The Digital Atlas

The control of time and space are perhaps the archaeologist's most precious commodities. With new developments in Geographic Information Systems and more precise applications of high-precision radiometric dating tools, archaeologists have the capability of identifying moments of fundamental social change in the archaeological and historical record.

The Digital Archaeological Atlas of the Holy Land (DAAHL) is a collaborative project coordinated by:

• Thomas Levy's UCSD Levantine Archaeology Laboratory
• The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at the University of California, San Diego
• Stephen Savage's Geo-Archaeological Information Applications (GAIA) Laboratory at Arizona State University
• Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3)
• The Global Moments in the Levant Project of the University of Bergen, Norway
• Oystein S. LaBianca's Order and Conflict Collaborative, American Schools of Oriental Research and Archaeological Institute of America
• Andrews University Institute of Archaeology and the Madaba Plains Project, Jordan
• Gary Christopherson's Center for Applied Spatial Anaysis (CASA) at the University of Arizona

In an effort to identify the spatial "footprint" of Global Moments in the Levant (GML), these partners have created the technological synergy for the DAAHL project that also includes Eric Frost and John Graham of San Diego State University's Visualization Center, who have deep expertise in remote sensing, satellite imagery, and scientific visualization.

This prototype web site is being developed to illustrate some of the organizing principles and web technologies that will be used to produce the DAAHL. While a beautiful hardcopy atlas will be an initial product of the DAAHL, the project will go beyond the reach of traditional print media to develop exciting new digital, interactive tools for collecting and distributing large, ramified, spatial datasets in cyberspace through cooperation with Calit2, the GAIA Lab and other partners. The tools and methods developed will be applicable far beyond the Levantine context. They have the potential to become the fundamental toolkit for building cultural heritage preservation capacity in other countries that lack the resources or expertise to create such complex systems themselves.

Leading prehistorians and archaeologists who work in the Levant will be invited to contribute settlement pattern data and thematic or period syntheses addressed to global moments in the Levant for the DAAHL. Phase I of this project, to take place over the next two years of GML funding, will include:

• The purchase and processing of high-resolution (QuickBird/Digital Globe) satellite imagery.
• Development and deployment of web-based methods of site digitization, database population in accordance with standards established by the JADIS (Jordan Antiquities Data Information System) project; these tools will be to gather and standardize information sets, foster large-scale settlement pattern analysis, and produce the publication-quality maps. The tools and datasets will be turned over to the respective departments of antiquities in Jordan, Israel and Palestine.
• Development of detailed site descriptions, GIS and spatial analyses, and thematic and period sysntheses.

Imperial Ordering Templates and Archaeological Periods

While the full atlas will have rich content related to all the Global Moments themes, the prototype concentrates on imperial ordering templates and archaeological time periods in the southern Levant. Press the "Empires" link at the top of the page...