An Annotated Bibliography Project
by Thomas E. Smith
for GEO 565 - Geographic Information Systems & Science
Oregon State University, Winter 2007 - Dr. Dawn Wright
(Towards the Completion of a Professional Certificate in GIScience)
Whether it's called Marine, Maritime, Nautical, or Undersea Archaeology, the field has greatly benefited from the technology of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
What is GIS? Basically, it is a database built up of
georeferenced information (the precise geographic location of objects
by map coordinates, such as latitude & longitude) of and the
characteristics about objects. This database can be queried in many
different ways about how these objects are spatially related to each
other. Based on the results of these questions, investigators look for
patterns that might otherwise have eluded them.
Only a decade ago a GIS was used in Marine Archaeology just for its
mapping features to help in the location of shipwrecks. GIS quickly
became a key tool as undersea archaeologists discovered its
capabilities to integrate georeferenced data from multiple sources and
to perform a myriad of analyses based on that data.
GIS is now used throughout all stages of maritime archaeological
projects, from planning for the most time- and cost-efficient use of
resources, through documentaion of excavation data, to the analysis of
the results.
At the cutting edge of GIS technology is its use to predict, locate,
analyze, & create 3-D models of submerged paleolandscapes along
shallow continental margins.
Here is an annotated bibliography of some examples from published
literature and the Web to illustrate these different levels of
involvement of Geographic Information Systems in Nautical Archaeology.
Annotated Bibliography
Related References
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