Chapter 6 - Survey and Mapping

‭Chapter 6 - Survey and Mapping‬ ‭●‬ ‭Finding sites‬ ‭○‬ ‭Some are obvious‬ ‭○‬ ‭Others are invisible on the surface‬ ‭●‬ ‭Early Complex Societies‬ ‭○‬ ‭Mesoamerica‬ ‭○‬ ‭Andes‬ ‭○‬ ‭Mesopotamia‬ ‭○‬ ‭Indus Valley‬ ‭○‬ ‭Greece‬ ‭○‬ ‭China‬ ‭○‬ ‭Egypt‬ ‭●‬ ‭Archaeological Survey‬ ‭○‬ ‭The field methods archaeologists employ to collect data without excavation‬ ‭■‬ ‭Reconnaissance‬ ‭●‬ ‭The documentation of surface characteristics and geographic‬ ‭coordinates of sites and other archaeological features‬ ‭■‬ ‭Remote sensing‬ ‭●‬ ‭The collection of data without physically touching them‬ ‭●‬ ‭Defining Research Scale‬ ‭○‬ ‭The scale of analysis can be as small as single artifacts or as large as extensive‬ ‭regions‬ ‭■‬ ‭A Roman Coin with the Image of Trajan Decius Antonianus‬ ‭●‬ ‭This coin could be studied by itself (small scale) or as part of a‬ ‭distribution of coins across the Mediterranean (large scale)‬ ‭●‬ ‭Small Scale‬ ‭○‬ ‭Artifacts‬ ‭■‬ ‭Portable objects that were modified or made by humans‬ ‭○‬ ‭Ecofacts‬ ‭■‬ ‭Unmodified remains of biological materials in archaeological contexts‬ ‭○‬ ‭Features‬ ‭■‬ ‭Non-portable facilities that were created by humans‬ ‭○‬ ‭Buildings/Structures‬ ‭●‬ ‭Medium Scale‬ ‭○‬ ‭Sites‬ ‭■‬ ‭How big/small are they?‬ ‭■‬ ‭How do we define their limits?‬ ‭■‬ ‭How do they change over time?‬ ‭■‬ ‭What kinds of activities happened there?‬ ‭●‬ ‭Large Scale‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭‬ ● ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭‬ ● ‭●‬ ‭ ‬ ‭How large are the regions under analysis?‬ ○ ‭○‬ ‭Defined by natural and/or cultural boundaries?‬ ‭Finding Sites‬ ‭○‬ ‭The locations of many sites are still unknown‬ ‭Accidental Discoveries‬ ‭○‬ ‭Coyolxauhqui Monument, Mexico‬ ‭○‬ ‭Lascaux, France‬ ‭○‬ ‭Tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China‬ ‭Textual Sources‬ ‭○‬ ‭Sometimes historic texts hold clues‬ ‭Aerial Survey and Remote Sensing‬ ‭○‬ ‭Aerial Survey‬ ‭■‬ ‭Photography taken from the air to find and map archaeological sites‬ ‭○‬ ‭Aerial Photography‬ ‭■‬ ‭Oblique imagery‬ ‭●‬ ‭Easier to recognize sites through topographic relief‬ ‭■‬ ‭Vertical imagery‬ ‭●‬ ‭Easier to obtain accurate measurements‬ ‭●‬ ‭Fewer spatial distortions‬ ‭●‬ ‭UTM: Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinate System‬ ‭●‬ ‭Georeferencing‬ ‭Crop Marks‬ ‭○‬ ‭Evidence of buried archaeological features that is visible from the air and due to‬ ‭differential growth of plants over such features in fields‬ ‭Drones‬ ‭LiDar‬ ‭○‬ ‭Light detection and ranging‬ ‭○‬ ‭Good for detecting larger features under forest canopy‬ ‭Landsat Imagery‬ ‭○‬ ‭Records multispectral waves‬ ‭○‬ ‭Infrared‬ ‭■‬ ‭Wavelengths, health of vegetation‬ ‭○‬ ‭Thermal‬ ‭■‬ ‭Transfer of heat‬ ‭Ground Reconnaissance‬ ‭○‬ ‭Recording past cultural resources by walking in the study area, studying the‬ ‭ground surface for any trace of cultural remains‬ ‭Surface Survey‬ ‭Subsurface Survey‬ ‭○‬ ‭Cores‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭‬ ● ‭●‬ ‭●‬ ‭ ‬ ‭Augers‬ ○ ‭○‬ ‭Shovel test pits‬ ‭○‬ ‭Test pits‬ ‭Subsurface Remote Sensing‬ ‭○‬ ‭Active‬ ‭■‬ ‭Uses energy and measures a response‬ ‭○‬ ‭Passive‬ ‭■‬ ‭Measures physical characteristics without the use of energy‬ ‭Earth Conductivity Survey‬ ‭○‬ ‭A form of subsurface remote sensing that functions by measuring the conductivity‬ ‭of an electrical current through the ground‬ ‭Resistivity Survey‬ ‭○‬ ‭Functions by measuring the resistance of an electrical current through the ground‬ ‭Magnetic Susceptibility‬ ‭○‬ ‭Provides a measure of the ability of a material to be magnetize when a magnetic‬ ‭field is applied‬ ‭Ground Penetrating Radar‬ ‭○‬ ‭Uses emitters to send radio pulses into the ground‬ ‭○‬ ‭Pulses that bounce back to reveal subsurface changes in sediment and voids or‬ ‭solid materials‬ ‭Bathymetric Survey‬ ‭○‬ ‭The underwater equivalent of a topographic survey on land‬ ‭Magnetometer‬ ‭○‬ ‭Measures variation in the magnetic intensity of the field‬ ‭Mapping Techniques‬ ‭○‬ ‭Pace and compass‬ ‭○‬ ‭Tape and compass‬ ‭○‬ ‭Global position system‬ ‭○‬ ‭Total station‬ ‭○‬ ‭Remote sensing data‬ ‭Mapping Conventions‬ ‭○‬ ‭Planimetric‬ ‭○‬ ‭Topographic‬ ‭3D Modeling‬ ‭Geographic Information Systems‬ ‭○‬ ‭A computer system designed to gather, manage, store, analyze, and present all‬ ‭types of geographic and spatial data‬ ‭Vocabulary‬ ‭○‬ ‭Ground-Truthing‬ ‭○‬ ‭○‬ ‭○‬ ‭○‬ ‭■‬ C ‭ hecking anomalies on the ground seen on aerial photography and other‬ ‭remote sensing data‬ ‭Raster Data‬ ‭■‬ ‭Data on a grid‬ ‭■‬ ‭A grid of equally sized cells or pixels used to analyze and represent spatial‬ ‭data in GIS‬ ‭Stereoscopy‬ ‭■‬ ‭Overlapping aerial vertical photographs used to find sites‬ ‭Georeferencing‬ ‭■‬ ‭Associating spatial data such as maps and photographs to coordinate‬ ‭systems‬ ‭Plow zone‬ ‭■‬ ‭Upper levels of sites disturbed by agricultural activities‬