Premium
Geophysical Observations at Archaeological Sites: Estimating Informational Content
Author(s) -
Eppelbaum Lev V.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
archaeological prospection
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.785
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1099-0763
pISSN - 1075-2196
DOI - 10.1002/arp.1468
Subject(s) - probabilistic logic , geophysics , computer science , geology , simple (philosophy) , presentation (obstetrics) , archaeology , artificial intelligence , geography , medicine , philosophy , epistemology , radiology
The application of geophysical methods to archaeological sites is limited by physical, environmental, economic and time considerations. The presence of numerous kinds of noise means that in many cases the archaeological targets and surrounding media are best approached as probabilistic objects, such that the amount of information potentially available from different geophysical methods can be estimated by probabilistic and statistical methods, including the risks associated with this decision‐making. Here it is shown that simple informational and probabilistic criteria can be applied to formalize the information that can be obtained by applying different geophysical methods. To assess their relative value, geophysical methods, geophysical information and cost and time factors are convoluted in order to generate integrated parameters. This theoretical presentation of the information parameters is illustrated by the calculation of actual results. The solution to this ‘four colour’ mathematical problem shows that two independent geophysical methods are sufficient to characterize the archaeological potential of a site. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.