Lietuvos istorijos institutas

This article discusses the possibilities of using GIS (Geographical Information Systems) technologies for mapping archaeological sites and analysing the features of their spatial disposition. The characteristic incompleteness of archaeological site databases and the ambiguities of interpreting the data greatly increase the difficulties in applying GIS methodology. The article discusses how scientific databases for archaeological sites should be structured, possible data coding systems, the selection of archaeological data and objects, and the options for data processing and scientific analysis.

The article aims to present the scientific GIS layer of Lithuanian archaeological sites and find-sites PROLIGIS, developed in 2010 in Department of Archaeology of Vilnius University. The development of the GISlayer was one of the goals of the project ‘The Development of the Landscape according to the Data of Archaeology and Natural Sciences (ARCHAEOLANDSCAPE)’. The article introduces the history behind the development of PROLIGIS GDB, its structure and application possibilities. The range of issues on archaeological data standardisation and their coding as well as subsequent developmental possibilities of PROLIGIS GDB are discussed.