کد مقاله کد نشریه سال انتشار مقاله انگلیسی نسخه تمام متن
1035559 943857 2013 12 صفحه PDF دانلود رایگان
عنوان انگلیسی مقاله ISI
Application of GIS methods to retrieve orientation patterns from imagery; a case study from Beds I and II, Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)
موضوعات مرتبط
مهندسی و علوم پایه مهندسی مواد دانش مواد (عمومی)
پیش نمایش صفحه اول مقاله
Application of GIS methods to retrieve orientation patterns from imagery; a case study from Beds I and II, Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)
چکیده انگلیسی

The role of natural processes in the formation of the Bed I and II sites at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) remains the subject of much debate, five decades after their original excavation. Preferred orientation of items is indicative of water disturbance, but compass bearings were not available in Mary Leakey's (1971) study. Using GIS methods, we have vectorized maps from 1960s excavations at Olduvai, and applied a range of statistical techniques to calculate items strike. The GIS analysis suggests strongly preferred orientation patterns in Bed I, and more heterogeneous angular histograms in Bed II. Two complementary lines of evidence support these results. Firstly, modelling of potential mapping errors provides a large interval of confidence for preferred orientation patterns. Second, the GIS study was extended to photographs of the earlier excavations and to maps from recent fieldwork at Olduvai; both yielded patterned arrangement of lithics and bones, and are consistent with results based on the analysis of the 1960s maps, i.e. a large number of the Bed I and II assemblages are preferentially oriented. These results highlight the potential of GIS applications to the analysis of imagery in Stone Age studies, and bear important implications for the understanding of the role of natural agents in site formation processes at Olduvai.


► Rose diagrams from excavation maps of Olduvai Beds I and II indicate preferred orientation patterns.
► Orientation patterns are also retrieved from original photographs and support preferred trends.
► Preferential orientation of items confirm post-depositional disturbance in many of the Olduvai Gorge assemblages.

ناشر
Database: Elsevier - ScienceDirect (ساینس دایرکت)
Journal: Journal of Archaeological Science - Volume 40, Issue 5, May 2013, Pages 2446–2457
نویسندگان
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