Visibility studies in archaeology: a review and case study
| Title | Visibility studies in archaeology: a review and case study |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2003 |
| Authors | Lake, M. W., & Woodman P. E. |
| Journal | Environment and Planning B-Planning & Design |
| Volume | 30 |
| Pagination | 689-707 |
| Abstract | This paper describes the history and current state of archaeological visibility studies. The first part is a survey of both GIS (geographic information systems) and non-GIS studies of visibility by archaeologists, which demonstrates how advances in GIS visibility studies have tended to recapitulate, albeit over a compressed timescale, theoretically driven developments in non-GIS studies. The second part presents an example of the kind of methodological development required for the use of GIS to contribute to the agenda set by certain strands of a more humanistic archaeology. An algorithm developed to retrieve various summaries of the inclination at which points on the horizon are visible from a specified viewpoint was applied to nineteen recumbent stone circles in the Grampian region of Scotland. The results suggest that these summaries provide a useful tool for `unpacking' what archaeologists mean when they claim that the topographic setting of certain stone circles creates an `impression of circularity'. |
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