Spatial Analysis of Chipped Stone at the Cypro-PPNB Site of Krittou Marottou Ais Giorkis: a GIS-Assisted Study
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UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones 12-1-2014 Spatial Analysis of Chipped Stone at the Cypro-PPNB Site of Krittou Marottou Ais Giorkis: A GIS-Assisted Study Levi Lowell Keach University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, and the Geographic Information Sciences Commons Repository Citation Keach, Levi Lowell, "Spatial Analysis of Chipped Stone at the Cypro-PPNB Site of Krittou Marottou Ais Giorkis: A GIS-Assisted Study" (2014). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 2275. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/7048594 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. 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SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF CHIPPED STONE AT THE CYPRO-PPNB SITE OF KRITTOU MAROTTOU AIS GIORKIS: A GIS-ASSISTED STUDY By Levi Lowell Keach Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology University of Kansas 2012 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts -- Anthropology Department of Anthropology College of Liberal Arts The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas December 2014 Licensed under Creative Commons by Levi Keach, 2014 Some Rights Reserved This thesis is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ We recommend the thesis prepared under our supervision by Levi Lowell Keach entitled Spatial Analysis of Chipped Stone at the Cypro-PPNB of Krittou Marottou Ais Giorkis: A GIS-Assisted Study is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts - Anthropology Department of Anthropology Alan H. Simmons, Ph.D., Committee Chair Barbara Roth, Ph.D., Committee Member Karen Harry, Ph.D., Committee Member Scott Nowicki, Ph.D., Committee Member Andrew Bell, Ph.D., Graduate College Representative Kathryn Hausbeck Korgan, Ph.D., Interim Dean of the Graduate College December 2014 ii Abstract Krittou Marottou Ais Giorkis (‘Ais Giorkis) is an Aceramic Neolithic site, occupied approximately 9,500 cal B.P., and located in the western foothills of the Troodos Mountains on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. This thesis is an intra-site spatial analysis of the chipped stone assemblage recovered between 1997 and 2013 from the site using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. Previous work on the assemblage from 1997 through 2004 had attempted spatial analysis using traditional statistical methods and found no patterning (O'Horo 2008). Using the expanded database and GIS this thesis identifies multiple spatial patterns in the assemblage with implications on the lifeways practiced at ‘Ais Giorkis. Locating meaningful patterns in the site’s chipped stone assemblage is especially valuable because, unlike in many intra-site spatial analysis projects, the spatial resolution of the data is less than ideal. Given the success of this analysis using low resolution data, the methods used in this thesis have applications to a broad range of archaeological projects. Chief among these are the application of GIS to older excavations and rescue excavations where data resolution is limited to the excavation unit and level due to time or technology constraints. For this reason, the methods used from excavation through geospatial analysis are thoroughly documented within this thesis, including the errors where they can serve as cautionary tales. iii Acknowledgments While the craft of research is often a lonely endeavor, rarely is a work of quality produced strictly by an individual. Many hands have helped shape this product and I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge them. I am deeply indebted to the members of my committee for the roles they have played in refining the ideas presented herein. Thanks are due to my chair, Prof. Alan Simmons, for inviting the cold stare of my computers onto his site, as well as countless comments and suggestions on both the structure and thought of this thesis. Additional thanks to Prof. Barbara Roth for ensuring that this thesis did not laps into an atheoretical description of technique and results. Of technique, I am greatly indebted to Prof. Karen Harry for her advice and comments on classical statistics, and Prof. Scott Nowicki for his advice on GIS methods. While it should go without saying, I wish to make clear that all errors and offences remain my own. I am eternally grateful to Lorna Dickson Keach, my wife. For leaving her ancestral homeland to sojourn in the Mojave with me, for suffering through the long absences associated with fieldwork and writing, for putting up with the mad ramblings of one possessed by the craft of research, and for holding back our son from my computer’s power button. Words are inadequate to express the thanks she is due; she has been my first reader, my sounding board, and my source of stability throughout this journey. This thesis also owes a debt to all the past members of the Ais Giorkis Project, chiefs and crew—lab and field—undergraduate and graduate, for the work that went into recovering and analyzing the chipped stone assemblage which forms the primary iv database of this thesis. Beyond these, I also wish to thank the current members for their role as sounding board for my ideas on the site and its formation processes. I am thankful to the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) for their support of American archaeology on Cyprus. As well, thanks to the Republic of Cyprus Department of Antiquities for not only allowing but supporting the Ais Giorkis Project. Thank you to Carole McCartney for explaining the identification of lithic raw material on Cyprus to me. Lastly, thanks are due to those who have funded the project and my involvement. For their recent funding of the Ais Giorkis Project, I thank the National Science Foundation, The Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the National Geographic Society. For funding my involvement, I thank the American Schools of Oriental Research’s Platt Fellowship program, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Graduate and Professional Students Association, University of Nevada, Las Vegas International Programs Department’s Study Abroad Scholarship program, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Department of Anthropology’s Angela Nicole Peterson Memorial Scholarship program. Perhaps most importantly, I would like to thank the tax payers of the United States of America for the Webb G.I. Bill, without which I would never have had the opportunity to complete my B.A. degree. v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xiii List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xv Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1. Overview .................................................................................................................. 1 2. Research Objectives ................................................................................................. 2 3. Document Structure ................................................................................................. 4 Chapter 2: History of GIS and Spatial Analysis within Archaeology ................................ 6 2.1. Introduction: ......................................................................................................... 6 2.2. Spatial Resolution ................................................................................................ 7 2.3. GIS and Archaeology ......................................................................................... 10 2.3.1. The Development of Space and Spatial Relationships within Archaeology .. 11 2.3.2. Computerized Spatial Analysis ...................................................................... 12 2.3.2.1. SYMAP ....................................................................................................... 13 2.3.2.2. The Integration of True GIS ....................................................................... 15 2.3.3. Patterns ........................................................................................................... 18 2.3.3.1. The Paucity of