Spatial Patterns in Landscape Archaeology

A GIS Procedure to Study Settlement Organization in Early Roman Colonial Territories
Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-90-8728-311-7
Verlag: Leiden University Press

Buch, Englisch, 152 Seiten, Format (B × H): 272 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 490 g

Reihe: Archaeological Studies Leiden University

This 43th volume of the ASLU series presents a useful GIS procedure to study settlement patterns in landscape archaeology. In several Mediterranean regions archaeological sites have been mapped by fieldwalking surveys, producing large amounts of data. These legacy site-based survey data represent an important resource to study ancient settlement organization. Methodological procedures are necessary to cope with the limits of these data, and more importantly with the distortions on data patterns caused by biasing factors. This book develops and applies a GIS procedure to use legacy survey data in settlement pattern analysis. It consists of two parts. One part regards the assessment of biases that can affect the spatial patterns exhibited by survey data. The other part aims to shed light on the location preferences and settlement strategy of ancient communities underlying site patterns. In this book, a case-study shows how the method works in practice. As part of the research by the Landscapes of Early Roman Colonization project (NWO, Leiden University, KNIR) site-based datasets produced by survey projects in central-southern Italy are examined in a comparative framework to investigate settlement patterns in the early Roman colonial period (3rd century B.C.).

Autoren/Hrsg.

Casarotto, Anita

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Umweltgeschichte & Umweltarchäologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Industriearchäologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 Survey archaeology and regional analysis: a focus on Italy
1.2 The importance of legacy survey data
1.3 The integration of legacy survey datasets for inter-regional comparative analysis
1.4 Outline of the proposed research procedure
1.5 Case study
1.6 Structure of the book
1.7 References
Chapter 2. A method for modeling dispersed settlements: visualizing an early Roman colonial landscape as expected by conventional theory
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Data
2.3 Visualizing the conventionally expected early colonial landscape
2.4 Discussion and further directions
2.5 References
Chapter 3. Testing settlement models in the early Roman colonial landscapes of Venusia (291 B.C.), Cosa (273 B.C.) and Aesernia (263 B.C.)
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Data
3.3 Methods
3.4 Testing settlement density: point-density analysis
3.5 Testing settlement distribution: point-pattern analysis
3.6 Conclusions
3.7 References
Chapter 4. Assessing visibility and geomorphological biases in regional field surveys: the case of Roman Aesernia
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Data
4.3 Methods
4.4 Evaluating surface visibility biases
4.5 Evaluating geomorphological biases
4.6 Combining results
4.7 Conclusions
4.8 References
Chapter 5. Surface visibility and legacy survey data: between desktop-based analysis and new fieldwork
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Desktop-based analysis: testing the legacy site density
5.3 Control samples from new fieldwork: testing the legacy site pattern
5.4 Conclusions
5.5 References
Chapter 6. A systematic GIS-based analysis of settlement developments in the landscape of Venusia in the Hellenistic-Roman period
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Data
6.3 Exploring the pre-Roman and Roman landscapes
6.4 Location preference analysis
6.5 Conclusions
6.6 References
Chapter 7. Conclusions
7.1 References
Appendix A
Appendix B

Über Autor(innen)

Casarotto, Anita
Anita Casarotto is an archaeologist and researcher specializing in GIS, survey methodology, pattern analysis and digital applications for cultural resource management. She obtained her PhD in 2018 from the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University.