Digital Archaeology: Bridging Method and Theory

ISBN-13: 9780415310505 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 280 str.

Thomas L. Evans; Patrick T. Daly

Opis

The use of computers in archaeology is entering a new phase of unparalleled development, moving on from a specialist methodology on the margins to a powerful practical and analytical tool used across all areas of archaeological interest. With a thorough examination of the ways in which both everyday and cutting-edge technologies can be used to inform and enhance traditional methods, this book brings together ideology from the academic world and pragmatic, concrete examples to show how fieldwork, theory and technology fit together today as never before. Covering a history of the rise of computer use in archaeology as well as a thorough assessment of a number of high profile examples such as the Ferrybridge Chariot, this book shows how new technologies have been implemented into both theory and method as an integral part of the archaeological process. With contributions from renowned experts, experienced professionals and emerging names in the field, this unique, forward-thinking book brings together previously disparate aspects of archaeology in a new holistic approach to the study of the past. A companion website is also available to allow further study of the images included.

Spis treści

Acknowledgements  Biographies of Authors  Part I- Where We’ve Been and Where We are going  Introduction: Archaeological Theory and Digital Pasts  Digital Archaeology: A Historical Context  Part II – Data Collection  Archaeological Survey in a Digital World  Drowning in data? - digital data in a British contracting unit  Part III – Quantification Made Easy   You Me and IT: The Application of Simple Quantitative Techniques in the Examination of Gender, Identity and Social Reproduction in the Early to Middle Iron Age of North-eastern France  Part IV Modelling the Past   Jouma’s tent: bedouin and digital archaeology  Digital Archaeology and the Scalar Structure of Pastoral Landscapes: Modeling Mobile Societies of Prehistoric Central Asia  What you see is what you get? Visualscapes, visual genesis and hierarchy  Part V – Virtual Worlds  ‘Digital gardening’ - An approach to simulating elements of palaeovegetation and some implications for the interpretation of prehistoric sites and landscapes  At the edges of the lens: photography, graphical constructions and cinematography  Part VI- Disseminating the Data  Electronic Publication in Archaeology  Computers, Learning and Teaching in Archaeology: life past and present on the screen  What's another word for thesaurus? Data Standards and Classifying the Past  Part VII – Conclusion  Afterword:

O autorze

Thomas L. Evans is Head of Geomatics for Oxford Archaeology and a Research Associate at the University of Oxford’s Institute of Archaeology. Patrick Daly is currently a British Academy Reckitt Travelling Fellow in Archaeology based at the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.