surveys may be divided into two fundamental types:
sampling and prospection. As for the first type, an archeological sampling is
carried out if excavations have been conducted in accordance with a specific
sampling design. This strategy is mostly adopted when the study area is so
large that it cannot be totally investigated. Therefore, sampling strategies stem
from the need to maximize inferable information from excavation campaigns,
minimizing at the same time the costs of surveys. This need (efficiency crite-
rion) comes together with the wish to dispose of a representative sample of
the studied population (totality criterion).
As for the second type of survey, a survey carried out with a pre-de-
termined objective such as, for instance, the identification of a specific type
of site is called archeological prospection. With respect to the archaeologi-
cal prospection, the efficiency criterion is still in force, meaning that costs
minimization (time, resources, labor) remains an objective to pursue. On the
other hand, totality criterion becomes a negligible one. It is not necessary to
dispose of a representative sample but rather to obtain, with the minimum
effort, the best possible examples for the research in course.
While there exists a vast literature on archeological sampling proce-
dures (for instance, Heizer, Graham 1967; Mueller 1974; Watson et al.
1971), archaeological prospection has been, except for some rare exceptions
(Zubrow, Harbaugh 1978), almost totally ignored by specialists. The class

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of statistical predictive models for detection of archaeological sites also be-

longs to the tradition of archaeological prospection techniques. It is, as we
will see later, a very important branch which will surely develop in the field
of archaeological research. These models find their natural application in the
implementation of GIS.
Predictive models are formulations which may be either deductive or in-
ductive, set up with the objective of predicting unknown events. Specifically for
archaeological studies, it is essential to predict site location. In fact, only a small
part of existing sites has been discovered, while a huge quantity of sites in the
world are destroyed every year to make room for the development of modern
settlements. One of the means for promoting knowledge and for protecting sites
at risk, is the building of formal models capable of predicting the probable loca-
tion of sites. For this purpose deductive models may be used, deriving directly
from theory, or inductive models. These latter lie basically upon the study of some
regularities, detected within a complex of empirical observations. This study
is carried out in such a way as to obtain indications about the archaeological
characteristics of zones which have not been directly observed.
In practical applications, however, both theory and empirical observa-
tions are needed. For instance, predictive models for detection of archaeologi-
cal sites may be developed by using a deductive approach mostly taking into
account the cultural and biological needs of a society. These needs might direct
the choice of independent variables thus leading to the construction of models
which do not need information about the geographic position of sites.
However, these models cannot be implemented or tested without em-
pirical observations. At the same time, a purely inductive localization schema
might be built for archaeological sites, but, without a theoretical support, the
selection process of variables becomes ineffective and the estimated model is
weak and not easily interpretable.
Predictive models have only recently spread as a fundamental compo-
nent of archaeological research (Kohler, Parker 1986; Arbia, Espa 1996,
1997). One of the reasons for the success of this class of models is due to the
fact that archaeological sites tend to appear in environments with favorable
conditions. Predictive models take advantage of this type of information and,
exploiting the differences among the environmental features of those areas
where sites exist or do not exist, help researchers in identifying areas with a
high probability of discovering an archaeological site (Warren 1990).
One of the most common empirical approaches to predictive modeling is
the integrated strategy defined by Kvamme (1983, 1989), later improved and
refined by him (Kvamme 1992; Stancic, Kvamme 1999) and used by many
other researchers (i.e. Warren et al. 1987; Warren 1990). In a nutshell, this
strategy integrates the enormous GIS potential in generating and processing
large data amounts with logistic regression, which is a classic and flexible

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statistical tool enabling us to predict the probability that an archaeological

site exists within a certain area.
The primary potential of GIScience tools consists in fact in the capabil-
ity of extracting information from data, and in performing spatial analyses
and predictive models.
5.1 Construction of spatial database. Spatial and attribute queries
A real problem in GIS application for archaeology is the construction
of the geospatial database that differs greatly according to the different goals
that have been set. Depending on the data that must be used for predictive
analysis, excavation documentation or 3D visualization, the structure and the
complexity of the geospatial database will differ. These problems are connected
both to the heterogeneous nature of data (vector or raster) and the complex-
ity of the situation to describe and these two aspects make the construction
of the geospatial database structure increasingly complex. In relation to the
complexity of the situation to describe, a typical example is the description of
a room covered by partially existing mosaics on the walls and floor and some
objects with very complex forms (vases, statues, etc.). In this case we have:
– not always regular surfaces (walls, ceiling, floor) with ragged edges that
should be described through vector elements;
– pictorial representation the description of which can be done by raster im-
ages (that have a rectangular shape but transparent background color so as
to represent areas that are not regular and with fragmented edges);
– objects such as vases or statues that should be described by vector complex
primitives typical of solid modelers.
This kind of complexity in the description of an archaeological scene
requires the combination of different models inside one software instrument
with a high level of sophistication to describe objects that are numerous and
spread over a wide area.
Moreover, if the final goal is the sharing of information through the NET
and 3D visualization, the operations are increasingly complex (Tab. 2):

Goal Type of data

Predictive analysis Data in very simple form, usually point or area data, 2D vector
Very heterogeneous 2D, 2.5D and/or 3D data in raster and vector format
such as CAD data from sketches or surveys, GIS data derived from CAD data,
Excavation documentation raster data coming from cameras, low height aerial surveys (by balloons,
poles, drones). Data may have both simple or complex structure according to
configuration and shape of areas or objects to describe.
3D Vector and 2D or 2.5 D raster data in standardized form (usually a reduced
3D visualization number of formats), archived also in very complex database structure. They
come from processing of excavation documentation data.

Tab. 2 – Tasks and required data.

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Fig. 4 – Query types in spatial analysis.

Most GIS software packages enable us to perform attribute queries and

spatial queries (Fig. 4). Attribute queries rely upon SQL, a database computer
language designed to read, modify and manage data stored within a system
based on the relational model, to create and modify database layouts, to cre-
ate and manage tools for data control and access.
The great merit of SQL and of the relational model consists in the pos-
sibility of simultaneously extracting information from various tables.
Spatial queries exploit geometrical relations among primitives of the
vector model (points, lines, polygons). The names of available functions vary
from one software to another. The most common are: distance, equals, inter-
sects, touches, crosses, overlaps, contains, length, area, centroid, etc.
The simplest SQL query is structured according to three core constructs:
SELECT, FROM and WHERE.
As an example, Table 3 can be considered:
ID FINDS DESCRIPTION MATERIAL AGE ARCHAEOLOGIST
… … … … …
255 Painted pottery Clay 3rd century BC Dr. Smith
256 Coin Bronze 4th century BC Dr. Johnson
… … … … …

Tab. 3 – Example of table for a query by attributes

In the table above, the field ID_FINDS is a counter, assumed as primary

key: it univocally identifies the row. The query needed to extract from this
table all finds by the archaeologist Smith is the following:
SELECT*
FROM FINDS
WHERE ARCHAEOLOGIST = ‘Dr. Smith’

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Standard SQL constructs are much more numerous than the ones briefly
presented here, but, in general, the language is very simple and accessible to
every professional in the archaeological sector.
In any case, full management of geospatial data is possible thanks to
spatial extension of relational database management software, that can be
expanded with a set of functions useful to store in a compact form (usually
binary) graphics data that describe spatial features, and make spatial query
based on spatial index managed by these extensions.
Today spatial database managers with spatial extensions also allow us
to describe 3D objects with complex forms together with their spatial and
qualitative attributes. To do this it is necessary to use a solid modeler or CAD
software that allows us to model a 3D scene and transfer it (with its vector
objects) to the spatial GIS database. An experiment of this type was carried
out in a research project called Management and use of distributed 3D data
by open source Web-GIS software2 in which a part of the research activity
was aimed at studying the way to write geospatial 3D objects modeled by
Blender in a spatial database structure managed by PostgreSQL. Scianna
and Ammoscato (2010) describe how it is possible to transfer 3D geospatial
information, built by a 3D solid modeler like Blender, characterized by its
own graphic primitives, to a database archive managed by Relational Da-
tabase Management System like PostgresSQL with the addition of a spatial
extension like PostGIS.
5.2 Statistical methods
Statistics play an important role in archeological research carried out
with GIS technology. In literature, there is a great variety of statistical methods,
which it is possible to divide into non-parametric and parametric methods.
The first ones do not depend on the type of distribution of population and are
not based upon distribution parameters, consequently it is possible to apply
them also in the case of qualitative data. The parametric methods employed
in solving univariate and multivariate problems have, as a limitation, the need
to use very restrictive hypotheses, often unjustified if not impossible to justify,
unrealistic, not always clear, not easily interpretable, or ad hoc formulated
to produce inference.
It must be added to this that the assumptions validating the application
of those methods (normality, homoschedasticity, independence and equal
distribution of the stochastic erratic component) are hardly ever satisfied
and, in those cases where they are satisfied, results are often obtained by fol-

2
This project is part of the Italian PRIN project 2007 Interoperability and cooperative
management of geographic, dynamic, multidimentional and distributed data with Free and Open
Source GIS, Principal Investigator Paolo Zatelli, University of Studies of Trento, Italy.

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lowing approximations. Parametric tests have as a common feature the fact

that their object are often parametric hypotheses, viz. hypotheses related, for
instance, to the parameter value of one or more populations such as mean and
variance. In the first family (non parametric tests) there are: χ2 test, Mann-
Whitney or Wilcoxon test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The most widely
used parametric test is the so called T-test.
5.3 Spatial Analysis
Spatial analysis may be considered one of the most important tools of
GIScience and of GIS applications in archaeology. Many of these methods
were designed by geographers in the 16th and 17th centuries, and later adapted
by archaeologists, starting in the 18th century.
One of the first methods applied is linear regression. This quantitative
method is used for modeling the relation between two continuous variables.
The linear relation between two continuous variables may be expressed in
terms of correlation: the correlation index may be positive, negative or zero
and two variables are positively correlated when, if one increases the other
increases too, and vice versa. Correlation analysis is a statistical method which
brought about a GIS tool, called Spatial Autocorrelation. This term indicates
the degree of correlation between two quantities measured at a certain dis-
tance. The degree is high if two close samples show similar values, is zero if
there is no spatial dependence in the variability of quantities and is negative
if the two quantities are the more correlated the more distant the sampling
points are. A profound knowledge of spatial autocorrelation phenomena is
an important support in some modeling processes. The most diffused spatial
autocorrelation index is the Moran index (1950). Most GIS software pack-
ages enable us to calculate Moran index.
5.4 Cluster analysis and density analysis
Distribution of archaeological findings is often represented through
punctual geometric primitives. The study of spatial distribution of these points
is an important analysis and interpretation tool.
Clustering, or cluster analysis, is a complex of data multivariate analysis
techniques, aiming at selecting and grouping homogeneous elements in a da-
taset. All clustering techniques are based on the concept of distance between
two elements. In fact, the quality of the analysis obtained through clustering
algorithms actually depends on how significant the geometry is, and therefore
on how the distance has been defined.
Distance is an essential concept, since clustering algorithms group ele-
ments depending on their distance, therefore belonging or not belonging to
a set depends on how far the analyzed element is from the set.

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Clustering techniques are mostly based upon two approaches:

– Bottom-up. This approach implies that every element is considered as a
standalone cluster, and then the algorithm takes care of unifying the clusters.
The algorithm goes on adding elements to the cluster until it obtains a pre-set
number of clusters, or until the minimum distance among clusters exceeds a
certain amount.
– Top-down. At the beginning, all elements are in a unique cluster and then the
algorithm starts to divide the cluster in many smaller clusters. The criterion
underlying the division is to try to always obtain homogeneous elements. The
algorithm goes on till it achieves a preset cluster number. This approach is
also named hierarchical.
Clustering techniques are generally used in case of many heterogeneous
data, searching for anomalous elements. Frequently used cluster algorithms are
K-Means; Fuzzy C-Means; QT Clustering. Sometimes, in the archaeological
ambit, defining an object as belonging to a cluster can be difficult. In these
situations, the problem might be solved through an intensity analysis.
The most widely used density models in archaeology are the Naive
Estimator (Fotheringam et al. 2000) and the KDE (Kernel Density Estima-
tion). Kernel density is placed within the family of the point pattern analysis.
These latter are spatial analysis techniques carried out from sources of point
vector data, generating images classified according to associated numerical
attributes. Starting from Tobler’s first law of geography (1970): «All things
are related, but nearby things are more related than distant things», Bayley
and Gatrell (1995) developed a series of spatial analysis techniques, mostly
applied in epidemiologic surveys.
With respect to classical statistical approaches, data georeferencing is
needed, considering events as spatial occurrences of the examined phenom-
enon. Unlike the simple density function, KDE considers a mobile 3D surface
weighing events depending on their distance from the point where density is
estimated (Gatrell et al. 1996).
The most commonly used GIS software packages are equipped with
various density estimators.
5.5 Predictive modeling
Predictive models enable us to predict the value of a dependent variable
(or its occurrence probability), function of one or more independent variables.
Predictive models are divided into inductive models and deductive models. The
first ones depend on a database of more or less certain input data; therefore
errors in the database may generate errors in the predictive model. Deductive
models are based instead on an initial theoretical basis.

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From the point of view of the development of models, there is the “nu-
merical” and the “weighed” approach. Numerical approach uses statistical
techniques to identify possible associations among archaeological sites and
specific features of the surrounding physical environment. In the numerical
approach all variables used in the generation of the model concur with the
same weight to the potential site location. The weighed approach starts from
the assumption that all variables contribute with different weights to the
detection of the potential site location.
The development of a predictive model entails the preliminary analysis
of the representativeness of the variables, of the database quality and of the
model representation scale. The production stages of a predictive model are
normally three: the first stage concerns the development of base hypotheses
as well as the data acquisition and organization. The second consists of the
development of the model and of its initial testing. The last stage consists of
continuous applications of the model and of the ongoing tuning.
Interesting applications of predictive models may be seen in the websites
of the following research projects: Minnesota Archaeological Predictive Model
(http://www.dot.state.mn.us/mnmodel/) and North Carolina GIS Archaeologi-
cal Predictive Model Project (http://www.informatics.org/ncdot/).

5.6 Map algebra

Another important analysis tool is Map Algebra, which enables us to
combine mathematically different raster layers. Map Algebra modules have
different capabilities, permitting three different groups of operations:
– arithmetic capability of modifying values of data attributes by means of a
constant (for instance, an arithmetic scale);
– mathematical capability of transforming values of data attributes by means
of standard operations (for instance, a trigonometric function);
– mathematical capability of combining (i.e. adding, subtracting, multiplying
or dividing) various layers to obtain a single raster image.
The most typical example of Map Algebra applications is the calcula-
tion of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), an important
vegetation index which may be obtained by Remote Sensing sensors with one
near infrared channel. NDVI can be calculated by:
��� � �
���� �
��� � � (Eq. 1)
Input layers in Map Algebra equations must be characterized by the
same geometrical resolution and by the same reference system.
An application related to NDVI and PCA was carried out in the Isles of
Coll and Tiree, the most westerly of the Hebrides Islands (Scotland), using the

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Airborne Thematic Mapper (ATM) sensor. Visible, infrared and thermal

infrared images processing made it possible to identify some areas charac-
terized by anomalies referable to potential buried archaeological structures
(Winterbottom, Dawson 2005).

6. WebGIS
In the archaeological field, the use of multimedia and the Internet has
been considered, since their creation and diffusion, more for their didactic
potential, and as byproducts of a research project rather than as a real and ef-
fective research tool. The first exceptions are to be seen in the web publication
of specialized databases, followed by the first archaeological GIS projects. The
WebGIS applications in the archaeological field are mostly related to CRM.
Projects with this objective are always growing, and they tackle the issue of
cultural heritage management under different perspectives, both from the
point of view of methodology and content as well as from the technological
one. Among the most interesting international projects it is worth mention-
ing the Digital Crete (http://digitalcrete.ims.forth.gr/) project about the ar-
chaeological heritage of the Island of Crete; The archaeological Web-GIS of
Iowa (http://www2.uiowa.edu/i-sites/public.htm); and MAGIS, an archive
of archaeological projects within the Mediterranean area carried out by a
consortium of American universities (http://cgma.depauw.edu/MAGIS/).
Fig. 8 shows the data flow, starting with the survey of an archaeological
site and ending with information sharing through the Internet3. Data collected
on site, after a first local pre-processing are transmitted to the headquarters
of the archaeologist where data can be processed and/or analyzed and made
available on the NET.
At this point all other archaeologists can browse that data comparing
them with data they just surveyed, in order to facilitate considerations about
similarities of findings, etc. This is an advanced way to operate that today
is already possible. But in order to do this, we require some techniques and
methodologies emerging from the latest evolution of computer science for
information sharing.
In particular, information can be shared through Internet thanks to a
SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture), i.e. a set of principles and methodologies
for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Service-oriented_architecture). One of the SOA
elements are web services by which data can be accessed from Internet, and
query the database with standard calls. Therefore, the aspect of standardiza-

3
FIRB Project 2005 – Research Unit at Department of Representation, University of Pa-
lermo, Italy.

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A. Scianna, B. Villa

tion of archaeology information is the basis for granting information sharing

through Internet by web services.
Today geospatial data are shared through Internet thanks to standardized
web services proposed by Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC WFS/WMS),
suitable for the sharing of vector 2D information and raster 2D information.
In the previously cited PRIN 2007 project it is shown how it is possible also
to access to 3D vector data using web service WFS-like something that could
be called 3D-WFS.

7. Virtual Reality
The utility of GIS can be observed also in the field of Virtual Reality
(VR) applied to archaeology. In this sector the objective of researchers is to
create 3D historical-archaeological environments where the spatial component
of data is maintained.
In the case of the Geospatial Virtual Reality, each monument is ac-
curately reproduced from survey data and each landscape is generated on
the basis of the geographical data constituting it. In a VR application the
starting data, which often require a large amount of computer memory, are
dynamically managed by the computer in a rapid way by means of specific
optimization techniques. These techniques obtain their best results when 3D
data are used by the web.
Virtual 3D musealization applications are particularly interesting: in
some of these cases the user has the possibility of interacting with the 3D
model of the monument or of the whole site. The most diffused languages
in this sector are VRML, X3D, Java 3D and QuickTime. In these systems,
possible user queries are often rather restrictive.
In the future an increasingly broad use of various types of collaborative
network based tools may be expected. It is worth mentioning, as an example, the
Google Earth system, which has been following this direction for some time.
In recent years two important virtual reconstruction projects applied to
archaeology have been developed in Italy: the Virtual Museum of the Ancient
Via Flaminia project (http://www.vhlab.itabc.cnr.it/flaminia/) and the Virtual
Rome project (http://3d.cineca.it/storage/demo_vrome/htdocs/). The first of
these presents two aspects of primary methodological importance: the use
of specific models of spatial archaeology making the visual experience im-
mersive and the creation of an operating chain based upon an open source
architecture, as for the GIS process directed to web fruition (Calori et al.
2006; Camporesi et al. 2007). The Virtual Rome project has the objective
of studying and reproducing the ancient Roman landscape and visualizing it
by means of Internet dedicated virtual reality tools based upon open source
libraries (Pescarin et al. 2008).

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 GIS applications in archaeology

Another VR project is The Virtual Museum of Iraq, promoted by the

CNR and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (http://www.virtualmuseumi-
raq.cnr.it/). While awaiting a return to normality, the Virtual Museum gathers
and exhibits finds that are still available as well as lost ones. Thanks to VR
it is possible to make a tour of the great civilizations of the past, as attested
to by these precious objects.

8. GPS/GIS and mobile applications

GPS, above all in its more advanced form, viz. integrated with a Personal
Data Assistant (PDA) and endowed with a suitable GIS and DBMS software,
is a tool permitting the systematic application of research strategies and meth-
odologies, which have been developed in the past and rarely applied due to
the excessive amount of time required by topographical operations.
The contribution of mobile GIS systems goes beyond the expected
horizon. In the last fifteen years we have seen the progressive transferring of
archaeological information in increasingly reliable, complex and integrated GIS
and digital databases. Many archaeologists claim that personal computers and
Information Technology significantly changed laboratory and field work. It
must be said however, that this change is only partial and not yet concluded.
Without any doubt, the advent of GPS is one of the significant innova-
tions in field data acquisition. Up until a few years ago, the situation, in terms
of access and management of geographic information directly on the field,
seemed to have reached a stalemate. A first concrete change corresponds to the
diffusion, in GIS, of PDA devices. Mobile GIS connected to the map servers
eventually made it possible to solve, or at least to limit, the critical fracture
existing between laboratory and field activities, by making available, on the
field, the same quantity and quality of information formerly accessible only
on desktop PC or map server.
Geographic positioning of data through standardized processes, such as
quick georeferencing, topographic and photogrammetric surveys, is a central
activity for many steps in the archaeological process. In this process, GPS,
in an absolute or (increasingly often) differential positioning (DGPS), is the
most commonly used surveying tool, thanks to its extreme flexibility with
respect to many old and new methodological needs.
In archeology, there are operations requiring different levels of accuracy.
If, on one hand, metric accuracy is acceptable, for instance for mapping surveys
at the scale of 1:5,000, the positioning of shovel-test, test-pit, squares-survey
or geophysical measurements require, on the other hand, submetric precision,
becoming centimetric in case of GCPs survey, large scale mapping, etc.
GPS permanent station networks for Real Time Kinematic (RTK) are
a system that can enable every archaeologist, equipped with a suitable GPS

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receiver, to work with metrical accuracy without use of other GPS reference
stations, located at points having a known position. This framework is based
on the acquisition and RT processing of the observations from each permanent
station by the data control and processing network centre, which are then
able to broadcast the carrier-phase corrections to any connected user4.
The foremost limitation of current GPS networks is found in the base-
line length, which is not always short enough to obtain sufficient precision
in connection through GSM or GPRS line. Reference stations are usually
positioned in provincial capitals and enable centimetric precision within a
range below 30 km.
The need to have georeferenced photographic archives, not only in ar-
chaeology, can be found in some new products of recent years, namely, digital
cameras with integrated GPS, or capable of Wi-fi connection with compat-
ible GPS. The introduction of both these technological solutions permits the
automatic association of each photograph with the coordinates x, y, z of the
exposure station. Many GIS mobile software packages, for example, focus on
photos georeferencing through specific functions, both for connecting mobile
GIS to the camera and to create and manage hyperlinks.
At present, in archaeology, DGPS is used, both with single frequency
and dual frequency receivers, for georeferencing of geophysical measurements
and satellite or airborne digital images, for surveying GCPs and in some cases
for generating micro-DEMs through RTK techniques.
PDA makes all geographic information (topographic and thematic base
map, digital orthophotos, geophysical data) available in the field as well as an
alphanumerical database, usually available only in laboratories. Along with
the advantages constituted by field consultation and updating of archives,
these tools and their relevant GIS software are preset to be connected to
various devices, among which GPS receivers, thus permitting the background
visualization of geographic information with the real time operator position
in overlay.
With regard to this application, the Pocket Archeonav project is par-
ticularly interesting (Scianna et al. 2005). It is a standalone application on
PDA, exploiting the capability of performing an absolute GPS positioning to

4
A Virtual Reference Station (VRS) is an imaginary, unoccupied reference station which
is only a few meters from the RTK user. For this position, observation data are created from the
data of surrounding reference stations as though they had been observed on that position by a
GPS receiver. A Multi Reference Station (MRS) RTK is a complex, yet natural extension of single
reference station RTK. It provides better protection against station outages because a network
solution can still be calculated even if individual reference station data is missing. However, due to
the current trend of sparse network station spacing, the absence of any individual reference station
would likely cause pockets within the network with less than desirable performance. Even under
these conditions, the network solution is still more likely to provide a solution better than that from
a single reference station.

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 GIS applications in archaeology

5 6

Figs. 5-6 – 5. Pocket ArcheoNAV, a first version of multimedia guide; 6. The evolution of multi-
media guide.

correct the coordinates by means of an EGNOS differential correction and,

therefore, to locate the areas of interest of an opencast archaeological site
and to support visitors with multimedia descriptions (audio, films, etc.). Fig.
5 shows the Pocket Archeonav PDA software during experimentation in the
archaeological site of Solunto (Italy).
The evolution in computer science technology has brought many inno-
vations in the development of GIS-WebGIS, multimedia, 3D and navigation
software applications and this evolution continues.
These innovations are at the basis of some activities carried out at the
GISLAB (CNR-UNIPA cooperation) of the University of Palermo. Keywords
of this evolution are GML, Geospatial WebServices, together with some instru-
ments and techniques such as OOP, Visual Rapid Application Development
Systems with some SDK (software development toolkit) for management of
spatial information.
One example is the evolution of a multimedia guide for the archaeological
site of Solunto in Sicily (Figs. 5-6) to which some innovations have been applied.
The application started as a stand-alone software using and processing data
inside the pocket PC on which it runs. Functions of the application were based

355
A. Scianna, B. Villa

Fig. 7 – Map tiling to make application per-

forms better when downloading raster data
from Internet.

on a simple GIS SDK with which it is possible to combine both raster and vector
data. No web service call possibility or NET oriented use has been planned. The
functions for supporting GPS receiver have also been built from scratch.
The new version, even as it functions today as stand-alone software,
is very different as it is based on SDK and on techniques that should permit
the access to web remote information deployed through OGC standard web
services and the application access to a local web service that makes available
the geospatial and multimedia data necessary for navigation in the archaeo-
logical site. This is a significant evolution with respect to the first version
which was conceived only four years ago and with this application, even
an Internet access is not required for many reasons (difficulty of setting up
a proper network infrastructure in a wide area not always well maintained
with limited plants such as an electrical grid, not fully controlled in terms of
access by people).
The need to get information from the Internet in a fluid and progressive
way brings us to structure information using some useful techniques such as
that adopted for raster data shown in Fig. 7 (map tiling). In the first version
of multimedia guide, background raster map was loaded for opening the
application while in the second version, a map is divided in many tiles that
are progressively loaded (when moving map function is on) just before it

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 GIS applications in archaeology

must be viewed on the screen as soon as the visitor is in an area covered by a

specific tile. This feature makes the application ready for Internet as loading
a big map from Internet requires too long a time and could compromise the
functionality of the application, so that it is preferable to download map tiles
on demand for the multimedia application.

9. The last frontier: 3D GIS, TGIS and FGIS

Archaeological data are, by nature, tridimensional. When talking about
3D GIS, we should single out its various components: original datum, visu-
alization and consultation.
At the international level several models of advanced 3D numeric car-
tography (City GML) have been proposed, which are capable of supporting
both the 3D component and various detail levels, a function of the scale used
for dealing with the objects. There have been many international attempts
and studies aimed at identifying a 3D topological structure of cartographic
data.
The CityGML model can also be used in the archaeological field. This
standard is an interesting cartographic model, oriented towards the represen-
tation of 3D urban objects, developed in Germany by a consortium of public
and private companies. CityGML is an open data model, based on the XML
language, for exchanging 3D information and carrying out complex analyses
needed by different applications (such as disaster simulations, service man-
agement, etc.). CityGML represents an applicative profile of GML3, which
codifies a multi-layer representation of towns using information layers such
as vegetation, height, buildings, and others. Its primary features are:
– use of different level of details (LOD);
– definition of classes and relations among them with respect to the most
significant geographic objects (both urban and regional), with particular at-
tention directed to their geometrical, topological, semantic and visualization
features;
– unification of geometrical and topological models;
– definition of generalization hierarchies among thematic classes, of constraints
and of spatial properties.
In the CityGML model, rules for the implementation of textured surfaces
have been introduced (thus overtaking one of the limits of GML standard),
aimed at producing a realistic representation of an urban model, starting
from the XML standard.
Another example is that regarding the use of a 3D model based on a
GML schema like CityGML, access to which is obtained by a 3D web fea-
ture service (vector OGC WFS like) that allows browsing of remote 3D GIS
models of a built environment.

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A. Scianna, B. Villa

Fig. 8 – Potential archeological data flow and sharing through web services.

These kinds of applications open new scenarios and use cases like that
illustrated in Fig. 8 in which archaeological surveyed data are coded (after
the survey) according to a GIS standard model, like GIANT (Scianna et al.
2008), then sent to a web server implementing a 3D vector web service – like
WFS3D (Scianna 2010) – with which the data of the archaeological site with
its finds could be made available to many users in the world, and thus they
could make their contributions to specific aspects and hypotheses regarding
that site, its findings and similarities with other sites and findings.
Usually, GIS are time-insensitive: when describing a process they do not
take into account its evolution in time and, therefore, some space-time cor-
relation connections among the various spatial entities are neglected. For this
reason the first studies on TGIS were carried out where the fourth dimension,
viz. time, plays a crucial role. TGIS are extremely useful in the field of social
sciences (evolutionist theories, settlement dynamics, etc.) and therefore in the
archaeological field also.
Among the most innovative solutions presented recently, it is worth
mentioning the FGIS, a system which, based on the fuzzy set theory, aims at
including ambiguity in data structure. This approach starts from the simple
statement that, in the process of formalization of information (both alphanu-
meric or spatial), decisions made do, very often, affect final results.

358
 GIS applications in archaeology

This attitude is even more dangerous and harmful (and therefore to be

avoided) if data structure is created through a subjective path of recognition of
the descriptive content of variables, Fuzzy theory, on the other hand, continu-
ously suggests that, during research, decisive choices are made with respect to
data formalization, yet no trace remains of these choices in the interpretative
process, so that raw data and hypothetical or reproduced information become
indissoluble; if the formalism used remains hidden within the computational
application, the risk of overlapping between original information and sub-
jectivity of interpretation grows. This makes data less reliable, and therefore
not reusable for further research work. FGIS, aimed at reducing these risks,
incorporates, through a fuzzification5 process, the ambiguity of data within
the data structure; this phase assigns to some specific fuzzy variables (chronol-
ogy, age, sex, etc.) a value ranging from 0 (absence) to 1 (certain presence);
intermediate values may be included to express a statistical probability index
related to reading hypotheses.

10. Integration between Remote Sensing and GIS

The diffusion of Remote Sensing and GIS in archaeological applica-
tions has considerably increased in recent years. Very often, there have been
applications where both techniques have been used in an integrated way; but
there can be very different types of integration, with respect to the different
objectives of the project being conducted.
The most frequent case is that in which Remote Sensing techniques
supply various kinds of data (physical, environmental, cartographic, an-
thropic, etc.) related to the archaeological site; then these data are organized
by GIS into thematic layers to be visualized, processed and analyzed. Remote
Sensing imagery also provides a backdrop for the following GIS operations.
Furthermore, Remote Sensing, as an important source of recent information,
provides a means of updating GIS.
GIS hardly ever intervene in the initial phases, giving the Remote Sens-
ing specialists a series of targeted pieces of information for better addressing
an archaeological survey campaign, limiting the study area to a smaller one,
or selecting only some parameters to define; in fact, planning for acquisition
of remotely sensed data requires an accurate planimetric base representation
for the region of interest that GIS can offer. In other cases, Remote Sensing
and GIS can work in analysis operations together, obviously supposing that
both techniques share data structure and format.

5
The fuzzification comprises the process of transforming crisp values into grades of mem-
bership for linguistic terms of fuzzy set (Coppi et al. 2006).

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Both integration modes obviously entail a full compatibility among

respective data; this is a condition which can hardly be satisfied without the
introduction of adequate algorithms permitting us to make data homogene-
ous with each other, with respect to the system of reference, to the format, to
the resolution. The two technologies have, in fact, many similarities among
them: in both cases, the object of the study are georeferenced geographical
data; they differ, on the other hand, in many other respects: for instance, the
topological attribute characterizing GIS is absolutely absent in RS, and the
data format is traditionally different.
The final objective of a full integration between the two methodologies,
a thorough fusion enabling us to switch indiscriminately from one to the other
without any corrective intervention, has yet to be reached, nor is it likely to
be reached soon, and this does not seem to be a priority for archaeologists
at this time.
Andrea Scianna
CNR – Institute of High Performance Computing and Networking (ICAR)
c/o DICA - Palermo (Italy)
Benedetto Villa
DICA – Department of Civil, Environmental and Aerospace Engineering
University of Palermo (Italy)

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ABSTRACT

The diffusion of the use of Geographical Information Systems in archaeology has con-
siderably increased in recent years. This multiplicity of applications is due mainly to the the
growing interest of archaeologists in modern methodologies for the management of archaeo-
logical data, surveyed by topographic, photogrammetric and remote sensing techniques. GIS
have become a fundamental tool for managing, sharing, analyzing and visualizing spatially
referenced data and they are completely substituting the traditional techniques used by ar-
chaeologists, based upon filling out forms, graphics and other paper documents. Besides in the
modern global society, dominated by mass media such as Internet, the issue of utilization has
become more and more important, and most of the more recent GIS applications (Multimedia
GIS, WebGIS) take this aspect into consideration.

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