The Use of Computer Graphics in Archaeology, A Case Study from the Ozette Site, WA

Abstract

Archaeologists can benefit considerably if they are able to employ a fulltime cartographer to draw an integrated series of maps of different aspects of their site during the course of excavation and analysis. But, because of limited resources, an analyst is often limited to using only a few crucial maps and cannot manipulate or illustrate his data graphically. How­ever, facilities and resources to do graphic spatial analysis are available at most universities. The high speed digital computer can be an excellent cartographer and artist which can draw any projection--horizontal, vertical, or perspective. Even though computer mapping is relatively new (in 1974), maps made by computers are well known in every field of science. However, maps which plot distri­bution of data generally suffer from two major defects. First, the location of a character is limited to a rectangular array of about 7,800 possible points. Second, the symbols available are restricted to about 64--Arabic numerals and capital letters and punctuation marks of the English Alphabet. None of these resemble the objects represented in a map. Such problems have been eliminated by the development of computer-directed pen plotters. Pen plotters, or X-Y plotters, are manufactured in various forms by several companies. They all share the ability to move a pen in very small increments, so that millions of locations are potentially available on the page. This makes possible both precise location of symbols and the use of symbols other than the basic 64 alpha-numeric characters. Thus, symbols may be tailored to the specific need of the user. In this study we used the WSU on-line Cal-Comp 663 drum plotter and a system of FORTRAN subroutines called OPS (On-line Plotting System) which we have modified. OPS has a capacity to plot a letter, number, or punctuation mark at any location, at any size, and in any orientation. It was relatively simple to modify the program to produce a drawing of a typical artifact rather than a letter, Davis modified the program to do the work we had ideal­ized and Croes provided the data and drawings for the symbols. Irwin super­vised the project and provided facilities through the Department of Anthro­pology, Washington State University. Basketry artifacts from a single prehistoric house at the Ozette Village archaeological site (45CA24) on the coast of Washington comprise the body of data used to develop the system.