Finding Sites Before You Dig
Archaeological excavation is expensive and destructive — you can only dig a site once. Survey is the critical first step: walking the landscape systematically, recording surface artifacts, and identifying concentrations that indicate buried settlements, cemeteries, or workshops. Modern survey methods transform subjective site-finding into quantitative spatial analysis with statistical rigor.
The Grid System
The survey grid divides the landscape into uniform squares. In each sampled square, fieldwalkers count and collect visible artifacts — pottery sherds, flint flakes, building stone. When plotted as a heatmap, artifact density peaks reveal site locations and extents. This simulation lets you control grid resolution, sampling intensity, and the number of hidden sites to discover how survey design affects detection probability.
Sampling Strategies
With limited time and budget, archaeologists rarely survey every square. Random sampling, systematic sampling (every nth square), and stratified sampling (proportional coverage by terrain type) each have advantages. The optimal strategy depends on site size, density, and landscape variability. This simulation uses random sampling so you can see how coverage percentage affects the chance of finding buried sites.
From Fieldwalking to GIS
Modern surveys record artifact positions with GPS and analyze density patterns in Geographic Information Systems. Kernel density estimation, spatial autocorrelation, and predictive modeling help archaeologists identify not just where sites are, but why they are there — proximity to water, fertile soil, trade routes, or defensive terrain. The humble grid square has evolved into a powerful tool for landscape archaeology.