image/svg+xml
125
VIII/2/2017
InterdIscIplInarIa archaeologIca
natural scIences In archaeology
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
Analog vs. Digital Documentation – cutting the costs, expanding
the possibilities. Idjoš Gradište case study
Miroslav Marić
a*
, Jugoslav Pendić
b
a
Institute for Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Knez Mihailova 35/4, Belgrade, Serbia
b
Biosense Institute, Zorana Đinđića 1, Novi Sad, Serbia
1. Introduction
The archaeological site of Idjoš is located 6 km northwest
of the town of Kikinda (Figure 1), in northeast serbia, on
a slightly elevated Tisza river terrace above a confuence
of two smaller streams, now culverted (Marić
et al.
2016).
The terrace was formed in the late pleistocene period by the
meandering of the Tisza river, which is now located about
20 kilometres to the west of the site; however, numerous
traces in the landscape still show its presence barely
3 kilometres west of the site in the pleistocene (Koprivica,
strajin 1994). It is a multi–layered site with remains of
human occupation spanning from the early Neolithic period
(Starčevo/Körös culture) to the Late Neolithic period (Vinča
and Tisza cultures). After a hiatus in occupation, a 250-metre
diameter, sub–oval, fortifed complex was constructed,
belonging to the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age period (Belegiš
II – Gava ceramic traditions). Sporadic Late Medieval
period fnds have also been occasionally recovered during
surface survey prospection. The Neolithic portion of the site
was situated on the western edge of the pleistocene terrace,
above the confuence of the Grčka and Berčula streams
(Figure 1, green feld). This section has been called Gradište,
while the Bronze Age part of the site, located immediately
north-east of the Neolithic area, has been called Đurica`s or
the slavic city. The pleistocene terrace comprises mostly of
river deposited sands and brown aleurite clay.
The Neolithic part of the site consists of a tell feature,
roughly 60×70 metres in size, and a fat area to the north–east
of it approximately 130×120 metres in size. The tell is about
2.5 meters high, surrounded by streams on three sides, and
the approach to the settlement appears to have been easiest
from the northeast. Immediately northeast of the Neolithic
settlement, a large 250-meter diameter earthen enclosure
marks the Bronze Age/Iron Age site (Figure 1). However,
this settlement extends further north and northeast of the
enclosure based on the preliminary results of the feld and
geomagnetic survey conducted in 2014 and 2015.
The frst archaeological research on the site was
undertaken here by Julius Nagy in 1913, but the results of
these excavations were not published and the whereabouts
of the fnds is unknown (Girić 1957, 219). Thirty-fve years
Volume VIII ● Issue 2/2017 ● Pages 125–136
*corresponding author. e-mail: mmaric@f.bg.ac.rs
ArtIcle INfo
Article history:
Received: 1
st
March 2017
Accepted: 6
th
December 2017
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.24916/iansa.2017.2.2
Key words:
Neolithic
Bronze Age
Iron Age
Idjoš Gradište
image – based modelling
vector illustrations
3D models
structure from motion
ABStrAct
The article deals with the use of an integrated GIs- and image-based modelling approach to
archaeological feld documentation, developed for the
Borderlands: ArISE
project. The project,
established in 2014, examines social boundaries and interactions from the early Neolithic to the early
Iron Age period in the north-east Banat region of modern Serbia. Archaeological excavations at the site
of Gradište near Idjoš are at the core of the project, aimed at providing insight into the development
of social identities and the manner of coexistence and interactions between diferent communities of
various periods. Due to limited funds, the process of feld documentation has been almost completely
digitized, enabling fast but very precise documenting of features and fnds recovered from the feld:
increasing the possibilities for post ex analysis, publication and presentation.
image/svg+xml
IANSA 2017 ● VIII/2 ● 125–136
Miroslav Marić, Jugoslav Pendić: Analog vs. Digital Documentation – Cutting the Costs, Expanding the Possibilities. Idjoš Gradište Case Study
126
later, the site was excavated by Miodrag Grbić (Grbić 1950)
who, in the course of two excavation campaigns (Grbić
1951) excavated more than 300 m² inside the circular
enclosure searching for the Slavic city. In 1954, Luka
Nadlački from the Kikinda Museum excavated on the tell
part of the site, and discovered a wattle and daub structure
in trench 3 with the remains of pottery attributed to both
the Tisza and Vinča style in the same context (Girić 1957,
221–222). Almost two decades later, during 1972, a small-
scale rescue archaeological excavation was undertaken at
the site by the National Museum Kikinda and provincial
Institute for protection of cultural Monuments petrovaradin,
with 4 trenches excavated on the Neolithic settlement and
others placed over a Bronze Age/Iron Age necropolis located
to the southeast of the sub-oval enclosure (Medović 1984).
Finally, after a four-decade long hiatus, a new research cycle
was instigated in 2014, aimed at researching the Gradište
site through a new, broader paradigm (The Borderlands:
ARIse project,
i.e.
Archaeological Research of Iđoš site and
its environment). The project is envisioned as an ongoing
programme to be undertaken in several stages, including
evaluation of the archaeological potential of the site, targeted
excavations of defned features, and broader research
leading to systematic publication and public outreach. The
project is focused, among other aspects, on establishing the
exact character of the settlements in the distinct periods of
prehistory: to better understand the site’s formation and its
prehistoric landscape conditions, and thus to better study and
understand the life of the site and its inhabitants.
2. Methodology
Immediately from the beginning of the new excavations
in 2014 it became clear that available funds could not
facilitate having a large excavation crew with various
specialists and sub-specialists waiting on standby during the
excavation season. Rather, it was decided to expedite the
excavation process through a simplifcation of excavation
recording procedures. Given their cost and time-pressure,
contemporary archaeological excavations require efcient
and exact documentation during all feldwork and there
is thus a strong incentive for excavators to develop new
techniques and methods, or refne the existing practices,
for a more streamlined approach to feld research. Some
commercially-available software solutions, coupled with
precise instrumentation used in the feld, make new digital
documentation techniques afordable and easily available
alternatives for feld research. Although digital archaeological
documentation may still be regarded as a novelty, and
has many potential limitations (
e.g.
Zubrow 2006), these
obstacles are steadily disappearing with every new data
acquisition technique and software package that appears on
the market (
e.g.
Avern, Franssens 2011; Düfort
et al.
2011;
Motz, carrier 2013; smeets
et al.
2013). The number of
software solutions available is increasing exponentially, and
it is perhaps only a matter of time before even tailor-made
digital recording solutions for archaeological excavations
become standard tools in the feld (some solutions like
ArcheocAD, although present for a long while did not