Using the Mycenaean Atlas Project (MAP)

The Mycenaean Atlas Project is a database which accurately maps more than 1600 Mycenaean find spots.  Because there are lat/lon pairs for every geographical point the data in this database can be displayed with map products such as Google Earth or GIS products like Carto and others. 

Querying the MAP database:
Select pk, pn, lat,lon from site where region = 'Laconia';

This MAP database is a relational database.  The data is stored in several different tables which are linked or connected through a primary key.  Since the fundamental data concept in this database is Mycenaean find spots it makes sense that each Mycenaean find spot has its own unchanging primary key value.  Any table in the database that has information about a Mycenaean find spot is accessed through the find spot primary key. 

FIELDS in the 'Site' TABLE

The fundamental table in this database is the ‘site’ table.  There is one unique record in the ‘site’ table for each find spot.  The record contains the following fields:

pk: the unique primary key designating this site

pn: (‘place name’) An alpha-numeric string with a pronounceable name for the site, e.g., ‘Mycenae’, ‘Tiryns’, ‘Nestor’s Palace’, ‘Pallantion’.

Lat: the latitude field is a floating-point number with at least six digits in the fractional part.  In the DB it is defined as ‘DOUBLE’.

Lon: the longitude field is a floating-point number with at least six digits in the fractional part.  In the DB it is defined as ‘DOUBLE’.

Acc: ‘Accuracy’.  This is a value that expresses the degree of confidence in the lat/lon pair.  See this for a full explanation.

Alt: Altitude in meters.  These altitudes in meters were derived from Google Earth.

Type: A single word identifier that gives a general characterization for the site.  The most common types are: ‘Hab’, ‘Cem’, and ‘Ceramics’.

Comment:  A character field that can be used for information that clarifies the site record.  Ordinarily this field is null.

Region: This is a character field of up to 45 characters.  It is used to designate the general geographic area in which the site is located.  It holds such values as ‘Laconia’, ‘Attica’, ‘Argolid’, ‘Messenia’, etc.

SAMPLE QUERIES

These nine fields are all that is required to generally characterize a find-spot.  With just this table it is already possible to write queries such as:

1.select * from site;              // returns all info in the table

2. select pk, pn, lat, lon from site;            // returns a file or all sites and which is suitable for importing into Google Earth

3. select pk, pn, lat, lon from site where region = ‘Laconia’;       // returns a file, suitable for importing into Google Earth which shows all Mycenaean sites in Laconia.

4. select pk, pn, lat, lon from site where alt < 50;   // returns a file showing Mycenaean sites close to a sea shore. 

Habitations close to the shore.  Query is:
select pk, pn, lat, lon from site where alt < 50;

5. select avg(alt) from site where type = ‘Hab’;      // returns the average altitude of a Mycenaean habitation.

Is the average burial above or below the average habitation?  Use query 6  along with query 5:

6. select avg(alt) from site where type = ‘Cem’;

The following illustration shows those sites which range from 20 m. below to 20 m. above the average altitude of 191 m.

Mycenaean sites at about the average elevation of 191.4 m:
Query: select pk, pn, lat, lon from site where alt > 171.4 and alt < 211.4;

7. select count(*), region from site group by region;    // This query will return a table with the number of Mycenaean find spots in each region.  When you execute this query the first few rows will look like this:

318, Messenia

189, Argolid

137, Boeotia

105, Dodecanese

94, Achaea

81, Laconia

61, Attica

60, Ionian Islands

The other tables in the database support the 'site' table.  By adding those tables we can write much more sophisticated queries.  I will describe those tables and their potential interactions in follow-on posts.

Anyone who would like to have a copy of the MAP database can send an e-mail to bobconsoli 'at' gmail.com or leave a comment to any of my posts.  To run the MAP database requires a SQL server running on your desktop computer.   MySQL is such a server and it is powerful, industry-standard, and free.

If you like these posts then please follow me on Twitter (Squinchpix) or on Google+   (Robert Consoli)
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Introduction to the Mycenaean Atlas Project, Part II

Part I of the Introduction to the Mycenaean Atlas Project may be found here.

f. PERIODS: Under this heading I include basic information about the periods of occupation of each site. I include here the sources which identified these periods along with, usually, a brief quotation from the source which justifies my including the specific period in the specific site article.


g. GENERAL: In many cases I include a brief statement that specifies why I have placed the specific site marker where I have. Ordinarily, when the site is marked ‘N’ or ‘unknown’ I include here a remark about the special difficulties encountered in finding the correct location. This is in the hope that others may start where I have left off and, perhaps, have a better start locating the desired place.


h. BIBLIO: This lists the sources that I found of especial value in identifying this specific site location.

CONCORDANCES

This document provides concordances between my pk numbers and the various numbering systems adopted by those gazetteers upon which I relied most heavily.

In this version I include concordances for the following:

1.   French [1967],     French, D.H.   Index of prehistoric sites in central Macedonia and catalogue of sherd material in the University of Thessaloniki, Athens, 1967.

This was done in part as I encountered references to French in Simpson [1981].

2.   Heath [nd],     Heath, Sebastian.  PRAP Site Gazetteer

This is the website of the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project. The concordance contains those sites with periods given as ‘EH’, ‘MH’, or ‘LH’.

   

3.   Jameson et al. [1994],     Jameson, Michael H, Curtis N. Runnels, Tjeerd H. van Andel, A Greek Countryside; The Southern Argolid from Prehistory to the Present Day, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.  1994.  978-0804716086

In the concordance are sites which Jameson et al. identified as ‘EH’, ‘MH’, or ‘LH’.

4.   McDonald and Rapp [1972],     McDonald, William A. and George R. Rapp, Jr., The Minnesota Messenia Expedition: Reconstructing a Bronze Age Regional Environment, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota.  USA. 1972.

The concordance contains all the sites in Register A beginning on p. 266.

5.   Pelon [1976],     Pelon, Olivier.  Tholoi, tumuli et cercles funéraires; Recherches sur les monuments funéraires de plan circulaire dan l'Égée de l'Âge du Bronze (IIIe at IIe millénaires av. J.-C).  Bibliothèques de l'École française d'Athènes et de Rome - Série Athènes, 229. 1976.   

6.   Simpson [1981],     Simpson, Richard Hope. Mycenaean Greece. Park Ridge, New Jersey: Noyes Press, 1981. 

7.   Simpson [2014],     Simpson, Richard Hope. Mycenaean Messenia and the Kingdom of Pylos. Philadelphia:Instap Academic Press, 2014.  978-1-931534-75-8.

8.   Simpson and Dickinson [1979],     Simpson, Richard Hope and O.T.P.K. Dickinson,  A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilization in the Bronze Age, Vol. I: The Mainland and the Islands, Paul Astroms Forlag, Goteborg. 1979.

    The material in this gazetteer is substantially repeated, often word for word, in Simpson [1981].  As a result only a few citations from this work are currently in the database.  Adding the entire work is planned for the future.

RELEASABLE FORMATS

This current document is meant purely to furnish an on-line resource of the contents of the locational database.  It is probably best used with a search facility.  

 A version of this document in .pdf format is available to be sent to any requester.

The specific aim of this database effort is to supply the interested user with a dynamic and interactive environment for exploring the Mycenaean world.  So, for those interested, there are available .kml files of the DB.  A basic .kml already exists of all the Mycenaean find spots.  It merely needs to be imported into Google Earth.  A tutorial describing how a Google Earth import is done is here.

 The entire database can be furnished as a .sql file to whoever may be interested, professional or amateur, simply by sending an e-mail here: 

bobconsoli@gmail.com

As a .sql it can be imported to any environment hosting a SQL server such as MySQL.  MySQL is a free, industry-standard implementation of a SQL server and is used very widely, for example, in internet applications. 

The Mycenaean Atlas Project itself has, at present, no internet component.

FUTURE PLANS FOR THE DATABASE

At this time the database is weakest with respect to Crete, Cyprus, and Italy.  Those places will be filled out in more detail in the future.  New releases of the database will be announced here:

mycenaeanatlasproject.blogspot.com

I welcome better locational information from those who have actually been to any of these sites.  I know that there are many individuals who can assist me in driving accuracy parameters to 0 and any contribution will be credited to the sender.

This project is entirely my own and any errors in it are mine. 

Blog posts on topics relating to the Mycenaean Atlas Project and other writings about Mycenology may be found at my two blogs:

mycenaeanatlasproject.blogspot.com

and

squinchpix.blogspot.com

Part I of this introduction may be found here.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Papadopoulos [1979]: Papadopoulos, Thanasis J., Mycenaean Achaea; Part 1: Text.  Paul Aströms Förlag, Göteborg, Sweden. 1979. Vol 1.  ISBN: 91-85058-83-1

Tsakirakis [2000]: Tsakirakis, Vangelis G. "Using a Relational Database Management System for the Recording of Ancient Settlements and Sites in the Vrachneika Territory in Western Greece\", Online Proceedings of the group: Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, 2000. http://proceedings.caaconference.org/year/2000/');

Introduction to the Mycenaean Atlas Project, Part I

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this document is to provide accurate latitude/longitude pairs for every identifiable site associated with the Mycenaean people. There are several important reasons for doing this.


1. There is a need. There have been smaller scale projects in the past which have attempted to map portions of the Mycenaean Cultural Area. For example there is the Archaeological Atlas of Mycenae co-authored by Spyros Iakovides and E.B. French. Another computer survey project that I am aware of is that of Vangelis Tsakirakis.[1]  Dr. Tsakirakis is, or was, associated with the Landscape Archaeology Group. Dr. Tsakirakis and his team implemented an ambitious database of historical information about Achaea. Among other sources it relied on the work of T.J. Papadopoulos so that LAG’s intention was, at least in part, to map Mycenaean sites.[2]  Regrettably it appears that their web site is no longer functional and I can learn nothing more about the status of their project.

2. The older gazetteers, upon which generations of Mycenologists have relied, are gradually becoming unusable due to the changes on the ground in continental Greece and other locations around the Mediterranean. These changes affect not only BA sites but ‘modern’ constructions such as churches, roads or even towns which have been supplanted, destroyed, or modified out of recognition.

3. Destruction of Mycenaean and other Bronze Age sites. There are many reasons for this destruction.  Some of it is deliberate as when farmers destroy sites in order to prevent land from being sequestered by the authorities for archaeological research. Sometimes stone structures are destroyed in order to reuse the material in building projects. And much destruction is inadvertent. Mechanized plowing will do an admirable job of destroying sites if allowed to go on long enough.

4. The destruction of the Greek countryside in general through the practice of plowing the hills into terraces for olive culture. Those who have not been to Greece do not often realize the extent of this devastation.

In former times sites were described by Mycenologists and archaeologists in only the most general terms. Exact locations were only disclosed to other professionals on a ‘need to know’ basis. This simple attempt at ‘site security’ was in response to the relatively common looting of tombs by people looking for ‘buried treasures’ (and, to be sure, sometimes finding them.) It is not the purpose of this document to minimize the problem of site looting. The perspective taken here is that this particular problem is the least of a professional Mycenologist’s worries and that the wholesale destruction of the land itself is a far more serious threat. The first step in protecting a resource is to identify its location. As long as the Mycenological community does not know where many of its foundational sites actually lie no steps can be taken to prevent their destruction. It is high time for full disclosure of these exact locations.

This document contains the exact locations for nearly 1600 reported find spots which have Mycenaean connections. These locations were identified from various gazetteers the most important of which was Simpson [1981]. Concordances to the best represented gazetteers will be found at the end of the document. Of course many other sources were consulted besides the gazetteers. Their names will be found in the Bibliography.

Layout of each entry

I will use PK = ‘C100’ as an example of this document’s method.

a. PK. The pk (‘place key’) number is the unique identifier for the specific site. Here pk = ‘C100’. This series starts with C100 and increases by one for every additional site. Other than identifying the site the pk numbers mean nothing and nothing additional can be inferred from them. They do not, for example, ‘cluster’. Close-by sites do not necessarily have similar pk numbers. Nor are they necessarily consecutive.

The ‘C’ in the pk number stands for ‘Catalog’. A more elaborate justification for a new numbering convention for Mycenaean sites along with a description of the ‘place key’ parameter may be found here.

b. TITLE: This is a string value that serves to provide a pronounceable name for the site. They are not necessarily distinct. They ordinarily identify a nearby place along with some identifier that tells what sort of find this is. None of this is guaranteed. It is the PK number that uniquely identifies the site. For C100 the title is ‘Platanos/Svina: Hab’.

c. POSITION: This is the raison d’etre for the document. Positions are described as lat/lon pairs in both decimal degrees and in degree-minute-second notation.

The numbers that are used for this purpose have a precision of one one-millionth of a degree or six decimal places (k•10E-6).

For our present purposes I will say that the theoretical precision of a lat/lon pair expressed as a floating-point number with six decimal places (k•10E-6) is approximately 11.17 cm. (~4.4 inches) in longitude and a bit less in latitude at 37° N latitude (a typical latitude for Greece).

Although Google Earth provides lat/lon pairs with a precision of 11.1 cm, the actual accuracy of these pairs (for reasons which are not Google’s fault) is closer to 5 m.

An example of how these various positions were derived along with a discussion of the concepts of accuracy versus precision in the lat/lon pairs of the Mycenaean Atlas Project are discussed here.

Establishing accurate numbers, as opposed to precise ones, in Google Earth is a much-discussed subject. The interested reader might start here.

d. ACCURACY: The accuracy parameter has nothing to do with Google Earth. It attempts to state the author’s own perceived accuracy in finding the stated site. This accuracy parameter is imagined as the radius of a circle such that, if the investigator were standing exactly at the given position, a circle of that radius would touch or cover part of the site being sought. Here C100 is thought to be accurate to within 20 m. Again, the web site mentioned just above will give a practical example of how my personal accuracy parameter is ordinarily established.

If the site cannot be precisely located then a lat/lon pair is still given and its accuracy parameter is marked ‘N’ or ‘unknown’. Even though a site cannot be located with confidence it may be that others will make the attempt and that the lat/lon pair given here may furnish a starting point. The numbers of sites at various accuracies are in the following table:

Error (m)	no. of sites	%
0	542	34.28
10	23	1.45
20	255	16.12
30	1	0.06
50	211	13.34
100	213	13.47
200	113	7.14
300	13	0.82
500	65	4.11
1000	19	1.2
2000	1	0.06
Unknown	125	7.9

e. TYPE: This is a one-word description of the nature of the site. C100 is identified by Hope-Simpson as a habitation. In 'Messenia I' McDonald and Simpson called out the head of a clay figurine and so this is also typed as ‘Artifact’. It is not the purpose of this document to provide detailed analysis about the nature and significance of the site or its date of use. The sources I have specified under each article will do that in far more detail. I include enough material about the Type of site in order to characterize it in general terms for the reader.


[1] Tsakirakis [2000]
[2] Papadopoulos [1979]

Part II of the Introduction to the Mycenaean Atlas Project may be found here.