ABSTRACT
Spatial interpolation is the process of estimating the value of a phenomenon at unsampled locations from the values of surrounding samples. Interpolation estimates are typically performed on pixels across a GIS raster grid, and thus the output becomes a continuous statistical surface model that expresses the continuously changing values of the phenomenon across sample space. In archaeology this is usually undertaken to enable the visualization and interpretation of information originally collected in discrete enumeration units or point samples. This might be artifact counts obtained from test units, elevation values, and measurements of soil chemistry or, at smaller scales, quantitative information such as pooled radiocarbon dates collected from multiple archaeological sites from large regions. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the basic concept of spatial interpolation, review common techniques, and provide some practical examples to illustrate the usefulness of spatial interpolation for archaeological visualization and interpretation.
