CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 0Archaeological Research and ProtectionUrban Design and Spatial AnalysisWildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 71 of the 72 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Mycenaean roads in the Peloponnese, Greece: Least-cost path modelling using R and Movecost

Open access
Nuttall, Christopher, Kovačević, Jovan·2025·Journal of Archaeological Science
DOI 10.1016/j.jas.2025.106414
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

This study introduces a refined methodology for Least Cost Path (LCP) modelling within the archaeological research of ancient roads, focusing on the remains of Mycenaean road networks in the Peloponnese, Greece. Utilising GIS and the R programming environment, this paper employs the Movecost package for the R statistical package to simulate ancient routes based on existing road segments. By integrating a variety of cost functions and parameters, this study evaluates their effectiveness across different Digital Elevation Models (DEM), including both Shuttle Radar Topography Mission DEM (SRTM-DEM) and Copernicus DEM (COP-DEM) at 30 m spatial resolution. The road segments around Nichoria (Messenia), Ayios Ioannis Kazarma (Argolis), and in the Berbati Valley (Argolis), provide a historical canvas against which these methodological innovations are tested with the ultimate aim of determining which mix of DEM, cost function, parameter and path points model the route through the existing road remains. The results suggest that the ‘Wheeled-vehicle critical slope cost function’ (WCS) better modelled the roads through the extant remains based on start and endpoints suggested by previous research and posited by this paper. The several parameters tested had a variable impact on the results. This analysis underscores the importance of careful parameter selection, providing insights into the economic and social landscapes of Mycenaean Greece. The study highlights the potential of integrating spatial data with robust computational tools to enhance our understanding of ancient infrastructure.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jas.2025.106414

Cites

71 of 71 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Citations

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 72 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 16

  1. Boyd, 2015, Explaining the mortuary sequence at mycenae, vol. 4, 433
  2. Charitonidis, 1966, Ανασκαφαί Εθνικής οδού (Excavations of the National Road), ADelt, 21, 121
  3. Crouwel, 1981, Chariots and other means of land transport in Bronze Age Greece, Allard Pierson Museum Series, 3
  4. Hope Simpson, 1998, The mycenaean highways, Echos du monde classique: Classical Views, 42, 239
  5. Hope Simpson, 1979, A gazetteer of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age, vol. 1: the mainland and the Islands
  6. Jansen, 1997, vol. 41, 1
  7. Jansen, 2002, vol. 1
  8. Kardara, 1971, The Isthmian Wall, Athens Ann. Archaeol., 4, 85
  9. Kritzas, 1973, Περιοχή Καζάρμας’ (District of Kazarma), ADelt, 28, 94
  10. Lavery, 1990, Some aspects of Mycenaean topography, Bulletin of the Institute for Classical Studies, 37, 165
  11. Lavery, 1995, Some ‘New’ mycenaean roads at mycenae, Bulletin of the Institute for Classical Studies, 40, 264
  12. Nuttall, 2023, Necrogeography in Southwest Peloponnese. A GIS-based study of the spatial distribution of Bronze Age tumulus and tholos tombs in Messenia, Athens University Review of Archaeology (AURA), 69
  13. Persson, 1931, The royal Tombs at Dendra near Midea. Gleerup (Skrifter utg. av Kungl, Humanistiska Vetenskapssamfundet i Lund, 15
  14. Philippe, 2020, Analysis of archaeological phases using the R package ArchaeoPhases, Journal of Statistical Software, Code Snippets, 93, 1
  15. Piteros, 2015, Mycenaean nauplion, vol. 4, 241
  16. Seifried, 2019, Reconstructing historical journeys with least-cost analysis: colonel William Leake in the Mani Peninsula, Greece, J. Archaeol. Sci.: Reports, 24, 391

Cited by

Still being checked.

Related

Metadata

Authors
Nuttall, C., & Kovačević, J.
Affiliations
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR)
Corresponding author
Nuttall, Christopher
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Archaeological Science
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2025-12
Volume
184
Pages
106414
ISSN
0305-4403 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jas.2025.106414
OpenAlex
W4415757241
Cited by
0
References
72
FWCI
0.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Archaeological Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
  • GraFar (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Civil Engineering) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
Swedish Research Council (2022-06184)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Archeology › Archaeological Research and Protection
  • Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Design and Spatial Analysis
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation
Keywords
digital elevation model, SRTM DEM, Copernicus DEM, road network, ancient infrastructure, Peloponnese, parameter calibration

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review