Recording archaeological senses in subterannean archaeological sites : a methodological approach on Neolithic caves from the Western Balkans and Greece
Sensorial approaches in archaeology have been criticized due to the difficulty of the analytical documentation of the past senses. This thesis aims to correlate current trends on archaeological theory about non-rational decision-making factors in prehistoric communities (such as senses, emotions and feelings) with current mapping and geo-analytical techniques. The research introduces the idea of the ~paleosensorial spectrum~ of an archaeological site and proposed recording techniques using GIS and statistical software. For this research case study, paleosensorial spectra are drafted by using advance mapping techniques for capturing sensorial data in Neolithic caves from Greece and the Western Balkans and further correlating the field data with the archaeological evidence. Cognitive psychology frameworks have been used for grouping the field data and bridging the gap between the material and the immaterial worlds. Caves from the Balkans works as complimentary case studies but a discussion on how the application of the proposed methods can alter the current understanding of the human use of the Neolithic Balkan caves is taking place, in order to showcase if the ~paleosensorial spectrum~ approach can offer a
Trimmis, Konstantinos
CC Archaeology
Recording archaeological senses in subterannean archaeological sites : a methodological approach on Neolithic caves from the Western Balkans and Greece. Sensorial approaches in archaeology have been criticized due to the difficulty of the analytical documentation of the past senses. This thesis aims to correlate current trends on archaeological theory about non-rational decision-making factors in prehistoric communities (such as senses, emotions and feelings) with current mapping and geo-analytical techniques. The research introduces the idea of the ~paleosensorial spectrum~ of an archaeological site and proposed recording techniques using GIS and statistical software. For this research case study, paleosensorial spectra are drafted by using advance mapping techniques for capturing sensorial data in Neolithic caves from Greece and the Western Balkans and further correlating the field data with the archaeological evidence. Cognitive psychology frameworks have been used for grouping the field data and bridging the gap between the material and the immaterial worlds. Caves from the Balkans works as complimentary case studies but a discussion on how the application of the proposed methods can alter the current understanding of the human use of the Neolithic Balkan caves is taking place, in order to showcase if the ~paleosensorial spectrum~ approach can offer a
recording archaeological sens archaeological_site methodological neolithic cave western balkans greece sensorial approach_archaeology criticize due_difficulty analytical documentation past sens aim correlate current trend archaeological_theory non rational decision_making factor prehistoric_community sens emotion feeling current map geo analytical_technique introduces idea spectrum archaeological_site propose record technique_use gis statistical software case_study draft use advance mapping technique capture sensorial data neolithic cave greece western balkans correlate field data archaeological_evidence cognitive_psychology framework use group field data bridge_gap material immaterial world balkans work complimentary case_study discussion application propose method alter current human use neolithic balkan cave take_place order showcase spectrum offer