Tibor LIESKOVSKÝ, Tomáš KÖNIG

Processing of the archaeological data from the basin of the lower Vah River in the GIS environment

Lieskovský, T., König, T.: Processing of the archaeological data from the basin of the lower Vah River in the GIS environment. Kartografické listy, 2007, 15, 2 figs., 1 tab., 11 refs.

Abstract: The study deals with the problem of processing of the archaeological data related to the early medieval period (6th – 13th century AD) of the settlement development in the basin of the lower Váh River (southwest Slovakia). Transformation of the analogue data into the GIS environment is being described. Equally defined attributes, specific to each site (location name, accuracy of the emplacement, archaeological characteristic, dating, source etc.), were processed into database. The basic element of the settlement structure analysis was the application of the pieces of knowledge referring to the extent of exploitation typical of the peasant societies (Kobyliński 1986, 1988). These were making use of the environment with a different intensity, which decreased with the distance. Considering this, multiple ring buffer analysis was applied to each site. Merging of the buffers was interpreted as an evidence of closer contacts of the societies inhabiting those sites. In this way it was managed to perceive yet undisclosed settlement structures among the sites or site clusters.

Keywords: spatial analysis, archaeology, geographical information systems, buffer, site