ABSTRACT
In this chapter we examine critically the role of GIS in the study of vision and visibility. We begin with a brief outline of the ways in which visual characteristics have been integrated into archaeological studies, whether as properties of structures and/or locations or as embodied acts of looking and seeing. This is followed by a detailed technical discussion of the ways in which visibility can be analysed through GIS and the various models, representations and heuristics that are generated in the process; from simple line-of-sight determinations and binary (in-view or out-of-view) viewsheds to landscape-scale total viewsheds and visibility networks. A key argument is that whilst such visibility products offer useful interpretative potential in their own right, they can also serve as the starting point for a host of more complex, and potentially rewarding investigations. These can involve the careful extraction and interrogation of a range of descriptive properties (such as the shape, directionality and compactness of a given viewshed) as well as the exploration of more perceptual characteristics such as prominence and hiding. The chapter ends with the critical discussion of a practical case study that demonstrates how the approaches discussed can shed new light on the past.
