ABSTRACT
GIS is a major invention for archaeology perhaps comparable to radio-carbon dating in its importance. To understand fully the role of GIS in archaeology, it is necessary to delimit its field not only positively, but also negatively, in other words it is necessary to realize what lies beyond the capabilities of GIS. The goal of analysis conceived as decomposition is the establishment of a descriptive system which includes the definition of sets of objects, sets of descriptors (variables) and sets of mappings between objects and descriptors. Archaeological synthesis means the generation of archaeological structures, i.e. looking for order, regularity or pattern hidden in the record. Synthesis, always being based on the previous analysis, is performed in either a non-formalized way or by means of mathematical algorithms. Generally, interpretation proceeds by way of modelling, that is, by comparing archaeological structures to models derived either directly or indirectly from nonarchaeological cultural contexts.
