User Conference 2002 - Special Achievement in GIS

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Department of Anthropology, University of California, Chamak Pacha Archaeological Project

Our project is an implementation of a real-time, in-field GIS data acquisition process for archaeological excavation.

Business Problem

Archaeologists are increasingly turning to GIS databases for organizing, analyzing, and sharing the products of their research. Two observations to be made of this increased use are concerned with the scale of the application and the timing of database construction.. The project we have undertaken is to develop new ways to collect archaeological digital spatial data.

Archaeological data is collected at two basic scales: regional survey and excavation. Construction of archaeological GIS data has taken place almost entirely at the scale of survey data. However, since GIS technology is a scaleless spatial infrastructure, there is no theoretical reason why GIS data of excavation data cannot be not be common as survey scale data.

The timing of database construction is well after the end of the field season. In most cases, the computer database is created through the transformation of paper records into digital form, which occurs through some combination of typing, scanning, and digitizing. Conceivably all these operations could take place in the field. In fact, in geography the collection of digital data directly in the field, so called "real-time GIS," is becoming common

Technology Implemented

Data acquisition: Leica TCR1105 reflectorless total stations and Nikon 950 and 990 digital cameras for mapping and imaging of levels of the site; Fujitsu Stylistic 2300 pen tablets for infield digitizing of georeferenced digital images; CrossPad XP digital note pads for note recording; Geometrics G-858 cesium magnetometer and SIR-2000 ground penetrating radar for near-surface remote sensing data. Data manipulation and analysis: ArcView 3.2, 3.2a, and ArcGIS 8.1 running on Windows 95 and 2000 platforms, , numerous custom scripts, Image Analyst Extension, Photoshop 5.0-6.0 for image analysis and enhancement, MagMap 2.0 and Radan for Windows NT for near-surface data processing.

Development Team Biography

Aldenderfer is professor of anthropology and director, Office of Information Technology, at UC Santa Barbara. His research has been concerned with the application of quantitative methods to archaeological problems, and he has used GIS extensively at both regional and intrasite scales. Craig and Tripcevich are graduate students in anthropology at UCSB. Craig is nearing completion of his Ph.D., which is the development of real-time GIS for excavation and analysis. He also works with remotely sensed data of Yanamamo settlement patters in the upper Orinoco. Tripcevich is completing his MA, a viewshed analysis of settlement patterns in the Lake Titicaca basin.

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