The Siteless Survey: A Regional Scale Data Collection Strategy

Flexibility by Design: How Mobile GIS Meets the Needs of Archaeological Survey

“…If the unit of analysis for surface distributions was each individual locus of artifacts that together form an archaeological site or, better yet, the individual artifacts themselves, then the GIS data would be more closely documenting the ancient activities of the people who created the sites (Dunnell and Dancey 1983;Ebert 1992, but see Binford 1992. For complex, well preserved surface sites that warrant careful recording, mobile GIS is a suitable technology for rapidly delimiting artifact concentrations on Earth's surface at a scale that is significantly finer than the general site-level recording commonplace in past surveys.…”

A ‘Reflexive’ Multi-Stage Survey Methodology for Historical Landscape Research in Central India:Field-Walking, Local Knowledge, and Satellite Imagery as Archaeological Site Prospection and Mapping Tools in the Sanchi Survey Project

“…Some commentaries 14,15 are particularly disparaging towards low-budget, small-scale projects, with others 10 questioning whether the low resolution they provide justifies the effort at all. Although many such problems have been remediated by the use of cheap handheld GPS technology, remote sensing and freely available satellite imagery such as Google Earth 4,5 , and while the detection of 'non-site' data is generally attributed to the development of systematic survey techniques 13,14,16 , it should be stressed, however, that developments in archaeological ethics and public archaeology have led to greater recognition of the veracity of the local voice 9 . For many parts of the Indian subcontinent, the detectability of broader 'non-site' categories such as 'associated landscape' data 17,18 , cult-spots or unpainted rock-shelters, is less dependent on 'advanced' reconnaissance technologies than on engagement with local traditions of ancestral memory, attachment to place and intergenerational identity.…”

“…The resulting distribution maps are organized according to the periodization of habitational settlements and associated pottery to the exclusion of all other site types. Ironically therefore, despite using landscape-oriented methods, such studies remain rooted in a 'site-based' modality, just as early extensive surveys in Europe represented changes in 'techniques and methods rather than in theory and metaphysics' 16 . Further, by excluding non-settlement data from the focus of enquiry, religio-ideological and political based models of Early Historic state-formation and urbanization in the Ganga valley 63 lack empirical corroboration as provided elsewhere by more integrated landscape studies that help challenge traditional centralized models of state 1,3,44 .…”

The Historiography of Landscape Research on Crete

“…As a result, it allows a better understanding of human behaviour over time. Siteless survey has certainly been a complex but leading theme in academic scholarship (Dunnell and Dancey 1983;Dunnell 1992;Caraher et al 2006). Non-site oriented landscape explorations have also led to the development of concepts such as 'settlement area theory' (Neustupny 1986: in Kuna 2000 and community archaeology (Neustupny 1991;Kuna 1991;Gerritsen 2003;Knapp 2003), opening up themes of dynamic relationships between human societies and landscapes, at a variety of temporal and spatial scales.…”