Landscape Archaeology and GIS

Henry Chapman

Paperback, 191p, 51 b/w figs and pls, 25 col pls (Tempus 2006)

Oxbow says: Henry Chapman has appeared as the principal surveyor on Channel 4's Time Team since 2001 using spatial data to create impressive 3D models and Virtual Reality walk-throughs of sites and landscapes. However, as he demonstrates in this book, Geographical Information Systems technology, or GIS, has a much more varied role in modern archaeological practice. Focusing on how GIS is used in landscape archaeology, the book looks at the methods of landscape archaeology, both old and new, how data is collected, stored, modelled and analysed, and presented and published. Using a range of examples, from the peatlands of the Yorkshire Moors to the Humber Estuary, Henry Chapman shows how GIS is used to gain information about the landscape, how it can be used to re-examine old theories, and raise new questions for the future. As well as complementing traditional methods of landscape study such as studying maps, aerial photographs and earthworks, he demonstrates how GIS is increasingly being used, not only to record and map site locations, but also to predict them. GIS is just one example of how technology is increasingly being used as an aid to traditional archaeological fieldwork but, as Mick Aston remarks in his Foreword, this book is about much more than modern gismos. 

Landscape Archaeology and GIS examines the ways in which Geographical Information Systems can be used to explore archaeological landscapes, and summarises the most appropriate methods to use. It is structured around principal themes in landscape archaeology, and integrates desk-based assessment, data collection, data modelling and landscape analysis, right through to archiving and publication. This is the first book on GIS to focus specifically on landscape archaeology that is accessible to a wide archaeological readership. It explores the applications of GIS to a wide variety of archaeological evidence including maps, aerial photographs and earthworks. The work is well illustrated throughout with digital maps and models being used to support case studies, as well as for suggesting new hypotheses relevant to this discipline.