Steven Edwards

Nova Scotia Community College | NSCC · Centre Of Geographic Science

Designing an effective archaeological survey can be complicated and confidence that it was effective requires post-survey evaluation. The goal of SPACE is to develop software to facilitate survey designers’ decisions and partially automate tools that depend on mathematical models so that archaeologists can conduct surveys that accomplish their goal...

During August 2018, the University of Toronto mounted excavations at a Yarmukian site called Tabaqat ar-Rutūbah طبقة الرُّطوبَة (WQ117), which the Wādī Qusaybah Survey first discovered in 2012, and subjected to small test excavations in 2014. The site is about 0.35ha in size and in 2014 we encountered stone and mud‑brick building foundations as wel...

Excavations by the Wadi Quseiba Project of University of Toronto at 'Ain Quseiba in 2018 uncovered architecture, pottery and lithics dating mainly to the Middle Bronze II A-B periods. The excavated structures appear to be domestic and the site would appear to be a small village, some 0.5 ha in area, near the mouth of a wadi that drains into the Jor...

This article uses directional visibility analysis to assess the defensibility of two Iron Age (9 th –8 th cent. BCE) sites from the Nebo region of west-central Jordan: the fortified town of Khirbat al-Mukhayyat and its adjacent watchtower at Rujm al-Mukhayyat. Directional visibility cones illustrate how the improved viewsheds afforded by the watcht...

This article explores the evidence for diversity in the material culture of Late Iron Age sites situated in the semi-arid margins of west-central Jordan. Least-cost analysis (LCA) is used to model a hypothesized secondary north-south route along the eastern boundary of Moab. Sites found along this route are shown to exhibit a disproportionate level...

To have confidence in the results of an archaeological survey, whether for heritage management or research objectives, we must have some assurance that the survey was carried out to a reasonably high standard. This paper discusses the use of Quality Assurance (QA) approaches and empirical methods for estimating surveys’ effectiveness at discovering...

In 2012 and 2013, a team from the University of Toronto conducted survey of the Wadi Quseiba drainage in northwest Jordan. This survey’s main goal was to discover evidence of Late Neolithic habitation and landscape use, which typical archaeological surveys in the region very rarely find. To improve the efficiency and frequency with which sites are...

Many archaeological surveys make the assumption that a single field walk by a survey team is sufficient to determine whether a space does or does not contain archaeological materials. Making retrodictive statements about site distributions or locational preferences relies on the accuracy of this assumption. We instead take the approach that the pro...

Many archaeological surveys make the assumption that a single fieldwalk by a survey team is sufficient to determine whether a space does or does not contain archaeological materials. Making retrodictive statements about site distributions or locational preferences relies on the accuracy of this assumption. We instead take the approach that the prob...