November 2001

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A New Methodology for Archaeological Analysis: Using Visualization & Interaction to Explore Spatial Links in Excavation Data

Eileen Vote

PhD, Special Studies

Department of Computer Science and Dept. of History of Arts, Brown University

May 30, 2001

Table of Contents

Curriculum Vitae. iv

Acknowledgments. vi

Table of Contents. viii

List of Figures. x

Aerials, Plans and Elevations. xiv

Chapter 1: Introduction. 1

1.1 State of the Research and Hypothesis 2

1.1 Contributions 6

1.2 Related Work 9

1.3 Methods - Field Data and Site Recording. 16

1.4 Methods for Analysis. 24

1.5 Road map 28

Chapter 2: The First Prototype: A Conceptual Model 30

2.1 The System - The First Prototype. 30

2.2 Evaluation 35

2.3 Findings. 36

2.4 Conclusions 37

Chapter 3: The Second Prototype: A Three-Dimensional Database Experiment 39

3.1 The System - The Second Prototype. 40

3.2 Evaluation 43

3.3 Findings. 44

3.4 Conclusions 45

Chapter 4: The Third Prototype: Visualization Using An Immersive Virtual Reality Interface. 46

4.1 Improvements, Goals and Ideal Process. 47

4.2 New Conceptual Process 48

4.3 Hypothesis Based On Conceptual Process 49

4.4 Implementation 50

4.5 The Third Prototype. 54

4.6 Analysis and Evaluation. 62

4.7 Lessons. 64

4.8 Conclusions 65

Chapter 5: The Fourth Prototype: Analyzing Lamps in Context at Petra. 67

5.1 The Fourth Prototype. 69

5.2 Evaluation 76

5.3 Conclusions 90

Chapter 6: Results and Discussion. 91

6.1 Time Requirements for Each Method. 92

6.2 Comparison of Task Performance using Traditional vs. New Methods. 94

6.3 Strengths and Limitations. 98

6.4 Visualization, Navigation and Interaction Issues 101

6.5 Additional Visualization, Navigation and Interaction

Features Archaeologists Require 102

6.6 Additional Tasks Archaeologists Would Like To Perform 103

6.7 Summary of Results 104

6.8 Final Conclusions 105

7 Appendix A 107

8 Appendix B 108

9 References 130

Excerpt from Chapter 1: Introduction

This dissertation presents a new methodology for analyzing archaeological excavation data by providing the archaeologist with a visual schema for analytical tasks. The research assumes the following hypothesis: given a comprehensive, three-dimensional index of the archaeological record, an environment to explore it and tools for visualizing and interacting with it, analytical tasks that are difficult, if not impossible, to generate with standard methods can be performed. Using the methods developed in this body of research, archaeologists were able to pose general questions, formulate new hypotheses, and test existing ones with aspects of the excavation record.

Until recently, post-excavation archaeological analysis was limited to observing site features and excavated objects with two-dimensional, paper-based visualization methods. Statistical analyses using the excavation record databases are generally performed off-site to augment these observations. These formal methods severely constrain the archaeologist's ability to synthesize excavation findings because they do not represent the spatial component of the data set and, therefore, do not depict the complex relationships that exist within it. These relationships and associated attributes in the archaeological record consistently prove to be rich sources of information indicative of the cultural practices, site occupation patterns and histories of ancient civilizations. The proposed methodology implements graphic visualization and interaction techniques for archaeologists and researchers to navigate, visualize, query, observe and interact with the range of three-dimensionally referenced finds, in context with the site features unearthed during the excavation process. It not only provides a new medium for archaeologists to synthesize on-site findings, but it also allows them to posit new conclusions about their field data by exploring inherent spatial linkages within it. The dissertation will introduce the new methodology and then present findings derived from observing archaeologists who are using it for analysis.

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Last Updated: Nov. 11, 2001