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POTENTIAL OF GIS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY: 
A CASE STUDY IN AICHI, JAPAN- 
Nobuya Watanabe, Research Postgraduate, MAG-SFC, Keio University, Japan 
Hiroyuki Yoshida, Lecturer, SFC, Keio University, Japan 
All enquiries to N. Watanabe (Email: nov@sfc.keio.ac.jp) 
Commission V, WG IV 
KEY WORDS: Geographic Information System, visualisation, archaeology, paleo environment 
ABSTRACT: 
GIS can be an effective tool for Archaeological study. But for the time being, however, GIS is not fully utilized in the Archaeology. 
One of the main problems is lack of digital and unified data format for archaeology, and another is lack of environmental data 
optimised for Archaeology. Efforts should be made to integrate outcomes from both archaeology and natural science to clarify 
ancient way of living. An attempt was made to demonstrate the effectiveness and the advantage of using GIS in an environmental 
archaeological study. Using Aichi Prefecture in Japan as the study area, the focus of this paper is on the reconstruction of ancient 
vegetation, and its correlation with the ruin distribution. Realistic visualization is also performed on the basis of analytical GIS 
layers to enhance intuitive understanding of tempo-spatial changes of environments. 
1. INTRODUCTION 2. CASE STUDY AREA AND TARGET PERIOD 
New technologies play important roles in various aspects of 
archaeology. GPS, satellite images, and aerial photographs are 
used for mapping and monitoring, computer database is used 
Aichi prefecture is situated in the centre of Japan. Its southern 
part is facing the Pacific Ocean, and its northern part is 
mountainous. Between these two parts, various types of eco- 
for data storage, and computer graphics allows realistic 
reconstruction and visualization of the past. These technologies 
are enabling multiphasic analyses in archaeological researches. 
Furthermore, land developments being carried out in Japan are 
systems are distributed. The region is a part of the East Asian 
evergreen forest culture zone. 
The Jomon-period began 12000 years ago, and lasted for about 
expanding variation, as well as boosting volume, of data 
relevant to archaeological analyses. Introduction of computer is 
becoming essential to deal with the wealth of information 
coming into existence. GIS can be, then, an effective tool under 
this circumstance to carry out tempo-spatial data analysis. GIS 
can perform efficiently a number of functions including: 
10000 years. It is divided into 5 cultural stages, and each stage 
is often further divided into 3 sub-stages. Advanced hunting and 
gathering was the main way of living. 
1) Referencing ; 
2) Analysis; and, 
3) Visualization. 
These functions are highly useful for archaeological analyses. 
Archaeology is a study of tempo-spatial phenomena, and recent 
archaeological studies emphasize interrelations between natural 
environments and human behaviours. A bridge needs to be built 
between environmental GIS and archaeology. The objective of 
this study is to lay a foundation to understand the relation 
between the change of paleoenvironment and its distribution 
pattern and the change of human settlement pattern in Aichi, 
Japan. The target period of the study is the Jomon-period, 
which corresponds to the late Pleistocene to the Holocene epoch. 
The period experienced many environmental changes such as 
eustatic change of the sea level. The study consists of: 
  
Fig.1 Aichi Prefecture, JAPAN 
1) Construction of Archaeological database; 
2) Spatial analysis of ruin settlements; and 
3) 3D-visualization of the result. 
Through these steps, the usability and potential of 
Archaeological GIS for management of various and extravagant 
data to support Environmental Archaeological researches are 
examined. 
-A78--