GIS Visualisations of Mortuary Data from Holešov, Czech Republic

This article presents a case-study demonstrating the potential of GIS visualisations for analyses of mortuary data, recorded half a century ago at the site of Holešov, Kroměříž district, in the Czech Republic. This cemetery consists of 10 Bell Beaker and 420 Early Bronze Age graves, giving the impre...

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Main Author: Ladislav Šmejda
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of York 2014-06-01
Series:Internet Archaeology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue36/smejda_index.html
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author Ladislav Šmejda
author_facet Ladislav Šmejda
author_sort Ladislav Šmejda
collection DOAJ
description This article presents a case-study demonstrating the potential of GIS visualisations for analyses of mortuary data, recorded half a century ago at the site of Holešov, Kroměříž district, in the Czech Republic. This cemetery consists of 10 Bell Beaker and 420 Early Bronze Age graves, giving the impression of continuous development over a considerable period of time. The temporality of the cemetery is examined in detail, via its chronological development, as well as the inseparable aspects of its social use and structuring through time. The original data were converted from the printed catalogue into a Geographical Information System (GIS) consisting of digitised plans and a database. Exploratory analyses of the data were conducted, based on two complementary perspectives: the spatial reference of recorded features and objects, and the formal similarity of burial assemblages. The former approach includes spatial density and trend surface analyses, the latter applies multivariate factor analysis visualised in GIS, where the extracted factor scores define a new reference system. The methods employed are sometimes unorthodox, specifically because such plots describing formal space have been little employed in GIS-based studies of mortuary behaviour. This article strives to highlight the positive aspects of contemporary computer software in order to encourage researchers to pursue new ways of conceptualising their research ideas through the integration of concepts and methods, which traditionally have been applied to different research domains.
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spelling doaj.art-1dcfd21cfba140218a05fcd9ca7a44b62024-03-03T04:39:21ZengUniversity of YorkInternet Archaeology1363-53872014-06-013610.11141/ia.36.4 GIS Visualisations of Mortuary Data from Holešov, Czech RepublicLadislav Šmejda0University of West Bohemia, Department of ArchaeologyThis article presents a case-study demonstrating the potential of GIS visualisations for analyses of mortuary data, recorded half a century ago at the site of Holešov, Kroměříž district, in the Czech Republic. This cemetery consists of 10 Bell Beaker and 420 Early Bronze Age graves, giving the impression of continuous development over a considerable period of time. The temporality of the cemetery is examined in detail, via its chronological development, as well as the inseparable aspects of its social use and structuring through time. The original data were converted from the printed catalogue into a Geographical Information System (GIS) consisting of digitised plans and a database. Exploratory analyses of the data were conducted, based on two complementary perspectives: the spatial reference of recorded features and objects, and the formal similarity of burial assemblages. The former approach includes spatial density and trend surface analyses, the latter applies multivariate factor analysis visualised in GIS, where the extracted factor scores define a new reference system. The methods employed are sometimes unorthodox, specifically because such plots describing formal space have been little employed in GIS-based studies of mortuary behaviour. This article strives to highlight the positive aspects of contemporary computer software in order to encourage researchers to pursue new ways of conceptualising their research ideas through the integration of concepts and methods, which traditionally have been applied to different research domains.http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue36/smejda_index.htmlPrehistoric cemeteryEarly Bronze Agemortuary behaviourtemporalityGISspatial analysisformal analysismodel building
spellingShingle Ladislav Šmejda
GIS Visualisations of Mortuary Data from Holešov, Czech Republic
Internet Archaeology
Prehistoric cemetery
Early Bronze Age
mortuary behaviour
temporality
GIS
spatial analysis
formal analysis
model building
title GIS Visualisations of Mortuary Data from Holešov, Czech Republic
title_full GIS Visualisations of Mortuary Data from Holešov, Czech Republic
title_fullStr GIS Visualisations of Mortuary Data from Holešov, Czech Republic
title_full_unstemmed GIS Visualisations of Mortuary Data from Holešov, Czech Republic
title_short GIS Visualisations of Mortuary Data from Holešov, Czech Republic
title_sort gis visualisations of mortuary data from holesov czech republic
topic Prehistoric cemetery
Early Bronze Age
mortuary behaviour
temporality
GIS
spatial analysis
formal analysis
model building
url http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue36/smejda_index.html
work_keys_str_mv AT ladislavsmejda gisvisualisationsofmortuarydatafromholesovczechrepublic