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Sweep widths and the detection of artifacts in archaeological survey
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... A great deal has been written on regional survey methods (e.g., Alcock and Cherry, eds. 2004;Almagro-Gorbea et al. 2002;Banning 2002;Banning et al. 2006Banning et al. , 2011Drennan et al. 2015;Dunnell and Dancey 1983;Fish and Kowalewski, eds 1990;Nance 1983;Sullivan et al. 2007;Wandsnider and Camilli 1992;Wilkinson 2000; and many others), illustrating the wide variety of approaches that archaeologists have adopted for regional settlement study. These methods vary (as they often should) according to the specific conditions of the region where survey is carried out, the specific research questions being addressed, and the size of the area surveyed. ...
... Not only was shovel probe survey the formal strategy for finding settlements, but shovel probes were, as a result, the predominant form of data collection, accounting for 82% of all the collections made (Table 1). There is already a great deal of literature devoted to regional survey on the basis of surface remains (e.g., Almagro-Gorbea et al. 2002;Banning 2002;Banning et al. 2006Banning et al. , 2011Drennan et al. 2015;Shott 1995;Sullivan et al. 2007;Wandsnider and Camilli 1992), much of which was taken into account when designing and implementing the Middle Térraba survey. ...
... In our attempt to focus on shovel probes, we have, in this paper (though not in the design of the Middle Térraba survey), paid little attention to analogous issues that must be considered for surface survey. These issues merit just as much consideration, and there is a good deal of literature that has dealt with them specifically (e.g., Almagro-Gorbea et al. 2002;Banning 2002;Banning et al. 2006Banning et al. , 2011Drennan et al. 2015;Shott 1995;Sullivan et al. 2007;Wandsnider and Camilli 1992). We hope this paper complements that literature and leads to a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that must be considered when utilizing shovel probes in regional-scale survey, particularly for the purpose of studying regional settlement demography. ...
Shovel probes are a common form of archaeological data collection in densely vegetated landscapes. They were once the subject of critical analyses that evaluated their utility for archaeological survey, specifically the discovery of archaeological sites. In the decades that have passed since these classic studies were published, the objectives of regional survey have continued to evolve. Many archaeologists now recognize regional survey as a fundamentally demographic endeavor, one whose aim is to understand how many people lived where in a landscape during different periods of time. This recognition has placed greater demands on methods of regional data collection than those envisioned in the classic shovel probe literature. In addition to discovering prehistoric settlements, surveys must also reliably collect the full range of data that is needed for making the population estimates (be they relative or absolute) that lie at the heart of settlement demography. This paper evaluates the utility of shovel probes for studying regional settlement demography using the area and density of ceramic sherd scatters, a commonly used population proxy in numerous parts of the world. This evaluation is empirically grounded in analyses of data from the Intermediate Area (southern Central America and northern South America), the results of which are used to assess, and in some instances modify, regional survey results from the Middle Térraba Basin in southern Costa Rica.
... Wandsnider and Camilli 1992: 177, 183, fig. 3; Banning et al. 2006;2010;2011; but see below). For example, 10 This distinction between method, technique and strategy is adopted after Elco Rensink's presentation of the Best Practices Prospectie project at the Finds in the Landscape. ...
... Determining detection functions of each surveyor has also been proposed by Hawkins et al. (2003) and Banning et al. (2006;2011; as a way to allow for the analysis of inter-observer biases in survey results. This is done by testing surveyors' abilities to detect different types of artefacts under different controlled but realistic field conditions, in both cases such as are anticipated in the specific survey area (Fig. 10). ...
... Thus, with the use of such experiments one is able to adjust the survey strategy (intensity or sweep width) and evaluate inter-observer biases according to capabilities of any specific field crew in any specific survey area. Preferably such experiments would be performed repeatedly over the course of a survey project in order to control for maturation and history and produce "average" results (Hawkins et al. 2003(Hawkins et al. : 1509Banning et al. 2006: 728-730, 737-741;Banning et al. 2011;Banning et al. 2017: 478-481). ...
... The geometry of search grids also has a tremendous impact on the probability of finding sites or clusters of artifacts (Plog, Plog, and Wait 1978;Verhagen and Borsboom 2009). Finally, many aspects of the detector (including the human detector) are relevant to survey results; both people and instruments vary in their abilities and are never perfect (Banning, Hawkins, and Stewart 2011;Plog et al. 1978). ...
... The function that describes the relationship of range to discovery probability is typically S-shaped, with fairly high probabilities of detection close to the surveyor's path that at first decline rapidly with distance before levelling out into a long tail of values approaching a probability of 0, much like a normal distribution centered on the search path. We can estimate range functions under a variety of conditions and detectors by experiment (Banning et al. 2011;Banning et al. 2016). ...
... Once we can estimate a range function for a particular context (combination of artifact type, visibility, and crew abilities, for example), we can use it to estimate a "sweep width" (Banning et al. 2011). Whether by fieldwalking or some other method, sweep width is double the range within which the number of artifacts we fail to discover is equal to the number of those we do discover outside that range. ...
Field survey involves a suite of methods and strategies by which archaeologists search for sites or artifacts, investigate ancient landscapes and settlement or land‐use systems, and assess the risk that modern development will have negative impacts on significant archaeological heritage. Modern field survey employs visual observation by fieldwalkers as well as many subsurface, aerial, and space‐based methods to accomplish this.
... In archaeological surveys, some very important, although by no means only, benchmarks of quality are a survey's ability to detect archaeological materials, classify them correctly, and adequately represent their character, density, and distribution. This ability in turn depends on the skill and attentiveness of field personnel, the quality of the survey design, the character of the archaeological materials, and characteristics of various Benvironmental^factors that affect surveyors' attention and ability to see artifacts (Banning et al. 2006(Banning et al. , 2011Hawkins et al. 2003). A number of archaeologists have called attention to the importance of ensuring survey effectiveness (e.g., Hirth 1978;Ives 1982;Miller 1989;Shott 1992;Sundstrom 1993;Zubrow 1984), yet this call has had relatively little impact on practice. ...
... However, implicit in the reports of typical archaeological surveys is the assumption that all field crews had closely similar or identical detection abilities, some even suggesting, implicitly or explicitly, that within some specified range they detected 100 % of the artifacts exposed on the surface (this is the definite detection model; Koopman 1980:59;Banning 2002:57-59). We suggest that this assumption is, to say the least, over-optimistic, and our field experiments have shown that surveyors' detection of artifacts, even under rather ideal conditions, is both variable and far from perfect (Banning et al. 2006(Banning et al. , 2011Hawkins et al. 2003). ...
... For several decades, archaeologists have summarized this effect as obtrusiveness (Schiffer et al. 1978: 6). Research by us (Banning et al. 2006(Banning et al. , 2011 and others (e.g., Schon 2002;Wandsnider and Camilli 1992) has confirmed the intuitive expectation that, holding other conditions constant, the size, shape, color, and reflectivity of artifacts, especially as these contrast with their environment, create substantial variation in their detectability. For example, fairly bright and glossy sherds of glazed porcelain or glass are quite easy to detect on a variety of backgrounds, while mottled grey flakes of chert are quite difficult to see, especially on stony backgrounds. ...
To have confidence in the results of an archaeological survey, whether for heritage management or research objectives, we must have some assurance that the survey was carried out to a reasonably high standard. This paper discusses the use of Quality Assurance (QA) approaches and empirical methods for estimating surveys’ effectiveness at discovering archaeological artifacts as a means for ensuring quality standards. We illustrate with the example of two surveys in Cyprus and Jordan in which resurvey, measurement of surveyor “sweep widths,” and realistic estimates of survey coverage allow us to evaluate explicitly the probability that the survey missed pottery or lithics, as well as to decide when survey has been thorough enough to warrant moving to another survey unit.
... Interestingly, individual motivation may have been a factor in recovery (e.g., someone without the most experience but with a vested personal interest, such as collecting data for a doctoral dissertation, may have a higher success rate). Other factors have been found to affect the success rates of outdoor archaeological survey, including the spacing between searchers, type of object searched for, object size, and speed of searchers (Banning et al. 2006(Banning et al. , 2011(Banning et al. , 2017. ...
... Lighting may play an important, but little acknowledged, role in successful recovery of evidence. For example, Banning et al. (2011) found that the results of archaeological survey differed if the searchers were walking toward or away from the sun during a given site transit. In situations where sediments may be transported from the site to a separate indoor location for processing, bright lighting may not be an issue; however, where the sole or primary location of recovery is in the field, natural lighting may influence recovery potential. ...
The methods used to recover skeletal remains from an excavation, surface scene, or other forensic context can directly influence the amount and types of skeletal material available for analysis and hence the interpretations that can be made. The limitations of any recovery method therefore must be understood to avoid misinterpretation regarding other causes of bone loss, including consumption or dispersal by scavengers, destruction by acidic soil, or human-caused trauma and dismemberment. The factors that can contribute to the non-recovery of bone include (1) inadequate screen mesh relative to the remains being sought within sediments (especially among juvenile remains), (2) surface search methods that do not allow for adequate visualization by the searchers, (3) natural bone camouflage, including soil staining and thermal alteration, (4) difficult environments, such as underwater, (5) a lack of training of or fatigue by recovery personnel, (6) destructive handling procedures, including the forces of recovery themselves.
... When we can calculate these costs, we can simply budget for a particular sample size. For example, in a regional survey, we might estimate that our survey team can walk a total of 60 km each day; if we have budgeted 30 field days to complete a survey, then we could survey the number of sample elements that 1800 km would cover at whatever intensity or coverage (Banning, Hawkins, & Stewart, 2011) we would like to accomplish, although it is a good idea also to account for set-up and travel time between units. Alternatively, we might try to balance these costs with the risk that the resulting sample will not meet particular objectives, such as being able to estimate some parameter of interest or compare populations within a certain tolerance of precision, statistical power, and confidence (see examples from McManamon, 1981 andLee, 2012, below). ...
... 215-219;Orton, 2000, pp. 26-27, 39;Banning et al., 2011). The more serious case is when there is differential detectability across our population, as when we are attempting to survey artifacts of particular colour and texture against a background of highly variable environmental characteristics (Banning, 2002, pp. ...
Whether a cluster sample of artifacts from features in a site or an element sample of landforms in a regional survey, a useful spatial sample requires careful attention to the likely characteristics of the population of interest, how they relate to the potentially degraded population available for study, and how best to allocate scarce resources to their study. Designers of spatial samples need to think about the size and shape of sampling elements, or use PPS sampling (probability proportional size), which uses random or systematically arranged points or lines to select irregularly shaped sample elements. Modern spatial sampling takes prior information more seriously to make the most of stratified sampling, sequential sampling, adaptive sampling, and non-geometric sampling frames, and to reach rational decisions about sample sizes, re-sampling, and the reliability of sample distributions.
... Whether a surface site has formed as a result of the disturbance and subsequent visibility of previously buried material, exists exclusively on the modern surface, contains a mixture of surface and sub-surface material, or has been transported to the present location from elsewhere via any number of natural and/or cultural postdepositional site-formation processes, their discovery and study has formed the basis of the majority of intensive regional surveys (Runnels et al. 2003: 135). Several important studies have demonstrated that a methodical analysis of both high-density and lowdensity superficial artifact scatters can provide a broad-brush summary of past human activities, both in the Aegean region (Alcock, et al. 1994;Cherry et al. 1988;Runnels et al. 2003;Tartaron 2003) and worldwide (Banning et al. 2011;Wandsnider and Camilli 1992). While surface sites can provide a low-resolution picture of a large area, they generally lack the stratigraphy or potential for absolute dating that remains in the domain of excavated sites. ...
... The data collected from such intensively surveyed sites provide information on both artifacts and landscapes at a higher resolution than the more broad, large-scale sweeps of regional surveys, due to closer sweep widths and higher rates of artifact detection (e.g. Banning et al. 2011). Many archaeologists find sites like Stélida difficult to interpret on the intra-site scale, because they do not have typical and distinct cultural contexts that are separated by stratified geological or archaeological deposits, but rather exist exclusively on the same deflated modern surface (Runnels et al. 2003: 135). ...
Archaeologists use the remains of cultural material that have accumulated on or near Earth’s surface as direct proxies to human behaviour in the past. In this paper I develop a methodology to assess the spatial integrity of a surface assemblage from the slopes of Stélida, Naxos, Greece, and identify areas of primary cultural material deposition. The artifacts in question were collected as part of a surface survey undertaken by the Stélida Naxos Archaeological Project from 2013–2014. My multi-scalar analyses were first aimed at interrogating the site as a whole, using quantities and weights of the assemblage organized into three size categories (<2cm, 2-10cm, and >10cm), followed by a more intensive analysis on a topographically representative area of the hill. In this second stage I measured a sample of artifacts three dimensionally as a means of generating an index of sphericity, which is primarily determined by the state of the artifact when it was first produced. Some rounding of the edges and breaks can occur over time through various taphonomic processes, which can affect an artifact’s morphology, but generally the level of sphericity is only minimally altered. I then correlated this sphericity value against the type and amount of post-depositional damage, consisting of fresh edge scars and snaps accrued not as part of the production and use of the artifacts but as a result of taphonomic processes, on each sample using a series of basic logistic regressions. These methods produced two conclusions: 1) as sphericity increases, the probability of any fresh edge scars occurring increases, and the average number of scars increases; and 2) as sphericity decreases, the probability of the artifact being snapped increases. These conclusions formed a baseline for the state of the surface material on Stélida, which I then compared to the slope angles and vegetation coverage to identify collection points of which the spatial integrity of their assemblages has remained relatively intact since their time of deposition. This study was ultimately successful and determines that similar research on a larger scale would be beneficial to the project, both to identify areas of primary cultural deposition and thus loci where excavation trenches could be placed in order to maximize the probability of finding intact subsurface deposits.
Keywords: Archaeological survey; Lithics; Post-depositional damage; Site-formation processes; Spatial integrity; Surface assemblage
... Searcher motivation can affect recovery success rates, such as in cases where the data to be collected are of more direct use or interest to some searchers on a team, and mixing searchers with varying levels of experience and abilities may increase the overall amount of recovered material (Hawkins et al. 2003). The spacing between searchers also affects success rates (Banning et al. 2006(Banning et al. , 2011(Banning et al. , 2017, and this effect is examined in the present research. Banning et al. (2011) also found that the types of object searched for, object size, speed of searchers, and if the searchers were walking toward or away from the sun during a given site transit can affect success rates. ...
... The spacing between searchers also affects success rates (Banning et al. 2006(Banning et al. , 2011(Banning et al. , 2017, and this effect is examined in the present research. Banning et al. (2011) also found that the types of object searched for, object size, speed of searchers, and if the searchers were walking toward or away from the sun during a given site transit can affect success rates. Terrain and weather are also likely factors in success, as is cumulative fatigue . ...
Human skeletal remains in outdoor forensic sites often are dispersed from their point of initial deposition, making locating isolated bones difficult. Forested areas in particular may obscure remains, as bones stained from soft-tissue and leaf-litter decomposition may blend in with the forest floor or be hidden by understory. Wide skeletal dispersal presents other problems for searchers, including the difficulty in keeping track of which areas have been searched and maintaining proper spacing of searchers to prevent gapping. Little is known about success rates when searching for dispersed skeletal elements and the effects of searcher spacing, searching the same area twice, type of skeletal element, and understory growth. In order to test recovery rates searching through forested areas, isolated postcranial elements of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and crania of pigs (Sus scrofa) were laid out randomly in a large grid system and searched for. Overall recovery rates for n = 500 elements were 84.0% on the first pass-through and a cumulative total of 90.0% after the second pass-through, with 10.0% missed after both. Significant differences in recovery rates based upon bone type were noted, but no significant difference was found based upon searcher spacing (1 m vs. 2 m) or understory density (low vs. medium). Forensic archaeologists should note that even with careful searching under controlled conditions, exposed surface skeletal elements can be missed, a concern that is likely amplified under real field search conditions. To maximize remains detection, forensic search protocols should include narrow searcher spacing and double passes through search areas wherever possible.
... One major issue is that of transect spacing when investigating for archaeological materials that do not fall into the highly obtrusive category such as the tells, or other highly visible architectural remains mentioned above. If we take into consideration the spacing of archaeological surveyors as they walk along their transects in combination with both their effective 'sweep widths' (Banning et al. 2011) and the size of the geometrically shaped spaces that they happen to be surveying, it becomes clear that it is often the case that the proportion of any given space that is effectively surveyed is quite small. The proportion that is missed, in turn, is quite large. ...
... These allow us to assess the probability -given the amount of effort we have expended and various environmental factorsthat we have failed to detect archaeological targets that occur within a surveyed polygon. We discuss this in more detail elsewhere (Banning et al. 2011;Stewart et al., this volume) but, in plain English, Effective Sweep Width (W) is the width of a band within which the number of artefacts we fail to detect is equal to the number we find outside that band. Survey coverage is the product of sweep width and the total length of all transects walked, divided by polygon area. ...
In 2012 and 2013, a team from the University of Toronto conducted survey of the Wadi Quseiba drainage in northwest Jordan. This survey’s main goal was to discover evidence of Late Neolithic habitation and landscape use, which typical archaeological surveys in the region very rarely find. To improve the efficiency and frequency with which sites are located, we experimented with Bayesian optimal allocation methods, originally designed for naval searches during the 1940s. The survey’s design began with a predictive model in a GIS environment in which we assigned prior probabilities to landscape elements thought most likely to have survived the severe alteration of the landscape that has occurred since the Neolithic in this highly eroded region. Optimal-allocation algorithms, performed iteratively on the basis of each day’s survey results, guided the allocation of survey effort to spaces with high probability densities, given past survey coverage. After two survey seasons, we conducted small-scale excavations in 2014 on “candidate sites” located during survey. This paper will discuss the survey methods and briefly touch on the results of these excavations, which verified that two “candidates” were Yarmoukian and Wadi Rabah Late Neolithic sites.
... In order to accomplish these tasks, however, certain kinds of data on a day-to-day basis were essential. Recording whether or not we found anything was the easy part, but revising our estimates of coverage for each surveyed space required good estimates of the total length of transects walked, which we could measure from the beginning-and end-coordinates of each transect segment and from our sweep widths, which we estimated with "calibration runs" over fields seeded with artifacts in known locations, using methods similar to those of Banning et al. (2011) (Figure 3). Even with iPads, this process was somewhat involved, as we needed to upload data from each iPad at the end of each day, merge these data into a master database, calculate proportions of survey areas covered that day by dividing the coverage (product of effective sweep width and total length of transects) by the area of each survey area, and input this into the algorithm to determine how much further survey we should do, if any, in each landscape element. ...
... information was required in addition to the lengths of each transect segment walked by team members: the sweep width. Sweep width refers, in the most basic sense, to the effective width of a "band" perpendicular to the surveyor's line of travel within which he or she can be thought to reliably spot artifacts (Banning et al. 2011). The width of this band changes depending on a number of factors, including the expertise of individual surveyors, the height of their detection devices (eyes, in this case) from the ground, the obtrusiveness of the artifacts themselves, the terrain, groundcover, lighting conditions, etc. ...
The Archaeological Record 15(4): 31-36
... For example, artifact identification methods, spacing intervals, lighting, artifact characteristics, density, and surface visibility affect what archaeologists identify and record during a survey. Researchers have studied and modeled the effects of several biases on field research, and many have proposed methods to identify and control for bias (Banning 2002;Banning et al. 2006Banning et al. , 2011Banning et al. , 2016Gnaden and Holdaway 2000;Hawkins et al. 2003;Heilen and Altschul 2013;Plog et al. 1978;Schiffer et al. 1978;Shott 1995;Shott et al. 2002;Wandsnider and Camilli 1992). Yet, there has been little interest in accounting for bias in CRM practice and little emphasis on managing the kinds of metadata and paradata needed to control for bias when data are reused. ...
Most archaeological investigations in the United States and other countries must comply with preservation laws, especially if they are on government property or supported by government funding. Academic and cultural resource management (CRM) studies have explored various social, temporal, and environmental contexts and produce an ever-increasing volume of archaeological data. More and more data are born digital, and many legacy data are digitized. There is a building effort to synthesize and integrate data at a massive scale and create new data standards and management systems. Taxpayer dollars often fund archaeological studies that are intended, in spirit, to promote historic preservation and provide public benefits. However, the resulting data are difficult to access and interoperationalize, and they are rarely collected and managed with their long-term security, accessibility, and ethical reuse in mind. Momentum is building toward open data and open science as well as Indigenous data sovereignty and governance. The field of archaeology is reaching a critical point where consideration of diverse constituencies, concerns, and requirements is needed to plan data collection and management approaches moving forward. This theme issue focuses on challenges and opportunities in archaeological data collection and management in academic and CRM contexts.
... In survey carried out in Jordan, for example, model assumptions were updated every evening based on results from that day and generated new models and directives for where to survey next. Coupled with field walking calibration runs tailored to individual surveyors, the recovery of Mesolithic finds in the absence of ceramics is much more likely (Banning & Hitchings, 2015;Banning et al., 2011). ...
The Mesolithic in Eastern Europe was the last time that hunter-gatherer economies thrived there before the spread of agriculture in the second half of the seventh millennium BC. But the period, and the interactions between foragers and the first farmers, are poorly understood in the Carpathian Basin and surrounding areas because few sites are known, and even fewer have been excavated and published. How did site location differ between Mesolithic and Early Neolithic settlers? And where should we look for rare Mesolithic sites? Proximity analysis is seldom used for predictive modeling for hunter-gatherer sites at large scales, but in this paper, we argue that it can serve as an important starting point for prospection for rare and poorly understood sites. This study uses proximity analysis to provide quantitative landscape associations of known Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites in the Carpathian Basin to show how Mesolithic people chose attributes of the landscape for camps, and how they differed from the farmers who later settled. We use elevation and slope, rivers, wetlands prior to the twentieth century, and the distribution of lithic raw materials foragers and farmers used for toolmaking to identify key proxies for preferred locations. We then build predictive models for the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in the Pannonian region to highlight parts of the landscape that have relatively higher probabilities of having Mesolithic sites still undiscovered and contrast them with the settlement patterns of the first farmers in the area. We find that large parts of Pannonia conform to landforms preferred by Mesolithic foragers, but these areas have not been subject to investigation.
... The observable surface record, therefore, dictates certain methodological needs and choices. Hierarchical approaches to sampling and coverage are often adopted, with different strategies defined and applied for landscape, site, and feature-based documentation (e.g., Banning 2002;Banning et al. 2011). A longstanding issue with Americanist approaches to "full-coverage" survey is the implication that any project can fully cover a landscape (Cowgill 1990;Plog 1990;Tartaron 2008, p. 91). ...
In this paper, we describe the development and state of archaeological surface survey in the Mediterranean. We focus especially on surface survey as a means of documenting long-term settlement patterns at various scales, as an approach to the archaeology of regions, and as a pathway to the interpretation of past landscapes. Over the last decades, the literature on Mediterranean survey has increasingly emphasized a distinct set of practices, viewed both favorably and critically by regional archaeologists in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. We show that Mediterranean survey in fact comprises several discrete regional traditions. In general, these traditions have much to offer to wider dialogs in world archaeology, particularly concerning sampling and research design, the interpretation of surface assemblages, and the integration of complex, multidisciplinary datasets. More specifically, survey investigations of Mediterranean landscapes provide comparative data and potential research strategies of relevance to many issues of global significance, including human ecology, demography, urban–rural dynamics, and various types of polity formation, colonialism, and imperialism.
... The use of this package permits archaeological project managers and PIs to develop and refine survey approaches in ways that maximize the probability of site detection while making more efficient use of available resources. In doing so, it provides a complement to prior simulation-based evaluations of surface survey prospection methods [19][20][21] and comparisons of surface and sub-surface recovery techniques [e.g., 22]. It also carries potentially interesting retrospective potential, allowing for the re-assessment of data garnered from previous attempts at subsurface survey. ...
Systematic survey is a crucial component of the archaeological field endeavor. In low visibility areas, systematic subsurface testing is required, most often in the form of shovel test pits or “STPs”. Decisions about the interval between STPs, and the size of such units, impact significantly both the effectiveness of survey for site location and the efficiency of such prospection efforts, and yet “cookie-cutter” survey strategies are often employed without a thorough examination of their costs and benefits. In this work, we present a simulation-based method (DIGSS, D etermination of I ntervals using G eoreferenced S urvey S imulation) by which archaeologists can simulate the effectiveness and efficiency of different survey strategies for both prospective and retrospective applications. Beyond permitting the design and implementation of survey strategies that both maximize the possibility of site detection in a given region and that husband precious resources (money and time), this method permits the generation of post hoc correction factors that make direct comparison of previous surveys possible. While DIGSS was designed with archaeological applications (artifacts and sites) in mind, it has potential ramifications in other fields of study where discrete spatial sampling is used as a means of determining the presence, absence, or abundance of discontinuous assemblages materials of interest in a survey region. As such, we can envision potential application in the fields of geology, ecology, and environmental/pollution monitoring.
... Transect widths were narrow enough that team members could easily communicate variations along their individual paths, short enough that the entire length was easily visible, and large enough to allow for topographic characterizations. With near perfect visibility across most transects and a one-meter sweep width the estimated coverage in each transect was forty per cent (see Banning et al, 2011 for discussion of survey limitations). Transects were aligned according to the previously established BAP excavation grids, which account for topographic variation on the Bat landscape. ...
This paper presents the preliminary results of the 2018-2019 field season of the Bat Archaeological Project (BAP), which has conducted research at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bat (Sultanate of Oman) since 2007. Recent research by the authors targets ancient settlement located in the site’s dense third millennium BC contexts. Over the course of Winter 2018-2019 BAP surveyed and conducted excavation of three test trenches in a 35 ha area. Over 200 features were documented, of which 60+ date to the Bronze Age. Excavations identified: (1) Hafit or early Umm an-Nar period mudbrick architecture east of Matariya tower; (2) intact Umm an-Nar deposits east of Rojoom; and (3) evidence for widely varying ancient topography on the northern edge of what is now the wadi plain. The analysis of ceramic and lithic artifacts collected over the season provide data on the chronological dynamism and function of different areas within the site. While the strongest material signatures date to the Islamic periods and Bronze Age, evidence attests to the site being occupied continuously since at least the Neolithic. Taken together, these preliminary results reveal shifting patterns of occupation and land-use on the Bat landscape over the past 5000 years. The presence of this complex palimpsest at Bat suggests that such patterns may also exist at similar multi-period sites.
... 25 Orton 2000. 26 For a full discussion of the effectiveness of survey tract cover see Banning et al. 2006Banning et al. , 2011Banning et al. , 2017 are less evident than flake industries as a function of size of artefact. Time of day also affects visibility; the oblique light of early morning or late afternoon renders glossy lithics more visible. ...
... 25 Orton 2000. 26 For a full discussion of the effectiveness of survey tract cover see Banning et al. 2006Banning et al. , 2011Banning et al. , 2017 are less evident than flake industries as a function of size of artefact. Time of day also affects visibility; the oblique light of early morning or late afternoon renders glossy lithics more visible. ...
... Likewise, transect spacing is another variable that affects artifact identification and recovery rates as distances between transects correlate with increasing or decreasing survey coverage (Banning et al., 2006(Banning et al., , 2011. In our survey, distances between surveyors was dependent on a number of variables including ground cover, visibility, and the number of available participants. ...
... More relevant to archaeology are designs in which the set-up of the experiment itself probably makes it unrepresentative of a "natural" setting. For example, in some experiments on archaeological survey, the use of a grid of strings that would never occur in real survey probably had impacts on both survey speed and probability of detection (Banning et al. 2011). Another reactive effect, called the Hawthorne effect or observer effect (McCarney et al. 2007), results simply from the participants' awareness of being test subjects. ...
This chapter reviews archaeological inference and the scientific process in archaeology, from the distinctions between deduction, induction and abduction through the relationships between theories and observations and approaches to different kinds of research questions, to the ways we can try to protect the validity of research conclusions. One of these ways is sampling, which is relevant whenever we want to generalize to a “population” on the basis of a small subset of it. The chapter reviews several sampling designs and issues surrounding the selection of an adequate sample size and the avoidance of practices that could yield biased estimates of population parameters.
... Due to our goal of complete coverage survey for these types of artifacts, non-overlapping ca. 2 m wide survey transects were demarcated across an entire locality with black nylon string. Initial field testing identified 2-3 m as the maximum transect width before analysts started missing obvious artifacts within their transects-a width that generally aligns with more formal survey sweep-width experiments in arid and semi-arid environments (Banning, Hawkins, and Stewart 2011;Banning et al. 2017). ...
This article discusses the development and implementation of a mobile GIS catch-and-release system for documenting large surface artifact scatters along the Doring River in South Africa. An integrated, cloud-based mobile GIS solution was built using a suite of ESRI ArcGIS applications with an aim to maximize the speed and breadth of techno-typological data capture, while minimizing data collection errors and post-processing requirements. The system was successfully implemented during the 2019 field season of the Doring River Archaeological Project. With the ability for projectspecific customization and interchangeable hardware components, the system transcends geographic region and temporal focus. Moreover, the system accommodates connectivity limitations commonly faced by archaeologists seeking distributed database solutions. Other challenges embraced in the design include rotating personnel throughout a field season, scalability without large financial investment, and the ability to accommodate data collection needs of other components of the larger multi-disciplinary research project.
... Each field was surveyed by a group of three archaeologists, who systematically walked in 5-meter intervals, using pin-flags to identify and assess the distribution of artefacts across the landscape. The team was briefed on several factors that affect the archaeologists' ability to locate cultural materials, such as the speed of the surveyor, the spacing of the survey, and whether the surveyor walks towards or away from the sun ( Banning et al. 2011). Every structure in the inter-site settlement zone is visually shown on maps using the "schematic method of representation," a technique used to create the maps at Lamanai Surveyors collected diagnostic sherds -rims and decorated/painted sherds -and complete lithic tools on the surface of the structures, using the edges of the debris field to demarcate the extent of the collection. ...
At Lamanai and Ka’kabish, two Precolumbian Maya centres in north-western Belize, archaeologists have focused their research on the environment, architecture, and long-term occupation of the civic-ceremonial centres. The sites’ rural or hinterland populations, however, which were presumably critical to the support of the centres, have not been studied. These populations are key to an understanding of the sites’ long histories and especially to our understanding of urban and rural relationships and how Lamanai survived the Maya collapse (AD 600-900), flourished during the transition to the Postclassic period (AD 900-1500), and continued to be a focus of settlement in the Spanish colonial period. Only two small-scale studies have shown interest in the domestic occupation of the larger region and they have been restricted by funding and time, leaving a massive gap in an otherwise robust and important comparative dataset. By reconstructing the spatial and temporal dynamics of Ka’kabish, Lamanai, and the inter-site settlement zone, and comparing them to environmental evidence from pollen cores collected in the New River Lagoon, this study aims to shed much-needed light on the processes that promoted the continuity in evidence in this region. The results of the analysis indicate that the historical trajectory of the civic-ceremonial centres and the inter-site settlement zone differed in many ways. The centre of Lamanai remained occupied long after the abandonment of the peripheries and Ka’kabish, which were almost completely depopulated by the end of the Late Postclassic (AD 1250-1521) period. It is possible that Lamanai was occupied longer than many other sites in the region because of a large influx of migrant populations in the Terminal Classic (AD 800-1000) and Early Postclassic (AD 900-1250) periods, as evidenced by changes in ceramic traditions and a dramatic increase in the number of single domestic structures and their distribution. It also seems likely that the inhabitants of Lamanai reacted to earlier periods of increased soil erosion and deforestation (in the Late Preclassic and Early Classic) by managing their agricultural and arboreal resources in the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic periods, striking a balance between settlement growth and an increasing need to exploit the environment.
... Yet this is the measure of success used in most studies recommending optimum line or grid search strategies. Interest in continuous line grid and discrete grid searches spans fields such as water site strategies (Freeze et al. 1992), environmental hot-spot detection (Gilbert 1987;Ferguson 1992;Parkhurst 1984;Kim 2013), archeological site search (Banning et al. 2011;Verhagen et al. 2012), general geologic anomaly search (Barouch and Kaufman 1979;Chung 1981), and mineral deposit or petroleum body search (Miller 1991;Drew 1979;Slichter 1955;Singer and Wickman 1969). The problems of determining the probability of detection of resource or other targets has been considered for continuous line search grids and for discrete patterned drill hole searches. ...
Structured search strategies have been well studied, but consequences of frequently made assumptions can lead to “optimum” recommendations that are far from optimum in that they ignore risks of failure. Common assumptions are many targets that have average sizes and shapes, and are randomly orientated. The effects of common assumptions are examined for parallel and grid line searches. Equations are provided for estimating probabilities of hitting elliptical targets with parallel and square grid lines along with new simplified equations when orientations are random. In a large portion of searches, the probability of missing the largest, most valuable target, dangerous ordnance, or key target is critical to the decision-maker. The risk of missing a target is frequently central to the decision. Where the target is elliptical in shape and has unknown orientation, square grid line search should be considered over line search. Square grid line search has a slightly lower expected probability of detecting an elliptical target with one or more hits than an equal-cost parallel line search, but the probability of missing regardless of orientation in square grid search is significantly lower. Where two or more hits are required, the square grid has a significantly higher probability of hitting and a slightly lower standard deviation than an equal-cost line search. For elliptical targets, the use of a square grid significantly reduces the chances of search failure.
... Thus, with the use of such experiments one is able to adjust the survey strategy (intensity or sweep width) and evaluate inter-observer biases according to capabilities of any specific field crew in any specific survey area. Preferably such experiments would be performed repeatedly over the course of a survey project in order to control for maturation and history and produce "average" results (Hawkins et al. 2003(Hawkins et al. : 1509Banning et al. 2006: 728-730, 737-741;Banning et al. 2011;Banning et al. 2017: 478-481). ...
... Archaeologists generally carry out systematic surface collection of artefacts in transects or in spot collections in an effort to describe the abundance, composition and distribution of artefacts across a surface (Ebert, 1992;Shott, 1995). In some cases, research questions call for collecting large contiguous areas of archaeological sites to produce contour (isopleth) maps (Banning et al., 2011;Cherry et al., 1991;Davis et al., 1997;Ebert, 1992;Gyucha et al., 2015;Newhard et al., 2013;Parkinson et al., 2017). ...
... We then updated the probabilities that each of these polygons contained undetected late prehistoric material given the amount of survey coverage we had applied to date. To estimate coverage, we multiplied total transect length by our estimated "sweep widths" as measured on test fields that we had seeded with artifacts in known locations (Banning et al. 2011b and2016). This procedure often directed us to re-survey polygons at least once because the amount of coverage from previous survey still left a substantial probability that we had missed 'target' materials. ...
During August 2014, a team from University of Toronto conducted test excavations at three locations in the drainage basin of Wadi Quseiba, west of Irbid, Jordan. One of these was a “candidate site” that the Wadi Quseiba Survey had discovered in Wâdî al-Bîr, one of Wadi Quseiba’s main tributaries, in its 2013 field season. This turned out to show good evidence for occupation during the Late Neolithic (or Early Chalcolithic), including abundant pottery and lithics, some ground stone, and associated surfaces, pits, and possible traces of architecture. The finds there are consistent with a date in the second half of the sixth millennium cal BC, contemporary with Tabaqat al-Bûma in Wadi Ziqlab to its south and sites in northern Israel that archaeologists assign to the “Wadi Rabah culture.” The finds at this site, in conjunction with the unorthodox methods used to discover it, have broader implications for our understanding of the extensiveness of Neolithic settlement in the southern Levant during the sixth millennium BC and the nature of Neolithic social landscapes.
... We are thus able to conduct survey as efficiently as possible. Additionally, rather than make the unrealistic assumption that any amount of search in an area is sufficient to locate its archaeological remains, we use the concept of 'sweep widths', as estimated by calibrating the survey team's effectiveness at discovering artefacts in fields with different kinds of ground cover, to track our coverage of polygons (Banning et al. 2011. ...
Evidence for the earliest occupation of Cyprus ( c . 11000–8500 cal BC) has been elusive as it often consists of small, diffuse and unobtrusive scatters of debris from stone tool manufacture. Yet tracing these sites is crucial if we are to understand how humans first explored the island, learned to exploit its resources and introduced useful flora and fauna from elsewhere. Our approach to this problem is to employ new methods of pedestrian survey and predictive modelling so as to investigate a route that could have linked the coast and the interior.
... While many surveys state that an area received '100% coverage' , the reality is that much less of the ground is effectively surveyed. For discussion of effective coverage and artefact detection, seeBanning et al. 2011. Thi s material is under copyright. ...
... Within each targeted polygon, we walked a series of numbered transects. We estimated the effective sweep-width (Banning et al. 2011) of these transects by running a series of calibration transects across fields and meadows taken as representative of the conditions we would encounter during survey. These varied in vegetation cover, stoniness and other visibility factors, and were relatively devoid of artefacts prior to our 'seeding' them with potsherds and lithics in known locations. ...
... The probability that archaeologists will detect a site depends on the interplay between their detection methods, visibility and obtrusiveness, and we need to consider these in combination. Elsewhere, I have discussed ways to summarize this interaction through detection functions and sweep widths (Banning et al. 2006;2011), but this is not yet standard practice. One of the issues relevant here is that the typical poor visibility and unobtrusiveness of sites can change when construction activity, often road-cutting, or natural erosion in gullies or at the edges of terraces, offers archaeologists a section through them. ...
Archaeologists depend in part on the distribution in size and space of Neolithic sites to draw inferences about Neolithic social institutions and changes in them. However, we risk making poor inferences if we base them on uncritical examination of the characteristics and locations of known sites, without regard for research histories, survey intensity, geological factors, or, the focus of this paper, the means by which these sites were discovered. A large proportion of the sites that have contributed so much to our understanding of the Neolithic, especially for Pre-Pottery Neolithic B and the subsequent Late Neolithic, owe their discovery to accidental exposures during quarrying, road construction, house construction, or excavation of fish ponds. A more realistic picture of Neolithic settlement systems and changes in them requires a program of research aimed at the discovery of whatever remains of closely associated sites in a small region, and one that takes the impacts of development and geomorphology seriously. Recent survey in northwestern Jordan has the aim of identifying these Neolithic traces as efficiently as possible, and is beginning to yield useful results.
We present the results of geophysical survey of the burial mound necropolis Gnezdilovo-12, which has been completely destroyed by ploughing. The results of geophysical data interpretation are compared with the results of archaeological excavations, XIX c. maps and surface artefacts distribution, showing good correlation between the datasets. For the European part of Russia the investigation of Gnezdilovo-12 is one of the first examples of full-scaled geophysical survey of the destroyed burial site, which enabled the confident interpretation of the site structure and 3D reconstruction of the burial mound landscape.
As survey methods around the Mediterranean matured from extensive to more intensive modes of discovery, a form of ‘siteless’ survey emerged, characterized by high-intensity field walking with a correlated trend towards reduced areal coverage. The resulting practice evoked external criticism: ‘Mediterranean myopia’ precluded true regional-scale investigation. Our discipline can benefit from a reckoning with this criticism, together with a frank acknowledgement of the methodological challenges inherent in field survey and the resulting difficulty in comparing artifact-level data from different surveys. This paper recounts some of the main methodological difficulties and the degree to which these have or have not been fully addressed by Mediterranean survey practitioners. I argue that siteless survey methods produce data that - although necessary for analysis within a project - do not provide correct external deliverables. I also argue that the notion ‘site’ (i.e., places made by and interpretable as human activity) continues to be of fundamental importance to archaeology. The paper concludes that our methods can benefit from an integrated approach combining extensive and intensive methods, characterized by predictive modeling, quality assurance programs and carefully calibrated intensity, with site definition and discovery at its core.
This paper presents the findings of the inaugural season of the Bays of East Attica Regional Survey project (BEARS). The project aims to clarify the history of human activity around the bay of Porto Rafti in eastern Attica. Surface finds from Raftis Island demonstrate that it was the location of a major Late Helladic IIIC site probably linked to the cemetery at Perati, as well as of limited Late Roman occupation. The Pounta peninsula yielded a large quantity of obsidian lithics, indicating significant activity during the Final Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, with lesser quantities of material dated to the Late Helladic IIIC and Roman/Byzantine periods. At Koroni, surface finds of Late Helladic IIIC and Archaic/Classical date indicate that activity at the site predates the third-century Ptolemaic military camp excavated by American archaeologists in 1960. Overall, these survey data provide a range of new evidence and insight into the history of the Porto Rafti area and its connections to other regions of the Aegean. Methodologically, the project’s work also demonstrates the value of conducting archaeological surface survey even in areas with extensive modern development.
This work presents a new methodological tool developed in order to achieve more rigorous and objective ascription and evaluation of the archaeological surface assemblages: the Archaeological Surveying Consistency Index (ASCI). A combination of this innovative approach, GIS technologies and a radial model of intensive archaeological survey is designed and implemented on a case study to provide an answer to an archaeological anomaly in the field of archaeological surveying. The radial model of intensive archaeological survey and total coverage was designed on the basis of the background, the characteristics of the terrain and, fundamentally, of the posed hypotheses (proximity and visibility). The information thus generated was analysed and represented using GIS technologies (kernel maps, proportional symbols maps, viewshed analyses). Our research has allowed us to give cultural material contextualization to Abrigo Grande de Minateda, a paradigmatic rock art site of the prehistoric art of the Iberian Peninsulás Mediterranean Arc, which has been recognised as World Heritage in 1998 by UNESCO.
In the southern Levant, fundamental changes in economic organization, mortuary practices, and settlement patterns took place during the 5th to early 4th millennium B.C.E., or the Chalcolithic period
(ca. 4500–3700/3600 B.C.E.). Our best evidence derives from sites in the Negev, and to a lesser degree, the Jordan Valley and Golan Heights, and the mortuary sites along the coast. The goal of the Galilee Prehistory Project is to examine this period based on information from a different environmental region, by undertaking survey and excavation in the Galilee, a region with virtually no radiocarbon dates or plans derived from Chalcolithic sites. The multi-faceted investigation of the Wadi el-Ashert included unpiloted aerial vehicle fly-overs during different seasons, geophysical and pedestrian survey, and methodical sub-surface test sampling. The comprehensive approach to this prehistoric landscape resulted in a more nuanced understanding of the site.
The central Meseta is a high plateau located in the heart of the Iberian Peninsula. Abundant evidence of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic occupations of the region contrasts with scarce evidence of a human presence during the early Upper Palaeolithic. On this basis, it has been suggested that climatic downturns triggered the temporary abandonment, or near abandonment, of the central Meseta during the Last Glacial period. We conducted three archaeological surveys in Guadalajara province, located in the southern part of the region, in 2009, 2010, and 2017. Survey results, interpreted in the light of a habitat suitability model, support a hypothesis of climate-driven abandonment (or near-abandonment) of the central plateau during the Last Glacial Maximum and suggest that the Tagus River Valley, which links the Spanish interior to the Atlantic seaboard, was a focus for the Palaeolithic occupation of the region at other times.
JOURNAL OF GREEK ARCHAEOLOGY
This article deals with a relatively new form of archaeological research in the Mediterranean region – intensive surface survey, coverage of the landscape by teams walking in close order, recording patterns of human activity visible on the landsurface as scatters of pottery and lithics, or building remains. Since 2000, archaeologists from Dutch and Belgian universities working on Mediterranean survey projects have gathered annually to discuss methodological issues in workshops that gradually attracted landscape archaeologists from other European countries and Turkey. On the basis of these discussions, this paper, written by regular workshop contributors and other invited authors with wider Mediterranean experience, aims to evaluate the potential of various approaches to the archaeological surface record in the Mediterranean and provide guidelines for standards of good practice in Mediterranean survey.
Satellite imagery has long been recognized as well suited for the regional and ecological questions of many archaeological surveys. One underexplored aspect of such data is their temporal resolution. It is now possible for areas to be imaged on an almost daily basis, and this resolution offers new opportunities for studying landscapes through remote sensing in parallel with ground-based survey. This article explores the applications of these data for visibility assessment and land-cover change detection in the context of the Sinis Archaeological Project, a regional archaeological survey of west-central Sardinia. We employ imagery provided by Planet, which has a spatial resolution of 3 m, in four spectral bands, and is collected daily. Using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values calculated for each survey unit, we find that there is a relationship between NDVI values and field-reported visibility in general, though the strength of this correlation differs according to land-cover classes. We also find the data to be effective at tracking short-term changes in field conditions that allow us to differentiate fields of similar land cover and visibility. We consider limitations and potentials of these data and encourage further experimentation and development.
In both Southwest Asia and Europe, only a handful of known Upper Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic sites attest to aggregation or gatherings of hunter-gatherer groups, sometimes including evidence of hut structures and highly structured use of space. Interpretation of these structures ranges greatly, from mere ephemeral shelters to places “built” into a landscape with meanings beyond refuge from the elements. One might argue that this ambiguity stems from a largely functional interpretation of shelters that is embodied in the very terminology we use to describe them in comparison to the homes of later farming communities: mobile hunter-gatherers build and occupy huts that can form campsites, whereas sedentary farmers occupy houses or homes that form communities. Here we examine some of the evidence for Upper Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic structures in Europe and Southwest Asia, offering insights into their complex “functions” and examining perceptions of space among hunter-gatherer communities. We do this through examination of two contemporary, yet geographically and culturally distinct, examples: Upper Paleolithic (especially Magdalenian) evidence in Western Europe and the Epipaleolithic record (especially Early and Middle phases) in Southwest Asia. A comparison of recent evidence for hut structures from these regions suggests several similarities in the nature of these structures, their association with activities related to hunter-gatherer aggregation, and their being “homes” imbued with quotidian and symbolic meaning. © 2019 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights reserved.
Abstract: The article discusses the archaeological surface survey
method, the possibilities and limitations of which are still not well
understood despite its long history of development. The main
directions of the method‘s development are outlined and some of
the basic concepts and methodological problems connected to the
archaeological surface record discussed. The main topics include
formation processes, the archaeological record in the ploughzone,
the relationship between the surface and subsurface records,
visibility, the problem of subsurface survey method and the scale
of observation, as well as concepts of site and off-site space.
Keywords: archaeological surface survey, archaeological
surface (and subsurface) record, formation processes, ploughzone,
visibility, scale of observation, site, off-site space
The transformations entangled in becoming an urban society are increasingly attracting attention in archaeology, including in the Mediterranean. The place-making entailed in the development of urban settlement represents a fundamental change for a society; it creates over time a new urban mentalite and habitus, such that the urban fabric and place become an active part of social life, and its reproduction. While urbanism does not require the 'state', urban settlements form key venues for social, economic and political change leading to the potential development of sedentary early complex polities. For several areas of the world and in multiple periods, there are increasingly sophisticated studies of urbanisation. To date, Cyprus has received relatively little attention-but, as increasingly recognised, urbanisation was central to the island's rapid change into, and emergence as, a substantial element of the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean world. We consider and critique the case of urbanisation on Late Bronze Age Cyprus and highlight its importance to Cypriot and eastern Mediterranean prehistory. We explore in detail one particular case, the Maroni valley area and its Late Bronze Age complex, where relatively detailed information is becoming available from a combination of excavations, pedestrian survey and archaeological geophysics. We argue that only such detailed study allows proper recognition of the nature and anatomy of urban settlements on prehistoric Cyprus; we also argue that the scale (spatial and demographic) of the main Late Bronze Age urban settlements on Cyprus should not be underestimated.
This paper presents an integrated multimethod approach to the prospection and reconstruction of medieval and early modern rural landscapes in southeastern Austria (ca. 1100–1700 ce). Pedestrian surface collection, soil phosphorus analysis, and targeted test excavation, along with place-name and field-shape data, were used to investigate patterns of settlement, land use and landscape organization. The results from fieldwork revealed an inverse relationship between surface ceramic densities and soil phosphate levels, suggesting different areas of rubbish disposal, habitation and agricultural practices. This case study illustrates both the benefits and challenges of synthesizing archaeological, geochemical and historical lines of evidence in the exploration of past human landscapes in central Europe. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper investigates the applicability and transferability of conventional frameworks of archaeological survey in the context of marginal alluvial environments, particularly the unique inland deltas of Central Asia. These dynamic and visually obstructed landscapes pose unique challenges not only to survey methodologies but also to theory and interpretation. Here, an exploratory approach to data analysis is used that applies three distinct yet integrated methodologies: visibility analysis, multi-scalar spatial analysis and directional (anisotropic) statistics. This approach thereby moves beyond many of the existing conceptual constraints about how we understand surface distributions in arid alluvial landscapes and ultimately identifies both transferable analytical methods and new fieldwork agendas that are relevant to a wide range of survey projects.
Gillett Grove (13CY2) is a protohistoric Oneota settlement that overlooks the Little Sioux River in Clay County, northwestern Iowa. Work there since 1995 has revealed protohistoric and perhaps late prehistoric Oneota occupations similar to the nearby Milford site. Here, we compare systematic surface collections made in 1998 and 1999 for their similarity in the assemblage properties of size, composition and distribution. Repeated collection in 1999 of some survey units following rainstorms allows us to gauge the reliability of surface records at the site. In general, re-collections by year and by exposure condition differ. A site's surface is a complex sampling domain that a single collection may not adequately sample.
Archaeological Informatics: Pushing the Envelope. CAA 2001 Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, Proceedings of the 29th Conference, Gotland, April 2001, G. Burenhult and J. Arvidsson, eds. BAR International Series S1016. Archaeopress, Oxford: 341-50.
This paper presents the results of several experiments to investigate how the detection functions of surveyors vary for different artifact types on surfaces with differing visibility when visual surface inspection ("fieldwalking") is the survey method. As prospecting theory predicts, successful detection declines exponentially with distance away from transects and detection as a function of search time displays diminishing returns. However, these functions vary by visibility, artifact type, and other factors. The incidence of false targets - incorrect identifications of artifacts - has somewhat more impact at greater range but has little or no relationship with search time. Our results provide a rationale for selection of transect intervals and distribution of survey effort, and also facilitate evaluation of survey results, allowing more realistic estimates of how much a survey missed.
This paper discusses sampling techniques for archaeological survey that are directed toward evaluating the properties of surface artifact distributions. The sampling techniques we experimented with consist of a multi-scale sampling plot developed in plant ecology and the use of a nested-intensity survey design. We present results from the initial application of these methods. The sampling technique we borrowed from plant ecology is the Modified-Whittaker multiscale sampling plot, which gathers observations at the spatial scales of 1 sq m, 10 sq m, 100 sq m, and 1000 sq m. Nested-intensity surveys gather observations on the same sample units at multiple resolutions. We compare the results of a closely-spaced walking survey, a crawling survey, and a test excavation to a depth of 10 cm. These techniques were applied to ten 20 × 50 m survey plots distributed over an area of 418 ha near the Hudson-Meng Bison Bonebed in NW Nebraska. These approaches can significantly improve the accuracy of survey data. Our results show that high-resolution coverage techniques overlook more material than archaeologists have suspected. The combined approaches of multi-scale and nested-intensity sampling provide new tools to improve our ability to investigate the properties of surface records.
Shovel-test sampling, the excavation of small test units at regular intervals along survey transects, is a widely used technique for archaeological survey in heavily vegetated areas. In order to achieve efficiently the archaeological goals of a survey employing the technique, the survey should be designed with consideration of the statistical properties of shovel-test sampling. In this paper we examine the effects that test–unit size, spacing, and patterning have on the discovery of archaeological sites of varying size and artifact density. This examination presents some simple procedures both for the efficient design of surveys and the evaluation of existing survey results.
Survey is one of the primary methods of data collection in archaeology today. Survey data often constitute the sole conserved record of the prehistoric use of an area and are used as the foundation for culture historical, demographic, and economic reconstructions. Given the fundamental nature of survey data in relation to other archaeological pursuits, identification of biases inherent in this type of data are important and have been the subject of a number of stimulating studies. Analyses reported here focus on the accuracy of results produced through intensive survey. Using data from several siteless surveys in the American West, the effects of artifact obtrusiveness, especially size, and artifact density on the survey accuracy are investigated. Implications for interpreting a biased archaeological document are addressed.
Archaeological survey design is viewed as a problem in choosing techniques for site and artefact discovery that are most cost‐effective given the particular archaeological and environmental characteristics of the study area. Uncontrollable factors of the study area discussed are abundance, clustering, obtrusiveness of archaeological materials, and visibility and accessibility. Both purposive and probabilistic techniques for varying discovery probabilities are examined within the framework of recovery theory. In addition, other considerations involved in survey design are reviewed, including field crews, site definition, recording procedures, surface collecting and testing. Finally, a three‐stage survey programme is outlined, wherein stress is laid on acquiring the knowledge needed for making decisions about survey techniques.
Gillett Grove (13CY2) is a protohistoric Oneota settlement that overlooks the Little Sioux River in Clay County, northwestern Iowa. Work there since 1995 has revealed protohistoric and perhaps late prehistoric Oneota occupations similar to the nearby Milford site. Here, we compare systematic surface collections made in 1998 and 1999 for their similarity in the assemblage properties of size, composition and distribution. Repeated collection in 1999 of some survey units following rainstorms allows us to gauge the reliability of surface records at the site. In general, re-collections by year and by exposure condition differ. A site‘s surface is a complex sampling domain that a single collection may not adequately sample.
Survey of the modern ground surface is a common and important element of archaeological practice. Yet the properties of recovered surface assemblages vary according to several factors that are not intrinsic to the assemblages themselves. Such factors are briefly surveyed and one, reliability—the probability that a surface appears similar following successive cultivation episodes—is examined at length. Ina Michigan case study, the reliability of a cultivated surface is complicated by significant random variation. Among the several implications that this finding holds for research and management, perhaps the most important is the need to inspect a cultivated surface several times, not merely once, to accurately gauge its true archaeological character.
The paper presents statistical methods for evaluating the effectiveness of archaeological survey strategies. Two main types of archaeological survey are discussed: con-tinuous and discrete. These are compared to analogous military search situations and the mathematical solutions developed for the military problems are presented. Tech-niques for adapting these solutions to archaeological problems are discussed and examples are given of the methods of each type of search strategy.
The replicated collection of the surface of a site provides one way of learning more about a site during survey work. Examples of the use of this technique at 2 sites in southern Italy are presented. The suggestion is made that the site surface in some cases can be viewed as operating as a biased multinomial sampling process. A statement of this hypothesis in formal terms is given.
A probabilistic model describing the grid-drilling method of exploration has been developed and tested with specific application
to the exploration for petroleum in the United States. It may also have application to non petroleum resources.This method
of exploration is shown to be economically feasible when applied to fifteen test areas in the United States and to the United
States as a whole.The objective of the analysis was to maximize the net value of petroleum located. The optimum grid spacings
for each of the test areas and for the United States as a whole were determined subject to this criterion.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH)/Mississippi State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has written more comprehensive guidelines to assist archaeologists and other individuals and institutions responsible for Section 106 and Antiquities Law compliance in the state. These guidelines address: professional qualifications, laboratory and curation facilities, treatment of human remains, terrestrial and underwater archaeological research, and report preparation. As cultural resource management laws and regulations, archaeological theory and techniques, and the public's attitude toward cultural resources change, the document itself will evolve to reflect them. For now, however, it is hoped these guidelines will assist archaeologists and agency administrators in developing research designs that will serve to produce sufficient amounts of data to identify and evaluate cultural resources and when needed to develop and implement appropriate mitigation proposals.
For the first time, a standard, simple, practical, and low-cost method for conducting detection experiments for ground searches was successfully developed and demonstrated. This included a simple method for reducing the data obtained in such experiments that requires only minimal computation and the construction of a simple graph. Two types of objects were used?a fluorescent orange glove and a black balloon-filled 55-gallon plastic garbage bag. Twelve gloves and nine garbage bags were placed randomly along either side of a 2.25 kilometer track in a wooded area. Thirty-two searchers participated in the demonstration, providing 384 detection opportunities for gloves and 288 detection opportunities for garbage bags. Preliminary visual effective sweep width (a.k.a. ?detectability index?) estimates were obtained for each object type for the type of environment in which the demonstration was conducted. Land search and rescue (SAR) organizations will now be able to conduct detection experiments in their own respective areas of responsibility using their own resources to produce effective sweep width values for their own use and the use of others in similar search situations. This work constitutes a major breakthrough for improving land search planning and evaluation methods by replacing subjective estimates for probability of detection (POD) with objective ones that are more reliable, repeatable, and accurate than current subjective techniques. This work will also make it possible to bring known and proven methods for the optimal allocation of search resources to each situation that requires areas to be searched, leading to multiple benefits. These benefits include finding survivors sooner on average and thereby saving more lives, reducing risks to searchers through reduced search times, reducing costs, reducing the time volunteers must take from their normal lives, and making resources more available for other missions if needed.
A set of easily calculated formulas estimate the probability that archaeological sites of a given size and shape were intersected by survey transects. Estimates derived from the formulas can be used by archaeologists in planning surveys and by cultural resource management personnel in evaluating survey proposals and results.
The importance of demographic information for our understanding of the evolution of society has established the need for intensive settlement reconnaissance at the regional level. In many instances, however, the validity of techniques currently being used to generate population estimates has not been established through rigorous archaeological testing. This study presents empirical evidence for the effect of different types of surface disturbance on the recoverability of cultural debris.
The experiments reported here were carried out in the Acconia area of southern Italy between 1977 and 1983. They represent the first long-term study of the effects of plowing on material seen on the surface of a site. A series of observations was made at a site over a period of six years in order to monitor the dynamics of patterns of surface material placed at the site by the researchers. The specific questions examined include the ratio of surface to plow-zone material and the extent of lateral displacement of material resulting from plowing. The results of the experiments support the proposition that the site surface operates in effect as a sampling process with respect to material circulating in the plow-zone. They also show how local factors at a site, such as slope, can affect patterns of lateral displacement. A prime feature of the experimental design is its economy in terms of the work effort that it requires in the field. This means that plow-zone experiments of this kind can readily be incorporated into most multi-year survey projects.
This paper reports a study on the effectivity and efficiency of trial trenching strategies for site discovery within the context of Dutch archaeological heritage management. It discusses the principles of site discovery by means of trial trenching, and suggests the optimal strategies for trial trenching survey, based on the results of simulations. Effective and efficient strategies for discovering different groups of archaeological sites are given, according to their presumed size, shape and feature density. The recommended strategies will be included in the Quality Norm for Dutch archaeology.
In this study the selection of the optimum type of drilling pattern to be used when exploring for elliptical shaped targets is examined. The rhombic pattern is optimal when the targets are known to have a preferred orientation. Situations can also be found where a rectangular pattern is as efficient as the rhombic pattern. A triangular or square drilling pattern should be used when the orientations of the targets are unknown. The way in which the optimum hole spacing varies as a function of (1) the cost of drilling, (2) the value of the targets, (3) the shape of the targets, (4) the target occurrence probabilities was determined for several examples. Bayes' rule was used to show how target occurrence probabilities can be revised within a multistage pattern drilling scheme.
This study of land-use patterns in eastern Hampshire marries theory to practice, to give a comprehensive and readable account of the survey methods used and the results obtained. The research was designed to shed light on synchronic patterns of settlement in particular periods, and on diachronic patterns of long-term settlement change, while attempting to deal with some of the problems raised by the use of surface survey data for these purposes. In order to do this the concept of the 'site' was abandoned and a non-site approach adopted, based on the study of varying artefact densities across the landscape. These densities were then analysed within a framework integrating both potential biases in field observation and environmental factors affecting the distribution of past settlement. -Publisher
This chapter focuses on decision making in modern surveys. In the last decade, the investment in and significance of results obtained from survey archaeology have increased dramatically. The most basic decision that any archaeologist makes in undertaking a survey is where that survey is to be conducted. Ideally, archaeologists would always choose in solving most problems to survey a culturally bounded area, whether the boundary is conceived as encompassing an entire culture or a subsistence-settlement unit within that culture. Despite some of the weaknesses in recent attempts to operationalize the nonsite concept, it is believed that the concepts of site and nonsite manifestations are both useful for designing archaeological surveys. Having determined the degree of detail with which the ground surface is to be inspected, a decision must be made concerning whether all or part of the area to be investigated will be surveyed.
It is easy to think of examples of surveys that failed to detect the sites of greatest interest, that provided biased estimates of a site’s date or importance, or that yielded none of the contextual information or economic evidence needed to investigate a particular research problem. Most failures of archaeological survey, however, are due to inappropriate survey design and especially to failure to tailor that design to the survey’s objectives.
Two approaches have been used for designing spatial surveys to detect a target. The classical approach controls the probability of missing a target that exists; a Bayesian approach controls the probability that a target exists given that none was seen. In both cases, information about the likely size of the target can reduce sampling requirements. In this paper, previous results are summarized and then used to assess the risk that Roman remains could be present at sites scheduled for development in Greater London.
Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology PHMC (Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission) Guidelines for Archaeological Investigations in Pennsylvania Bureau for Historic Preservation Decision-making in modern surveys
- S E Palmer
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Accuracy in archaeological surface survey in the Seedskadee Project area, southwestern Wyoming
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Wandsnider, L., Ebert, J.I., 1986. Accuracy in archaeological surface survey in the
Seedskadee Project area, southwestern Wyoming. In: Drager, D.L., Ireland, A.K.
(Eds.), The Seedskadee Project: Remote Sensing in Non-site Archaeology.
National Park Service, Albuquerque, NM, pp. 211e226.
Design and evaluation of shovel-test sampling in regional archaeological survey Site artifact density and the effectiveness of shovel test probes Evaluating the effectiveness of archaeological surveys
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Krakker, J.J., Shott, M.J., Welch, P.D., 1983. Design and evaluation of shovel-test sampling in regional archaeological survey. J. Field Arch. 10, 469e480. Lynch, B.M., 1980. Site artifact density and the effectiveness of shovel test probes. Curr. Anthropol. 21, 516e517. Miller, C.L., 1989. Evaluating the effectiveness of archaeological surveys. Ontario Archaeol. 49, 3e12.
Seeding the Landscape: Experimental Contributions to Regional Survey Methodology. Unpublished Phd Dissertation
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Schon, R., 2002. Seeding the Landscape: Experimental Contributions to Regional
Survey Methodology. Unpublished Phd Dissertation, Bryn Mawr College.
The reliability of surface assemblages: recent results from the Gillett Grove site, Clay County Theory of Optimal Search A simple mathematical procedure for estimating the adequacy of site survey strategies
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Replicated collection of site surfaces Detection functions for archaeo-logical survey. Am. Antiq 71, 723e742. Banning, E.B., 2002a. Archaeological Survey Kluwer Academic Archaeological survey as optimal search
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Ammerman, A.J., Feldman, M.W., 1978. Replicated collection of site surfaces. Am. Antiq 43, 734e740. Banning, E.B., Hawkins, A.L., Stewart, S.T., 2006. Detection functions for archaeo-logical survey. Am. Antiq 71, 723e742. Banning, E.B., 2002a. Archaeological Survey. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York. Banning, E.B., 2002b. Archaeological survey as optimal search. In: Burenhult, G., Arvidsson, J. (Eds.), Archaeological Informatics d Pushing the Envelope. CAA2001 Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology 29th Conference, Gotland, April 2001. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 307e312. Burger, O., Todd, L.C., Burnett, P., Stohlgren, T.J., Stephens, D., 2004. Multi-scale and nested-intensity sampling techniques for archaeological survey. J. Field Arch. 29, 409e423.
Principles of Search Theory, Part I: Detection. Soza and Company
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Ltd., Fairfax, VA.
Mapping and manuring: can we compare sherd density figures? Side-by-Side Survey: Comparative Regional Studies in the Mediterranean World Evaluation of Archaeological Decision-making Processes and Sampling Strategies Problems in data recovery and measurement in settlement archaeology
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Given, M., 2004. Mapping and manuring: can we compare sherd density figures? In: Alcock, S.E., Cherry, J.F. (Eds.), Side-by-Side Survey: Comparative Regional Studies in the Mediterranean World. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 13e21. Hey, G., Lacey, M., 2001. Evaluation of Archaeological Decision-making Processes and Sampling Strategies. Kent County Council and Oxford Archaeological Unit, Oxford. Hirth, K.G., 1978. Problems in data recovery and measurement in settlement archaeology. J. Field Arch. 5, 125e131.
Standards and Guidelines for Consultant Archaeologists
OMTC (Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture), 2011. Standards and Guidelines
for Consultant Archaeologists. http://www.mtc.gov.on.ca/en/publications/SG_
2010.pdf.
Guidelines for Phase I, II, and III Archaeological Investigations and Technical Report Preparation. West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office
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Trader, P. n.d. Guidelines for Phase I, II, and III Archaeological Investigations and
Technical Report Preparation. West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office.
http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/techreportguide/guidelines.pdf.
Compatibility of Land SAR Procedures with Search Theory. US Department of Homeland Security, United States Coast Guard Operations (G-OPR), contract no. DTCG39-00-D-R-00009
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Cooper, D.C., Frost, J.R., Robe, R.Q., 2003. Compatibility of Land SAR Procedures with
Search Theory. US Department of Homeland Security, United States Coast Guard
Operations (G-OPR), contract no. DTCG39-00-D-R-00009. Potomac Management Group, Inc., Alexandria, VA.
PHMC (Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission)
PHMC (Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission), 2008. Guidelines for
Archaeological Investigations in Pennsylvania. Bureau for Historic Preservation,
PHMC, Harrisburg, PA.
Mapping and manuring: can we compare sherd density figures?
- Given
Multi-scale and nested-intensity sampling techniques for archaeological survey
- Burger