Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 37 (3) 2009

Annotation:  Middle Paleolithic Industries of the Early Late Pleistocene (OIS 5) in the Southwestern Part of East Evidence of Environmental Instability of the Lake Baikal Area after the Last Glaciation (Based on P Radiocarbon Chronology of Neolithic and Bronze Age Cultures in Yakutia Clay Balls from Suchu Island as Neolithic Sacral Symbols Models of Metal Production in the Near East (Chalcolithic – Middle Bronze Age) Chinese Inscription on the Lacquer Cup from Noin Ula Mound 20 (Mongolia) Horse Forehead Pieces from the Kuban Region The Pakhomovskaya Culture of the Late Bronze Age Stone Stele Bearing a “Sun-Headed” Deity on the Tuim River, Khakassia (In commemoration of the Finni Methodological Issues in the Digital Mapping of Archaeological Sites The Church of the Saviour from Zashiversk: The Dendrochronological Aspect The “Harlequin”: An Ostyak Idol “Technological Eschatology” in Modern Traditions of Popular Orthodoxy and among the Old Believers o Mummery in the Calendar Rites of German Settlers in Siberia Silver of Kazakh Zergers: Traditions in Modern Jewelry Art Dental Remains from Mound 20 at Noin-Ula, Mongolia The Origin of the Medieval Population of the Novgorod Republic) (10th–13th centuries): A Craniometri   

Methodological Issues in the Digital Mapping of Archaeological Sites

E.P. Krupochkin.

The study addresses the use of the geographic information system (GIS) combined with distance probing (DP) for generating archaeological maps. The principal problem was resolved and the digital technology for mapping archaeological sites was elaborated and tested. Layered digital maps for Yustyd, Ulandryk I and II, and Sary-Gabo sites in the Altai were constructed. Digital terrain models were used for analyzing the settlement patterns of these sites and the spatial organization of the economy, and for reconstructing these systems. A digital mapping framework was prepared including the cartographic database and the identifi cation characteristics of the sites. The usefulness of DP for solving archaeological problems is demonstrated. Algorithms of automatically decoding multispectral images for identifying, recording, and describing archaeological objects were elaborated. The results of mapping (topographic and satellite scanning) are represented in the common GIS formats – MapInfo Pro and ArcView.

Keywords: Digital mapping, GIS-technologies, distant mapping in archaeology, scanning, decoding of multispectral images.