MobileGIS in archaeological prospection in Tunisia

The MR3 site, located near the Roman city of Mustis in Northern Tunisia (36°20'29.69"N, 9°7'59.47"E), was chosen as the case study for this project. This medium-sized rural settlement was identified during the AFRIPAL reconnaissance, a Polish-Tunisian project led by Tomasz Waliszewski (Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw) and Jamel Hajji (L’Institut national du patrimoine).

As a newly discovered site, MR3 is not yet protected by local heritage institutions, making it vulnerable to looting, uncontrolled development, and agricultural activities. The urgency to document and preserve this site digitally was a primary motivator for this project. Documenting the MR3 site provides critical insights into the rural settlement dynamics during the Roman and Byzantine periods in Tunisia, and how they continued to function in Early Islamic and Medieval periods.

This project, founded by DARIAH Workflow THEME aimed to not only document the current state of the site but also to create a detailed workflow for using MobileGIS in archaeological prospection. The workflow developed through this project will serve as a model for other archaeologists facing similar challenges, ensuring rapid and thorough documentation of threatened archaeological sites.

The data set represents the results of the case study survey. It consist of:

Presentation of the Projects results, which was shown on DARIAH 2024 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
MR3.mpkx - ArcGIS Pro project; a GIS project of the whole MR3 site
MR3 Survey results as csv
MR3 Survey results as kmz
XLSX file that contains formated question for MobileGIS Survey123 app, possibile to upload to Survey Connect
MR3 Survey123 app questions in more readable format
A full GIS data base with results of the survey.
The reuslts of the survey is also avialable: https://arcg.is/1yGyzH and as online map https://arcg.is/1TnXDn0

The project "MobileGIS workflow in archaeological prospection: the case study of a rural site near the Roman city of Mustis (N Tunisia)" was founded by DARIAH Workflow THEME .