Seeing is believing: questions of archaeological visibility in the Mediterranean. (News & Notes).

Seeing is believing: questions of archaeological visibility in the Mediterranean. (News & Notes). The Troina survey is investigating the past occupation of thehighland environment of the Nebrodi mountains in north-central Sicily.It is part of a larger project directed by Drs Caroline Malone Caroline Malone is a British academic and archaeologist currently teaching at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, UK. Prior to this she was editor of Antiquity and Keeper of the Department of Prehistory and Early Europe at the British Museum. and SimonStoddart (Malone & Stoddart 2000), which incorporates excavation,geophysics and geoarchaeological survey (FIGURE 1). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] The initial season of survey was in 1997, concentrating on thepreliminary sampling of the urban area of Troina and its surroundingsalong with the sampling of previously known sites. 1998 saw thecontinuation of the survey connecting the previous year's studyarea around the town with the outlying area and excavated site. In 1999the survey was orchestrated as a component of the geomorphological ge��o��mor��phol��o��gy?n.The study of the evolution and configuration of landforms.geo��mor investigation of the Fiume Sotto di Troina. As a direct response to the1999 fieldwork, the 2000 field survey was carried out in the less erodedand better-preserved upper plateau to the south of the river (Ayala& Fitzjohn 2001) (FIGURE 2). [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] As a direct result of complex survey situations in this highlydenuded territory we have become interested in understanding therelationship of erosion, site preservation and visibility. Amulti-disciplinary methodology was applied to understand thearchaeological record The archaeological record is a term used in archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which archaeologists seek out and record in an attempt to analyze and reconstruct the past. . Field survey was undertaken in parallel with ageomorphological investigation of the area. All discoveredarchaeological sites were gridded and systematically recorded so thatthe extent of the site and the densities of material across it could bequantified. Subsequently, site specific investigations were undertakento investigate the effects of erosion on the archaeological record usinga variety of different techniques. Two sites from the 1999 field season are pertinent examples of thetwo main processes (burial and erosion) affecting the visibility ofarchaeological material in the area. Site number 1024 is located to the south of the river that washeavily affected by erosion as a direct consequence of land usepractices (FIGURE 3). The material from this `site' was foundwithin two refuse and manure heaps, which are in association with amodern farm house located on a river terrace at the bottom of thevalley. The farmer, when interviewed, explained that the refuse heapswere created during renovation work on the foundations of the farmhouse.Results of an auger auger(ô`gər): see drill. augerTool (or bit) used with a carpenter's brace for drilling holes, usually in wood. It looks like a corkscrew and produces extremely clean holes, almost regardless of how large the bit is. survey across the farmstead have shown that only5-10 cm of soil remained on the terrace with the only significantstratigraphy stratigraphy,branch of geology specifically concerned with the arrangement of layered rocks (see stratification). Stratigraphy is based on the law of superposition, which states that in a normal sequence of rock layers the youngest is on top and the oldest on the being directly beneath the farmhouse. In this situation theconstruction of the farmhouse a little over 100 years ago preserved thearchaeological material whilst the surrounding area was undergoing rapidand intensive erosion. [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] 1134, instead, is an example of site that was discovered in arelatively well preserved environment (FIGURE 4). The material, however,became visible due to a recent change in land use through theunification of plots, the removal of trees and the commencement of deepploughing. Following a programme of gridding and site recording furtherinvestigations were undertaken: an auger sample, geophysical and microtopographical survey which have shown that the actual site was preservedunder about 60 cm of clay-rich soil up-slope from where theconcentrations of material was found and recorded. [FIGURE 4 OMITTED] Moving from the site specific to a large-scale analysis of theTroina region we have adopted various approaches to the data usingGeographical Information Systems (GIS) as our main analytical tool. Thecharacteristics of GIS position it as an ideal tool for the analysis ofphysical landscapes and regional survey. However, there has been atendency to utilize it to produce little more than distribution maps orto place emphasis on the primary relationship between physical featuresand archaeological material. Here we have been exploring how GIS canmove beyond description towards providing an interpretative in��ter��pre��ta��tive?adj.Variant of interpretive.in��terpre��ta environmentin which we can understand the presence of archaeological material. We have adopted a methodology using ArcView a GIS software This is a list of notable GIS software applications. See also the comparison of GIS software. Open source softwareMost widely used open source applications: GRASS – Originally developed by the U.S. packageto model patterns of erosion and stability. ArcView provides the idealmeans to combine geological, pedological, geomorphological,topographical, hydrological hy��drol��o��gy?n.The scientific study of the properties, distribution, and effects of water on the earth's surface, in the soil and underlying rocks, and in the atmosphere. , climate and landuse data to producedifferent maps and data of erosion and deposition across the region.These maps of erosion and deposition are then co-related with thelocations of archaeological material as a means to investigate thepresence or absence of archaeological sites. The integration of site specific analysis and modelling of regionalerosion patterns have shown the importance of determining the erosionand preservation of soils within a survey region for the interpretationof artefact See artifact. distribution. It is also believed that these forms ofmodelling may ultimately provide archaeologists with an invaluable toolwith which to undertake an assessment of the terrain of a region bothprior to fieldwork and throughout the interpretation of their findings. Acknowledgements. The authors are indebted to many people andinstitutions who have contributed towards the success of theirfieldwork. In Troina: Oasi Institute especially Sac. L. Ferlatuto;Commune commune, in medieval historycommune(kôm`yn), in medieval history, collective institution that developed in continental Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. di Troina (Assessore S. Costantino); Parrocchia Maria SS delCarmelo. In Sicily: the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Enna forpermitting fieldwork and the Regione della Sicilia (Palermo) forproviding digital data, Prof. D. Puglisi, Prof. E. Procelli and Prof.ssaR.M. Albanese Procelli. In Britain: McDonald Institute and MagdaleneCollege, Cambridge for financial assistance; Dr C. Malone, Dr S.Stoddart, Dr C. French, Mr S. Ashley, Mr D. Redhouse, L. Walker, N.Whitehead and all of the students who have been involved in the project. References AYALA, G. & M. FITZJOHN. In press. Prehistoric Troineselandscapes --GIS representations of field survey. Oxford: Archaeopress.BAR Proceedings of SOMA 2001. AYALA, G. & C. FRENCH. In press. Holocene landscape dynamics ina Sicilian upland river valley, in A.J. Howard, M.G. Macklin & D.G.Passemore (ed.), The alluvial al��lu��vi��al?adj.Of, relating to, or found in alluvium: alluvial soil; alluvial gold.alluvialAdjectiveof or relating to alluviumNoun archaeology of northwest Europe & theMediterranean. Rotterdam: Balkema. MALONE, C. & S. STODDART. 2000. A house in the Sicilian hills,Antiquity 74: 471-2. G. AYALA & M. FITZJOHN * * Ayala, Magdalene College, Cambridge CB3 0AG, England.ga215@cam.ac.uk Fitzjohn, St John's College, Cambridge CB2 1TP,England. mpf21@cam.ac.uk