Practical Applications of GIS in Archaeology: More than Just Pretty Maps?

MARSH, ERIK J.

Santa Bárbara

Jornada; Brown Bag Postgraduate Series; 2007

Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de California, Santa Bárbara

GIS has been around for decades in Archaeology, but many people still hesitate to use it. The learning curve is steep, and the question is not settled on how much good information it can actually bring. I suggest that despite the learning curve, it is worthwhile, especially for certain types of analyses or questions. At the very least, it is easy to make pretty, publishable maps (no debate there), and valuable for organizing data in an analytically useful way. I present a few examples of these and other more sophisticated uses of GIS, and address the practical considerations of implementing them, in both research design and data analysis. Like other methods and tools, GIS should not be used simply because it is the new thing. It has come a long way since the seventies, and is now considerably easier to use, even for non-techies and non-windows users (like myself). GIS also presents a valuable example of how methods and tools must be carefully integrated into broader research design (lest you too peril at the hands of untold unproductive time staring at the computer screen).