GIS-department

A Geographic-Information-System (GIS) combines spatial information with other data and offers a lot of possibilities for analysis and visualisation. Most of the archaeological data have a spatial background and so it is not surprising that in the last years GIS has become a common tool in archaeology.

The excavations in Nydam/Denmark during the years from 1989 to 1999 are a good example of how helpful the utilization of a GIS could be. The excavation area was only about 500m², but the documentation includes 134 different excavation plans with more than 10.000 objects, a database with 13.387 items and countless photos and drawings. GIS gathers all this information in one single system and new results can easily be  imported. This provides a comprehensive overview. The fact, that it is possible to show how the different features are arranged, for example in a 3D animation, is a considerable support for the analysis of the historical events. But one has to deal with great care, because height values in a bog are not reliable. Depending on the water content or the soil pressure the height can differ within hours. Moreover you have to consider the relocation processes during or after the deposition. The consistency of the mud, form and weight of the features or in which way they got into the lake or bog has influenced their position. Older finds are not necessarily beneath the younger ones.

The aristocratic burials in Neudorf-Bornstein in Schleswig-Holstein/Germany are another good example, how one can use a GIS. In September 1967 during gravel quarrying inhumation graves from the late Roman Iron Age were discovered and the remains of two of them are documented in 24 excavation plans in different levels. The grave chambers were poorly preserved. The wooden parts of the chamber were practically all lost, except for the wooden ridge beam. The colouration of the soil and the position of the stones were the only indicator as to the different parts of the grave. It was their selective display in 3D which made the reconstruction of the burial site possible.

Occasionally GIS helps to locate old excavation areas. The old sketch-maps C. Engelhardt created in the year 1859, while excavating the important finds of the bog offerings in Thorsberg in Schleswig-Holstein/Germany were without coordinates. It took old fashioned detective work to uncover the real location and again in this case the use of GIS simplified the comparison of the old maps and the information from the old site notebook by C. Engelhardt with current information of the region.  A systematic conferment of the diary content into a database by the archaeologist Suzana Matesic enables a combination of these information with the excavation plan and makes it visible.

Every excavation involves an irrecoverable loss of the find spot, so the detailed records are the only evidence of this place. Unfortunately many of these documents are at risk. A digital transfer to GIS could save this information for further generations and make them available for new analyses in combination to each other and with new research results.

During the last years analysis tools improved spectacularly. Everyone becomes so fascinated by the different opportunities. Terrain modelling of historical landscapes is often based on little input data but a lot of imagination. The importance of documentation what kind of data (metadata) and what has happened with it has gained an increased significance. Special efforts have to direct towards standardizing techniques to improve availability of digital primary research data even for the future.

Projects of the GIS-department

• Das Holzkammergrab von Poprad-Matejovce (Projekt „Migration – Acculturation – Integration: Archaeological and cultural heritage in Central Europe (MAI)“) – Digitalisierung und digitale Rekonstruktion der Grabkammer (K. Göbel)
• Die Häuser von Elisenhof – Digitalisierung und Rekonstruktion der Siedlungsstruktur und -entwicklung (K. Göbel)
• Digitalisierung und Auswertung der Grabungsergebnisse der Siedlungsgrabungen von Wiskiauten im Kaliningrader Gebiet und Suzdal (J. Frenzel)
• Ejsbøl: Digitalisierung der Altgrabungen von Hans Neumann, Haderslev Museum, in den Jahren 1956–1964 („Ejsbøl I“) (J. Nowotny)
• Erstellung von Verbreitungskarten mit allen Funden aus „Ejsbøl I“ und den 1997–1999 durch das Haderslev Museum durchgeführten Untersuchungen in Ejsbøl Vest sowie Ejsbølgård für die Publikation „Krigsbytteofre i Ejsbøl Mose. Sen 1. årh. f. Kr. til tidligt 5. årh. e. Kr. (J. Nowotny)
• Fundkartierung der Siedlungsgrabung Haithabu (N. Binkowski).
• Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit (Aufbau einer Datenbank und räumliche Visualisierung, K. Göbel)
• Neudorf-Bornstein – Digitalisierung und digitale Rekonstruktion der Grabkammer (K. Göbel)
• Nydam – Digitalisierung der Grabungsdokumentation der Grabungen zwischen 1989 und 1999, Analyse und Erstellung von Fundkartierungen (K. Göbel)
• Thorsberg – Lokalisierung der Grabungsflächen und Erstellen von Fundverteilungskarten (K. Göbel)
• Isotopenprojekt (Prof. T.D. Price) (K. Göbel)
• Völkerwanderungszeitliche Dolchmesser in der süd-östlichen Region des Ostseegebietes (K. Göbel)
• Fundplatz Lübzow/Lubieszewo (K. Göbel)
• Spät-jungpaläolithischer Fundplatz Ahrenshöft (K. Göbel)
• Gräberfeld Pilgramsdorf  (K. Göbel)
• Geländemodell Lübecker Bucht (K. Göbel)
• Gräberfelder der Wielbark-Kultur (K. Göbel, J. Nowotny)
• Duvensee (N. Binkowski, J. E. Freigang, K. Göbel)
• Quern LA 28 (J. Nowotny)
• Satrup LA 2 (J. Nowotny)
• Stellerburg (J. Nowotny)
• Haithabu LA 48, LA 49, Suchgräben Jankuhn (J. Nowotny)
• Fundplatz Frienstedt/Gottstedt (J. Nowotny)
• Römische Fundmünzen im Baltikum (J. Nowotny)

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