GIS

1. I am currently researching the use of GIS to identify repeated spatial patterning in the settlement and field systems preserved on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire. The first stage of this research focused on the use of the `boxcounting' fractal dimension, but I found this to be too sensitive to the density of the field system as opposed to its patterning per se. Consequently I am now using ideas from percolation theory to study the connectivity of individual boundaries.
2. I have written a multi-agent simulation extension to the GRASS GIS software, for a project directed by Prof. Steven Mithen at the University of Reading. This allows (human) agents to move around GRASS raster maps according to their goals. These goals may include altering the maps (e.g. harvesting resources). The agents have cognitive maps, which are often imperfect and which they may agree or refuse to share with other agents. Agents can also breed, resulting in simple natural selection of their `genotypes'. Some of this research is published in:

   Lake, M. W. (2001)

   `The use of pedestrian modelling in archaeology, with an example from the study of cultural learning'. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 28:385-403.

   Lake, M. W. (2000)

   `MAGICAL computer simulation of Mesolithic foraging'. In Kohler, T. A. and Gumerman, G. J., editors, Dynamics in Human and Primate Societies: Agent-Based Modelling of Social and Spatial Processes, pages 107-143. Oxford University Press, New York.

   Lake, M. W. (2000)

   `MAGICAL computer simulation of Mesolithic foraging on Islay'. In Mithen, S. J., editor, Hunter-Gatherer Landscape Archaeology: The Southern Hebrides Mesolithic Project, 1988-98, volume 2: Archaeological Fieldwork on Colonsay, Computer Modelling, Experimental Archaeology, and Final Interpretations, pages 465-495. The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge.

3. Along with Paddy Woodman and Steven Mithen I used GIS during the post-excavation studies of the Southern Hebrides Mesolithic Project. We used the project's GIS in an attempt to ascertain whether Mesolithic sites were preferentially located at places with large viewsheds. I also conducted a series GIS-based computer simulations to investigate whether the Mesolithic settlement pattern on the Island of Islay was influenced by the desire to harvest large quantities of hazelnuts. This research is published in:

   Lake, M. W. and Woodman, P. E. (2000)

   `Viewshed analysis of site location on Islay'. In Mithen, S. J., editor, Hunter-Gatherer Landscape Archaeology: The Southern Hebrides Mesolithic Project, 1988-98, volume 2: Archaeological Fieldwork on Colonsay, Computer Modelling, Experimental Archaeology, and Final Interpretations, pages 497-503. The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge.

   Lake, M. W., Woodman, P. E., and Mithen, S. J. (1998)

   `Tailoring GIS software for archaeological applications: An example concerning viewshed analysis'. Journal of Archaeological Science, 25:27-38.

All the above research has been carried out using the freely available GRASS GIS software. In all cases it was either necessary or highly desirable to provide extensions to GRASS, and these are available from this site. r.cva automates the various forms of viewshed analysis that have been widely discussed in the archaeological GIS literature. r.boxcount and boxcount.sh can be used to calculate the the `boxcounting' fractal dimension of raster maps, while r.rifs provides a means of producing raster maps of known fractal dimension. v.build.polylines finds application in the earliest stages of network analysis; I hope to make more interesting network analysis tools available soon.