The use of GIS has not and can not replace the value of an actual excavation. Instead, GIS is used hand in hand with archaeology as an indispensable means of analysis. Although excavations, like the one on the right, will continue in traditional ways, GIS will no doubt in the future play a key role for almost every archaeological project in its analysis. Dann and Yerkes explain why GIS is essential since "studies of past human behavior require the investigation of the temporal and spatial distributions of artifacts, features, and sites in the landscape." (4) GIS analysis has rapidly caught on in the archaeological discipline, since the US government turned off the selective availability for GPS receivers in 2000. These receivers have become very accurate and can be used in locating sites and using the data to create advanced, detailed maps through GIS. As the GIS and GPS technologies are becoming more and more affordable, archaeological projects which may have not been able to finance such research in the past now have the opportunity to take advantage of the complex and useful tools. GIS evolved out of older mapping programs such as SYMAP and remote sensing programs. (5) The cultural resource management first adapted GIS programs for archaeology by looking at the predictive modeling for the location of sites. (6) As GIS technology advanced so did the archaeologist's knowledge and familiarity of the programs. Spatial analysis of data for multiple sites in a particular region has been more common than analysis within a single site. Khalid Gourad, a GIS consultant, made an online survey to see the extent GIS was used among archaeologists, which lead him to conclude that "site based analyses using GIS are in their infancy." (7) However, this is just one area of archaeology that will use and benefit from GIS in the coming years. GIS has provided a major advancement in archaeology and no doubt will continue to provide news ways of analyzing archaeological related data.

History of GIS and Archaeology

 

This picture was taken from the cover of Field Methods in Archaeology (3)