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Editorial

Judith Winters *

Cite this as: Winters, J. 2014 Editorial, Internet Archaeology 36. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.36.10

Alongside a website review of the Gabii project (Nebbia 2014) and two further data papers (Framework Archaeology 2014, Williams et al. 2014), Issue 36 has turned into something of a bumper issue. Given the increase in submissions to the journal, I think issues of this size are going to become more commonplace if not also, more frequent.

A late addition, but one which nicely illustrates the journal's flexibility of form and speed of publication is the contribution by Wendy Morrison et al. (2014) on Laying Bare the Landscape: commercial archaeology and the potential of digital spatial data. The first draft was only submitted approximately 10 weeks ago. This interesting case study contains some very important suggestions for future work, focusing around the use of GIS for documenting developer-funded work and helps keep the old discussions on commercial/curator/researcher use of data moving forward. In How are teeth better than bone? Hollund et al. (2014) characterises the types of diagenesis observed within the histology of archaeological teeth and compares these changes with those previously recorded in bone. The results have important implications for the preferential use of teeth in studies of ancient biomolecules. The extensive inventory of high quality images and accompanying detailed descriptions provides an invaluable and unique resource for researchers and the referee felt the article worthy of publication on the strength of this alone. The keen eyed amongst you will have noticed that both these contributions did not come with funding but that they were still made open access, waived due to some exciting imminent changes for Internet Archaeology. Watch this space!

Šmejda's GIS Visualisations of Mortuary Data from Holešov, Czech Republic (2014) presents an interesting case-study on dealing with legacy data and demonstrates just some of the potential that still lies in published (and indeed unpublished) excavation data, even when half a century has passed. Legacy data also plays a role in Making Place for a Viking Fortress (Brown et al. 2014) as the authors carried out an archaeological and geophysical reassessment of Aggersborg, Denmark. The authors show that using primary data from early excavations can help guide the interpretation of geophysical survey data and yield a detailed reassessment of spatial structure, and even suggest chronological phasing.

Switching focus completely, the article by Irmela Herzog (2014) on LCPs (Least-cost Paths) deals with methodological issues connected with these calculations in archaeology, a method increasingly used in analyses. The author provides an incredibly useful summary of approaches to modelling movement and has created a valuable addition to the existing literature.

Jarlshof Lost and Found acts as a bridge between theory and practice, and contributes to the academic debate on heritage visualisation (Baxter 2014). The article spends much of its effort engaged in description of methods and techniques. And while it uses a workflow which is becoming well-established, it does provide a detailed 'behind the curtain' glimpse of this in action. As such, it is almost a tutorial and will be valuable both to beginning and more established practitioners. Where the methodology shines is where creative choices are justified and critically discussed within the context of project's overall design goals and ongoing debates in the field.

I am now off on a well-deserved (I think) break to Cornwall with my husband and children, but I can't wait to return to work on the next issue and make preparations for the next exciting stage of the journal's development!

References

Baxter, K. (2014). Jarlshof Lost and Found: Low altitude aerial photography and computer-generated visualisation for the interpretation of the complex settlement remains found at Jarlshof, Shetland. Internet Archaeology, (36). http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.36.1

Brown H., Goodchild H. and Sindbæk S. (2014). Making Place for a Viking Fortress. An archaeological and geophysical reassessment of Aggersborg, Denmark. Internet Archaeology, (36). http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.36.2

Framework Archaeology (2014). Heathrow Terminal 5 Excavation Archive (Data Paper). Internet Archaeology, (36). http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.36.8

Herzog, I. (2014). Least-cost Paths – Some Methodological Issues. Internet Archaeology, (36). http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.36.5

Hollund, H., Jans, M.M.E and Kars, H. (2014). How are teeth better than bone? An investigation of dental tissue diagenesis and state of preservation at a histological scale (with photo catalogue). Internet Archaeology, (36). http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.36.7

Morrison, W., Thomas, R. and Gosden, C. (2014). Laying Bare the Landscape: commercial archaeology and the potential of digital spatial data. Internet Archaeology. http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.36.9

Nebbia, M. (2014). Review of Gabii Goes Digital [website]. Internet Archaeology (36). http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.36.3

Šmejda, L. (2014). GIS Visualisations of Mortuary Data from Holešov, Czech Republic. Internet Archaeology, (36). http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.36.4

Williams, A.N., Ulm, S., Smith, M. and Reid J. (2014). AustArch: A Database of 14C and Non-14C Ages from Archaeological Sites in Australia - Composition, Compilation and Review (Data Paper). Internet Archaeology, (36). http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.36.6


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