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Table of Contents | Background & Objective | Contributors
Spatially Integrated Social Science: Chapter 17
< Chapter 16 - Chapter 18 >
Time, Space, and Archaeological Landscapes: Establishing Connections in the First Millennium BC
Patrick Daly and Gary Lock
Abstract
This chapter describes the integration of spatial technologies into the theory and practice of landscape archaeology. Using the long-term fieldwork of the Hillforts of the Ridgeway Project (Oxfordshire, England) as a vehicle, we show how recent theoretical approaches aimed at understanding the temporal and spatial structuration of sites and landscape can be formalised through the use of GIS. The Project area comprises a series of different sorts of prehistoric sites which excavation has shown to span most of the first millennium BC although differing phases of use and significance for each site create a complex web of connections through time and space. The methodologies developed here are based on a multi-scalar approach so that different sorts of data representing different scales of social practice can be incorporated into the analyses. Ranging from individual artefacts within layers of cultural deposition within features, to complex arrangements between features within sites and landscapes, GIS functionality can be used to establish connections and suggest meaningful structuring in new and powerful ways. This moves traditional post-excavation analysis away from the site specific and situates it within a more holistic landscape approach.
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