An Explorative Application of Random Forest Algorithm for Archaeological Predictive Modeling. A Swiss Case Study.

The present work proposes an innovative approach to surveys and demonstrates the effectiveness of bringing together traditional archaeological questions, such as the exploration and the analysis of settlement patterns, with the most innovative technologies related to Machine Learning. Namely, we app...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology Vol. 4; no. 1; pp. 110 - 125
Autores principales: CASTIELLO, MARIA ELENA, TONINI, MARJ
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Ubiquity Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=155673602&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: hlh
    uiTerm: 155673602
    longDbName: Humanities International Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        25148362
        MPQT
      jtl: Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology
      issn: 25148362
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: 2021
      vid: 4
      iid: 1
      pid: 83901
      pub: Ubiquity Press
    artinfo:
      ui:
        155673602
        10.5334/jcaa.71
      ppf: 110
      ppct: 15
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: An Explorative Application of Random Forest Algorithm for Archaeological Predictive Modeling. A Swiss Case Study.
      aug:
        au:
          CASTIELLO, MARIA ELENA
          TONINI, MARJ
        affil:
          Institute of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
          Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
      su:
        Random forest algorithms
        Machine learning
        Cultural property
        Archaeological excavations
        Political organizations
      sug:
        subj:
          Random forest algorithms
          Machine learning
          Cultural property
          Archaeological excavations
          Political organizations
      keyword:
        Canton of Zurich
        Cultural Heritage Management
        Locational Patterns
        Machine Learning
        Roman Settlements
      ab: The present work proposes an innovative approach to surveys and demonstrates the effectiveness of bringing together traditional archaeological questions, such as the exploration and the analysis of settlement patterns, with the most innovative technologies related to Machine Learning. Namely, we applied Random Forest, an ensemble learning method based on decision trees, to perform archaeological predictive modeling (APM) for the Canton of Zurich, in Switzerland. This was done based on a dataset of known archaeological sites dating back to the Roman Age. The APM represents an automated decision-making and probabilistic reasoning tool that is relevant for archaeological risk assessment and cultural heritage management. Machine learning-based approaches can learn from data and make predictions, starting from the acquired knowledge, through the modeling of the hidden relationships between a set of observations, representing the dependent variable (i.e. the archeological sites), and the independent variables (i.e. the geo-environmental features prone to influence the site locations). The main objective of the present study is to assess the spatial probability of presence for Roman settlements within the study area. As results, we produced: 1) a probability map, expressing the likelihood of finding a Roman site at different locations; 2) the importance ranking of the geo-environmental features influencing the presence of the archeological sites. These outputs in our results are of paramount importance, not only in verifying the reliability of the data, but also in stimulating experts in different ways. Also, these results help evaluate the benefits and constraints of using such innovative techniques and, ultimately, help explore the performance of machine learning-based models in processing archaeological information.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: Y
      dt:
        @attributes:
          year: 2021
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N