Internet Archaeol. 16. Rajala. Transformations and cultural attributes

3.5 Transformations and cultural attributes

The questions related to the creation of archaeological vector and raster data and the related transformations have been left mainly undiscussed, although the need to apply these transformations is acknowledged (e.g. Wheatley and Gillings 2002). Owing to the technical character of transformations and general data management, it is easy to understand why data is seen predominantly from a geographical GIS point of view. However, presenting a clear transformation of archaeological data into basic data formats should be central to all archaeological GIS discussions.

Instead, the discussion has lately been geared towards the importance of including cultural features into the attributes analysed in order to avoid ecological determinism (Wheatley and Gillings 2002, 168). Cultural features include attributes like proximities to road networks, central places and natural landmarks, and these attributes are routinely used in archaeological GIS. However, cultural connections have to be proven before they can be used in modelling. 'Cultural attributes' do not exist a priori but are selected and found through analysis. Thus, they already belong to the realm of epistemological consideration and archaeological reasoning when they are chosen.