Test Pits at Tel Akko: an Intensive Survey and Gis Analysis of Artifact Distributions Through Time
Open Access
- Author:
- Howland, Matthew David
- Area of Honors:
- Interdisciplinary in Anthropology and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Ann Eloise Killebrew, Thesis Supervisor
Timothy Michael Ryan, Thesis Honors Advisor
Mary Lou Zimmerman Munn, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- archaeology
anthropology
cams
classics - Abstract:
- This paper presents the preliminary results of an intensive survey conducted on Tel Akko during the 2011 season from July 5 to July 14. The objective of this ongoing survey, which utilizes survey test pits excavated at the site and GIS to process the data, is to document and reconstruct the size, location and intensity of settlement of Tel Akko during its nearly three thousand year history. Due to Akko’s importance as an international maritime trade center throughout most of its history, these issues relate to demographic, sociopolitical and economic change over time at the site and in the eastern Mediterranean in general. The data and analyses presented in this paper also serve as a test study to evaluate the effectiveness of these methods. The 2011 pilot survey project focused on a space measuring 245 meters by 25 meters, spanning a north-south area that encompassed the top of the tell and continued southward through an artificial section that cuts the southeastern quadrant of the site. In this survey area, test pits were excavated along transects at fixed intervals of two and five meters in three stratifications of the survey area. Artifacts found in the pits were analyzed and dated. Based on the preliminary analysis, the distribution of artifacts recovered from the test pits was mapped according to each period of the site’s occupation. The resulting maps were created using ArcGIS, utilizing inverse-distance weighted analysis to process the data obtained through the survey and artifact-dating. Considered together with the elevation model of the tell, the maps illustrating the distribution of artifacts according to periods should prove to be useful in documenting and reconstructing the size, location, and intensity of settlement of the tell throughout its history. The survey and GIS analysis in this paper appear to add to the weight of evidence supporting the current interpretations of the location of settlement on the tell from the Middle Bronze Age to the Hellenistic Period.