ABSTRACT
The use of GIS within European archaeology is no longer news. The hardware and software costs of systems are so low that virtually every institution, and many individual archaeologists, can have access, if they wish, to some sort of GIS. On the basis of the available evidence, it might be presumed that arguments for or against GIS applications within archaeology have been won. However, such a belief would be premature. An initial and somewhat simplistic observation can be made at the outset. It is very clear that most of the individuals responsible for the dissemination of GIS within Europe have, by and large, held research interests which have been primarily related to large-scale survey and/or some form of landscape analysis. The potential implications for GIS-based applications of a funding base which can, on occasion, pay only lip service to the needs of spatial analysis are significant.
