Archaeological data and reliability criteria. A GIS measurement proposal for the study of the Mignone Valley

Federica Vacatello
Abstract:
The quest for useful methods for an effective classification of the multifaceted archaeological reality represents one of the long-standing problems of research in the field, which over the last century has attempted to find valid and functional classification methods for measuring different archaeological features. While in a typological context the debate is quite heated, especially in the classification of individual archaeological objects, in a territorial context the issue is still little addressed, especially if one wonders about the provenance of the information exploited for the development of more general studies on the territory. In this sense, the ever-increasing use of GIS systems as useful tools not only for the management but also for the mathematical analysis of data imposes the need to develop new methodological solutions in order to make GIS models, deriving from territorial analyses, effective systems of archaeological analysis in which the verisimilitude of the final result does not only lie in the correct numerical calculation by the chosen algorithm but above all in the reliability value possessed by each piece of data considered for the analysis itself. The doctoral work conducted on the upper Latium territory of the Mignone Valley, aimed at reconstructing the dynamics of population and the causes of the territorial transformation that occurred here between the 4th and 15th centuries AD, led to the development of a methodological expedient that, albeit small, made it possible to measure the level of chronological and topographical reliability of each datum surveyed, thus significantly influencing the final readings.
Download:
IMEKO-MetroArchaeo-2023-071.pdf
DOI:
10.21014/tc4-ARC-2023.071
Event details
IMEKO TC:
TC4
Event name:
TC4 MetroArchaeo 2023
Title:

IMEKO TC4 International Conference on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

Place:
Rome, ITALY
Time:
19 October 2023 - 21 October 2023