Archaeological site location data: Implications for GIS

The proliferation of geographical information system (GIS) applications in archaeology has stimulated both excitement and criticism among archaeologists over the past decade. Much of the excitement stems from the analytical potential presented by the data processing efficiency and superlative visualisation capabilities of GIS technology. These same characteristics have also spawned many critiques of GIS applications in archaeology. Most are centred upon the heavy reliance of GIS on quantitative environmental datasets and the inherent tendency to form environmentally deterministic interpretations from such data. The focus of this paper is archaeological site location data---the primary data source for many archaeological GIS applications including database management, locational analysis and site predictive modelling. Using a sample of archaeological site location data from the Cypress Hills region of southeastern Alberta, archaeological GIS applications are scrutinised from a data quality perspective, assessing the suitability and effects of archaeological site location data use in geographical information systems. This assessment of the ambiguities and compatibilities between archaeological site data and the requirements/limitations of geographic information systems provides another approach with which site predictive models and other archaeological GIS applications can be refined.