Archaeological SurveyOne of the questions that non-archaeologists often ask us is how we find archaeo logical sites. Today we often provide a pat answer about random or systematic sam pling, or perhaps about fieldwalking. This does not do justice to what archaeologists actually do, or to the body of theory and methods we have built up. After decades of carrying out surveys with intuitive designs, in the 1960s some archaeologists began to deal more explicitly with the design of archaeological surveys. Some seminal articles on aspects of archaeological survey design followed over the next two decades but, unlike excavation methods, archaeological survey has received no comprehensive treatment that could serve as a guide to survey practitioners. The main purpose of this book is to fill this gap. In addition, most archaeologists have been reluctant to discuss aspects of survey other than sampling and a few of the factors that influence detection probability. They have also almost completely ignored the large body of literature on search theory that cognate fields have generated. In an attempt to put archaeological survey on a consistent theoretical "and methodological basis, I have drawn on research in archaeology, math ematical earth sciences, and operations research. This will result, I think, in some sur prises for archaeologists, who have sometimes struggled to identify and understand sur vey problems that other fields had already studied intensively. |
Contents
1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY | 2 |
12 Field walking in Britain | 3 |
13 Early Air Reconnaissance | 4 |
16 Diyala and Uruk Surveys Iraq | 5 |
17 The Basin of Mexico Project | 6 |
19 Survey in North American Forests | 7 |
111 Intertidal and Shallowlake Survey | 8 |
2 SURVEYS UNIQUE CONTRIBUTION TO ARCHAEOLOGY | 10 |
PURPOSIVE SURVEY PROSPECTION | 133 |
1 PROSPECTING | 134 |
111 Location of Upper Creek Villages in Alabama | 135 |
114 Search for the Submerged City of Helike | 136 |
13 Exploiting Structure in Landscapes | 137 |
14 Exploiting Structure in Target Interrelationships | 138 |
161 Early History of Predictive Modelling | 139 |
162 Assumptions of Predictive Modelling | 140 |
3 SURFACE DISTRIBUTIONS AND BURIED LANDSCAPES | 11 |
31 Models of Cultural Distributions | 12 |
311 The Monument Model | 13 |
313 The Uniform Distribution | 14 |
314 The Modal Bullseye or Friedegg Model | 15 |
3141 Mathematical Models for Clusters of Artifacts | 16 |
3142 Contagious Distributions | 17 |
315 The Palimpsest Model | 18 |
316 The Offsite or Intersite Model | 19 |
317 The Distributional or Nonsite Model | 20 |
319 The Paleolandscape Model | 22 |
THE GOALS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY | 27 |
11 Prospection | 28 |
12 Statistical Survey | 30 |
123 Estimating Densities of Artifacts on the Landscape | 31 |
125 Estimating Human Population Size or Growth Rate | 32 |
128 Estimating the Range or Diversity of Archaeological Materials | 33 |
13 Surveying for Spatial Structure | 34 |
14 Surveys with Multiple Goals | 35 |
15 The Issue of Methodological Consistency | 36 |
16 Summary | 38 |
THE DISCOVERY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL MATERIALS BY SURVEY | 39 |
11 Method of Inspection | 40 |
112 Visual Inspection of Aerial Photographs with Groundchecks | 41 |
113 Survey by Test Pits Divoting Coring or Augering SST | 42 |
114 Geophysical Survey | 44 |
1144 Seismic Survey | 45 |
12 Visibility | 46 |
13 Obtrusiveness | 48 |
131 The Constituents of Archaeological Distributions | 49 |
133 Constituent Removal by Chemical or Mechanical Destruction | 54 |
135 Obtrusiveness in Geophysical Survey | 55 |
14 Distance from Target to Sensor | 56 |
141 The Law of Clean Sweep or Definite Detection | 57 |
142 Inversecube Law | 58 |
15 Geometry of Sites or Artifact Clusters | 59 |
16 Intensity or Density of Effort | 60 |
17 Resolution | 62 |
18 Coverage | 63 |
110 Crew Training Experience and Motivation | 65 |
1101 Training and Briefing Team Members | 66 |
1104 Accounting for Variability | 67 |
2 ESTIMATING DISCOVERY PROBABILITIES | 68 |
3 POSTDEPOSITIONAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT SPATIAL PATTERN | 72 |
31 Artifact Displacement or Sorting by Erosion | 73 |
4 SUMMARY | 74 |
UNITS SAMPLING FRAMES AND EDGE EFFECTS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY | 75 |
2 BOUNDARIES OF THE SURVEY AREA | 76 |
21 PhysicalGeographical Boundaries | 77 |
22 HistoricalPolitical Boundaries | 78 |
25 Oversize Boundaries and Group Territories | 79 |
26 Edge Effects | 80 |
3 TYPES SHAPES AND ORIENTATION OF UNITS | 81 |
311 Site Size Shape and Orientation | 82 |
32 Geometrical Spatial Units | 83 |
322 Edge Effects on Parameter Estimates | 85 |
323 Cost Effects of Unit Size | 86 |
34 Arrangement of Units | 88 |
342 Transects | 89 |
3422 Intersecting Transects | 90 |
3423 Undulating Transects | 91 |
3424 Retiringsquare Pattern | 92 |
344 Nested Arrangements | 94 |
41 Size of Units | 95 |
42 Optimal Arrangements Sizes and Spacing | 96 |
421 Optimizing the Arrangement of Systematic Point Grids | 97 |
422 Optimizing the Arrangement of Continuous Parallel Transects | 100 |
424 Optimizing the Spacing of Systematic Point Grids | 101 |
4241 Optimal Spacing of Point Grids at a Fixed Cost | 102 |
425 Optimizing the Spacing of Parallel Transects | 105 |
4251 Optimal Spacing of Transects Taking Costs and Value into Account | 106 |
4252 Spacing Transects within Polygons | 107 |
4253 Retiringsquare Pattern | 108 |
4262 Balancing the Costs and Benefits of Polygon Size | 109 |
43 Influences on Detection of Spatial Pattern | 110 |
5 CONCLUSIONS | 112 |
SAMPLING SPACE STATISTICAL SURVEYS | 113 |
112 Stratified Sampling | 115 |
113 Systematic Sampling | 116 |
12 Complications in Geometric Spatial Samples | 117 |
123 Crosscutting Stratification | 118 |
13 Cluster Sampling and Element Sampling | 119 |
14 Sampling with Point Samples | 121 |
15 Sampling Geomorphic and Cultural Features or Places | 122 |
2 SAMPLE SIZE AND ESTIMATION | 124 |
23 Optimal Allocation for Stratified Samples | 126 |
231 Neyman Allocation | 127 |
232 Minimizing Variance on a Fixed Budget | 128 |
233 Minimizing Cost for a Fixed Variance | 129 |
24 Sequential Sampling | 130 |
32 Estimating the Number of Archaeological Sites | 131 |
35 Estimating Changes in Regional Population or Settlement Area | 132 |
163 Steps in the Use of Inductive Predictive Models | 141 |
1632 Creating the Model | 142 |
1634 Applying the Model | 143 |
17 Using Geophysical Remote Sensing | 144 |
18 Adaptive Sampling Strategies | 145 |
3 BAYESIAN PROSPECTION AND OPERATIONS RESEARCH | 146 |
31 Search Patterns | 147 |
311 Search for the Chesapeake Flotilla | 148 |
32 Optimal Allocation | 149 |
321 Simplified Examples of Optimal Allocation | 150 |
33 Incrementally Optimal Searches | 152 |
41 Discrete Search Games | 153 |
421 Exponential Spiral Search Trajectories | 154 |
SURVEYING FOR SPATIAL STRUCTURE | 155 |
11 Settlement Patterns and Settlement Systems | 156 |
12 Central Places and Settlement Lattices | 157 |
122 Huntergatherer Landuse Models | 158 |
125 Settlementlattice Models | 159 |
126 Ranksize Models | 160 |
13 Dendritic and Other Networks | 161 |
14 Earthwork Patterns | 163 |
15 Trend Surfaces Clustering and Isopleth Maps | 164 |
16 Distributional Archaeology | 165 |
2 THE CASE FOR TOTAL SURVEY | 167 |
22 The Presampling and Largesite Bias Arguments | 168 |
312 Surveying for Settlement Lattices | 169 |
313 Survey for Ranksize Analysis | 170 |
314 Surveying Dendritic Networks | 171 |
315 Landscape Survey | 172 |
321 Surveying with Central Place and Sitecatchment Models | 173 |
323 Survey for Ranksize Analysis | 174 |
325 Landscape Survey | 175 |
CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND SITE SIGNIFICANCE | 177 |
11 The Objectives of Cultural Resource Management | 178 |
122 Responsibility to Archaeological and Other Heritage Resources | 179 |
2 REGIONAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS BY FIELD SURVEY | 180 |
22 Satisfying Clients and Regulations | 181 |
231 What Are Predictive Models and Sensitivity Models? | 182 |
232 Do Sensitivity Models Create Bias? | 183 |
31 Kinds of Significance | 184 |
312 Public Recreational and Educational Significance | 185 |
313 Historical Significance | 186 |
315 Ethnic Significance | 187 |
32 Measuring Significance | 188 |
4 ADMINISTRATIVE ETHICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF CRM | 189 |
41 Government and Institutional Regulation of Surveys | 190 |
412 English Legislation | 191 |
413 Canadian Legislation | 193 |
42 Professional Organizations and Selfregulation | 194 |
423 The Institute of Field Archaeologists IFA | 195 |
44 Reporting Requirements | 196 |
SURVEYING SITES AND LANDSCAPES | 197 |
11 Locating Transects and Staying on Course | 198 |
12 Intertidal Surveys | 199 |
2 COMMON ATTRIBUTES OF SITES | 200 |
22 Site Function and Site Hierarchies | 201 |
25 Site Environment | 202 |
3 EXAMINING SITES AND COLLECTING OR RECORDING ARTIFACTS | 203 |
32 Site Chronology | 204 |
33 Documenting Site Features | 206 |
34 Sampling or Stratifying the Site | 207 |
35 To Collect or Not to Collect | 208 |
36 Test Excavations | 209 |
4 DOCUMENTING NONSITE OR OFFSITE MATERIAL CULTURE | 210 |
42 Quadrat Mapping | 211 |
44 Recording Geographical Information and Formation Processes | 212 |
5 INTERTIDAL SURVEYS | 213 |
61 Control for Artifact Detection | 214 |
62 Control for Accuracy of Artifact Attributes | 215 |
7 CONCLUSION | 216 |
EVALUATING SURVEYS | 217 |
12 Assessing the Impact of Visibility Intensity and Other Specific Factors | 218 |
13 Estimating Detection Probabilities of Informal Surveys | 219 |
2 ASSESSING THE EXHAUSTION OF A REGION | 220 |
3 EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SAMPLING | 223 |
4 ASSESSING THE RELIABILITY OF CREW OBSERVATIONS | 224 |
5 ASSESSING BIAS IN THE CHARACTERIZATION OF FINDS | 226 |
6 ASSESSING VARIATIONS IN COLLECTION METHOD | 227 |
SURVEYING THE FUTURE | 229 |
2 INVESTIGATING HIDDEN AND NEGLECTED LANDSCAPES | 230 |
22 Wetland Survey | 231 |
3 SURVEY METHOD AND TECHNOLOGY | 232 |
4 MATHEMATICAL APPROACHES TO SURVEY THEORY AND EVALUATION | 233 |
5 CONCLUSION | 234 |
HEALTH SAFETY AND PRACTICAL MATTERS IN FIELD SURVEY | 235 |
12 Educating Team Members | 236 |
16 Risk of Encountering Highvoltage Lines Toxic Waste or Explosives | 237 |
19 Insurance | 238 |
23 Sampling Equipment and Supplies | 239 |
| 241 | |
| 265 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
aerial allocation analysis archaeological materials archaeological survey archaeologists artifact density assess auger boundaries buried centers Central Place chapter circular cluster sampling colluvium cost crew members Cultural Resource Management detection probabilities discovery distance edge effects estimates evaluate example excavation expect factors field Figure goals heritage historic hunter-gatherer important intertidal survey interval involves kinds Koopman landscape landscape archaeology lithic locations material culture methods Neolithic non-site observations obtrusiveness optimal orientation parameters pattern Poisson distribution polygons population possible predictive models prior probability probability of detection probability of intersecting problem proportion prospection quadrats random region remote sensing sampling fraction sediment selected settlement systems significance sometimes space spatial structure spatial units square statistical survey strategy stratified sample stratum surface survey area survey design survey units survey's surveyors systematic sample team members test pits tion total survey transects visibility visual inspection
Popular passages
Page 242 - EB, and Fawcett, C., 1983. Man-land relationships in the ancient Wadi Ziqlab: Report of the 1981 survey.
Page 246 - Dancey. (1998). The value of surface archaeological data in exploring the dynamics of community evolution in the middle Ohio Valley. In: AP Sullivan III, (Ed.), Surface archaeology.
Page 245 - A selection of samplers: comments on archaeo-statistics', in Mueller, JW (ed.) Sampling in Archaeology (Tucson: University of Arizona Press), 258-74.
Page 241 - Altschul, JH 1990. Red flag models: The use of modelling in management contexts. In Allen, KMS, Green.
Page 243 - Bernick, K., ed., 1998. Hidden Dimensions: The Cultural Significance of Wetland Archaeology.