We present a new technique to detect flat archaeological sites with minimal ceramics using an unmanned aerial vehicle that maps surface stone concentrations. Methods deployed include point pattern ...analysis of stone concentrations and a machine-learning technique using unsupervised classification of visible stone signature qualities, which are used in simple linear regressions to compare with geophysical and ceramic surface survey results of a site in Iraqi Kurdistan. There is a stronger fit (r
2
= 0.77) between surface stone concentrations and architecture identified by geophysical measurement, while surveyed ceramics show a weaker fit to defined architecture (r
2
= 0.31). Surface stone concentrations are potentially a better proxy than ceramics for determining the presence of past settlement in regions where stone was commonly used, sites are relatively flat, and ceramics are found in low concentrations. The methods advanced here can be scaled to wider areas, particularly in mountainous regions, where surface stone features are present.
Toward a typology for social-ecological systems Alessa, Lilian; Kliskey, Andrew; Altaweel, Mark
Sustainability : science, practice, & policy,
04/2009, Letnik:
5, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Characterizing and understanding social-ecological systems (SESs) is increasingly necessary to answer questions about the development of sustainable human settlements. To date, much of the literature ...on SES analysis has focused on "neat" systems involving a single type of resource, a group of users, and a governance system. While these studies provide valuable and specific insights, they are of limited use for application to "messy" SESs that encompass the totality of human settlements, including social organization and technologies that result in the movement of materials, energy, water, and people. These considerations, in turn, create distribution systems that lead to different types of SESs. In messy SESs the concept of resilience, or the ability of a system to withstand perturbation while maintaining function, is further evolved to posit that different settlements will require different approaches to foster resilience. This article introduces a typology for refining SESs to improve short- and long-term adaptive strategies in developing human settlements.
We apply content analysis on government documents containing ecological information relevant to a significant ecological disturbance - mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreaks in the United States. The ...intent is to demonstrate a semi-automated approach that applies topic modeling to investigate policy responses to ecological disturbances, using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) and hierarchical Dirichlet process (HDP), and term frequency–inverse document frequency (tf-idf) analysis. Results demonstrate how analysts and researchers are better able to understand what topics and focus areas government officials consider in relation to MPB disturbances. In the case study demonstrating the method’s utility, documents found from before 1960 and until recent years demonstrate focus on outbreak area, tree mortality, research and services, management, infestation, outbreak control, fire, insect control, outbreak factors, and tree population. Terms such as fire, mortality, treatment, and outbreak reflect more recent U.S. government focus on MPB, while disease and infestation have become less of a focus in recent years. There are also varying differences and interests between how different parts (i.e., federal agencies versus congress) of the U.S. government focus on MPB, where mostly interests and focus are not aligned or do not match temporally. As a term, temperature has become a greater recent government focus, but there is general avoidance of the term climate change. The methods applied demonstrate the utility of topic modeling and tf-idf for understanding discourse and content in policy related to ecological disturbances. The tool created in this effort is provided freely as a way for scientists and researchers to extend its utility in ecological policy research.
•Topic modeling and content analysis was applied on U.S. government documents on mountain pine beetle outbreaks.•Topics and term outputs related to outbreak area, tree mortality, research and services, management, infestation, outbreak control, fire, insect control, outbreak factors, and tree population.•Temperature, fire, mortality, treatment, and outbreak more frequent in recent documents; federal agencies and Congress show differing focus in mountain pine beetles.•Applied methods show relevant terms and topics can be discovered without user input in analyzing documents.
Altaweel explores the launch of new MSc in Computational Archaeology: GIS, Data Science and Complexity in the autumn term of 2016. The program will provide opportunities for students to learn and ...utilize GIS (geographic information system), data mining, different forms of databases, complexity science, remote sensing, photogrammetry, agent-based modelling, web development and science, network analytical methods and other areas. These are used for a variety of purposes in archaeology, from understanding theory, to finding archaeological sites, locating patterns in data, managing data, and promoting work.
Tell Begum was previously explored by Iraqi archaeologists in the 1960s when excavations revealed a multi-period site. Among the key finds were Halaf period remains that are relatively rare in the ...region of the Shahrizor plain and included polychrome ceramics suggesting a local variation of the Halaf culture. Recent investigations and excavations in 2011 and 2013 revealed a 5 hectare site inhabited during the Halaf, Ubaid, Late Chalcolithic, and medieval periods. The Halaf site may have had an area of about 3 hectares, making it a relatively large settlement for that period, although its full extent is unclear. Offsite work revealed the area to have been well watered in the past, with likely neighbouring regions of woodland and abundant shrubs. The heavy sedimentation in the region has partially obscured archaeological remains, including possibly Tell Begum's lower mound. The site, nevertheless, shows continuity of settlement, indicating relative stability in settlement over long timespans.
This study presents 32 high-resolution geomagnetic intensity data points from Mesopotamia, spanning the 3rd to the 1st millennia BCE. These data contribute to rectifying geographic disparities in the ...resolution of the global archaeointensity curve that have hampered our understanding of geomagnetic field dynamics and the viability of applying archaeomagnetism as a method of absolute dating of archaeological objects. A lack of precise and well-dated intensity data in the region has also limited our ability to identify short-term fluctuations in the geomagnetic field, such as the Levantine Iron Age geomagnetic Anomaly (LIAA), a period of high field intensity from ca. 1050 to 550 BCE. This phenomenon has hitherto not been well-demonstrated in Mesopotamia, contrary to predictions from regional geomagnetic models. To address these issues, this study presents precise archaeomagnetic results from 32 inscribed baked bricks, tightly dated to the reigns of 12 Mesopotamian kings through interpretation of their inscriptions. Results confirm the presence of the high field values of the LIAA in Mesopotamia during the first millennium BCE and drastically increase the resolution of the archaeointensity curve for the 3rd-1st millennia BCE. This research establishes a baseline for the use of archaeomagnetic analysis as an absolute dating technique for archaeological materials from Mesopotamia.
Arctic communities are increasingly faced with social-ecological changes that act at variable speeds and spatial scales. Such changes will affect vital resources, particularly water supplies. ...Currently, there are few computational tools that integrate multiple social and environmental processes in order to aid communities' adaptation to change through decision support systems. This paper proposes a modeling and simulation approach that can integrate such processes at different spatiotemporal scales in order to address issues affecting community water supplies. In this paper, a modeling and simulation tool is developed and applied to a case study on the Seward Peninsula. Initial results, using both field observations and computation, show projected patterns of water use, perceptions of water availability, and long-term consumption trends. More broadly, the paper demonstrates the need for developing tools that address issues at the community level for better understanding human and hydrological interactions and policy decisions affecting water supplies.
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