GIS, archaeological survey, and landscape archaeology on the island of Kythera, Greece

GIS and quantitative analysis are used to explore a series of simple but important issues in GIS-led survey. We dram on information collected during intensive archaeological field survey of the island of Kythera, Greece, and consider four questions: the relationship between terracing and enclosed field systems; the effect of vegetation on archaeological recovery; site definition and characterization in multi-period and artifact-rich landscapes; and site location modelling that considers sonic of the decisions behind the placing of particular Bronze Age settlements. We have chosen GIS and quantitative methods to extract patterns and stucture in our multi-scalar dataset, demonstrating the value of GIS in helping to understand the archaeological record and past settlement dynamics. The case studies can be viewed as examples of how GIS may contribute to four stages in any empirically based landscape project insofar as they move from the spatial structure of the modern landscape, to the visibility and patterning of archaeological data, to the interpretation of settlement patterns.