Abstract

GIS and Archaeology at the Vorotan Project, Southern Armenia
Track: Archaeology
Author(s): Elissa Faro, Lynn Carlson

The Vorotan Project is an international collaborative program of archaeological research in Syunik marz, southern Armenia focused on the diachronic record of settlement and exploitation of the Vorotan River valley. Incorporating both excavation and survey methodologies, the project includes a strong GIS component. A geodatabase is being constructed using a variety of imagery and field data. Before 2007, basic handheld units were utilized to collect field data. To increase efficiency and accuracy, Trimble GeoExplorer GPS units were purchased for this most recent field season. The units presented initial software-related problems, but proved extremely useful mapping intense surface collection grids, locating and re-locating geological sources in remote regions of the southern Caucasus, and collecting site-specific data. The Trimbles, and GIS more generally, have allowed us to project artifact distribution patterns and understand regionally the relationships between sites and settlements and the ways in which these changed over time.

Elissa Faro
Brown University
70 Waterman Street
Joukowsky Institute
Providence , Rhode Island 02912
United States
Phone: 401-863-3188
E-mail: Elissa_Faro@brown.edu

Lynn Carlson
Brown University
324 Brook Street
Box 1846
Providence , Rhode Island 02912
United States
Phone: 401-863-9917
E-mail: Elissa_Faro@brown.edu