The habitation Model Trend Calculation (MTC): A new effective tool for predictive modeling in archaeology

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to create and present a new archaeological predictive model via GIS, incorporating what archaeologists consider the most important criterion absent of similar past models, that of critical thinking. The new model suggested in this paper is named habitation Model Trend Calculation (MTC) and is not only integrates the archaeological questions with a critical view, but it can be easily adjusted, according to the conditions or the questions concerning the archaeological community. Furthermore, it uses new topographical and geomorphological indexes such as Topographical Index (TPI), Hillslope and Landform Classification that give a new sense of the topographical and geomorphological characteristics of the examined area; therefore this model is a more powerful tool compared to older models that did not use new topographical and geomorphological indexes. The success of the created model is checked as a case study in the region of Messenia, Greece during the Mycenaean era. The region of Messenia is considered as one of the most important Mycenaean regions of Greece due to the great number and the importance of Mycenaean sites identified. For the present paper, 140 habitation sites were divided into four hierarchical categories (centers, large villages, villages, and farms) based on the extent and the plurality of the tholos tombs that exist in the broader region and according to the hierarchical categorization used by the archaeologists who have studied the area. The new predictive model presented in this work can assist in solving a series of criticisms that have been expressed in the previous studies regarding such models. Additionally, in the case of Mycenaean Messenia, the model shows excellent results in relation to the habitats of the time.

Mapping shoreline changes over the years: The case study of Navarino bay, Pylos, Messenia, Greece

“…Geographic Information System (GIS) is a system to store, capture, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present the geographic or spatial data. It is an important tool for archaeology as it is fast, interactive and easy to operate [12,13]. Digitization is the most common method for the creation of data, where a topographic map is transferred into a digital through suitable software [14].…”

Archaeological Databases and GIS: Working with Databases

“…The application of GIS in Archaeology has provided significant benefits in organizing and analyzing the excavations' archive [4], [5]. It is especially successful in the management of spatial information, in the integration of new ways of digital imaging and their analytical capabilities in space-time correlations of archaeological material [6], [7].At the same time, special emphasis was placed on recording the spatial properties of the mobile and immovable excavations' finds. Layout of a topographic grid, which always preceded the excavation, provided the background for organizing logging in the field.…”

Geospatial integration in mapping pre-Hispanic settlements within Aztec empire limits

“…7). The output map shows a simple representation of both the qualitative information (probability of event) and the quantitative information (percentage of the result), divided by category with a total surface area of 1488 ha and displays the potential area for identifying anthropic features based on predictive models (Espa, Benedetti, De Meo, Ricci & Espa, 2006;Mink, Ripy, Bailey & Grossardt., 2009;Malaperdas & Zacharias, 2019) of relief modifications, which correspond to 0.38688 ha and represent 26.0% of the total surface area.…”