Embracing Uncertainty and challenging dualism in the GIS-based Study of a palaeo-flood plain

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7175191
AutoresMark Gillings (0000-0002-2326-7678, University of Leicester, autor de correspondencia)
Año1998
Volumen1
Número1
Páginas117-144
Fecha de publicación1998-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEuropean Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1461-9571 • E-ISSN: 1741-2722
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/146195719800100106
OpenAlexW3196332012
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas19

The following paper aims to take a critical look at the role that can be played within the broad context of landscape based archaeological research by Geographical Information Systems (GIS). It will be argued that the rapid acceptance of GIS by archaeologists has not been without its problems, with a number of archaeologists wondering whether, despite the hype, any new approaches have been introduced at all. This, it will be argued, is a direct result of GIS-based applications tending to work within a largely inherited theoretical framework and, more importantly, lacking at present a critical theory of practice.The aim of the paper is move beyond critique to suggest how GIS can provide not only an efficient means of generating simple distribution maps, but a flexible environment within which to bridge developments in theory and practice. Using an on-going case-study centred upon flood events in the palaeo-flood plain of the river Tisza, the implications of using GIS to welcome uncertainty into the analytical environment are explored and a number of approaches advocated. The significance these developments have in expanding our interpretive frameworks is explored through the fore-grounding and challenging of a number of dualistic modes of thought in that area actively encouraged and reinforced by the use of traditional GIS

Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Dualism · Environmental resource management · Epistemology · Flood myth · Geographic information system · Geography · GIS applications · Remote sensing · Sociology · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeological Research and Protection · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Environmental Science · History · Image Processing and 3D Reconstruction · Philosophy