Arqueología computacional del territorio. Métodos y técnicas para estudiar decisiones humanas en paisajes pretéritos

Abstract

This book aims to describe some of the current analytical approaches to model past cultural landscapes, their evolution, and relationship with the human societies that inhabited them. To this end, the use of Geographic Information Systems and spatial statistics is proposed, using territorial and landscape archaeology as a theoretical framework.Current archaeological practices are now fully immersed in the computing and digital era. This process, common to all sciences, is leading to an important methodological renewal of the discipline, materialising in the emergence of new lines of research with a promising future, and computational methods are playing a key role in this panorama. Remote sensing studies, the use of drones, LiDAR data, virtual reconstructions or modern statistical simulation techniques are, amongst others, research fields that require the use of computing science.Arqueología computacional del territorio aims to describe some of the current analytical approaches to model past cultural landscapes, their evolution, and their relationship with the human societies that inhabited them. To this end, the use of Geographic Information Systems and spatial statistics is proposed, using territorial and landscape archaeology as a theoretical framework.The research that follows is articulated around the use of open-source software and, specifically, R Statistics, a programming language that is gradually becoming one of the most important tools in archaeological research. Its use allows for transparent, accessible, and reproducible research while promoting interdisciplinarity and a real democratization of scientific knowledge.