Introduction
The University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City, Philippines has a long track record on archaeological research and education led by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. The artifact collection in the University Museum is a vivid proof of this long tradition. Recently, SoAn felt the need to upgrade its curriculum and the expertise of its staff in order to maintain its leading status in the Philippines. One of the needs pointed out is the knowledge and ability to use modern surveying and analysis tools such as GIS and GPS. In order to respond to this need, a training proposal was designed and, thanks to The Netherlands government through NUFFIC funding, a tailor- made training was made possible. The training was designed and delivered by a consortium of Van Hall Larenstein University for Professional Education (VHL), Archeologisch Diensten Centrum (ADC) both in the Netherlands and Geoplan Foundation in Cebu City.

The overall goal of the training was to improve the state of archaeology and cultural heritage in the Philippines by strengthening the skills and knowledge of USC SoAn in GIS and GPS in archaeology. In order to reach this goal, the training focused on enhancing the curriculum with elements of new digital techniques as GIS and GPS; facilitating modern archeological methods in research that will attract more students from the Visayas and Mindanao and establishing a database of archeological sites and artifacts. The integration of new techniques in archeology is also expected to attract more new students since it also enhances the study of Philippine communities of before and during Spanish colonization.

State of the art GIS and Archaeology
In the Netherlands, archaeological excavations very often cover large areas (up to tens of thousands of square metres) with large quantities of archaeological features.

These features mainly consist of discolorations of the subsoil (mainly sand and clay with almost no inclusions like rocks), caused by human activities such as digging. For example, the remains of a wooden house would consist of several rows of dark spots in the subsoil, caused by the digging and subsequent filling up of the postholes, the wooden posts themselves having been decayed or pulled out. Plans of the archaeological features are drawn, traditionally by hand, and recently also by the use of Total Stations. These modern geodetic instruments have the advantage of high accuracy, speed and digital recording and output of data. They can record not only X-, Y-and Z-coordinates, but also attribute information. By the use of these instruments, the step of digitising the field drawings is left out, and a digital plan is directly created from the raw data in a GIS application; the attribute data is automatically stored in the table belonging to the digital plan.

In the course of data processing and analysis, a database is created containing determination lists and dates. The interpretation of features and structures is also stored in the database, and the database is combined with the digital plan.

This combination of spatial and tabular data is used for the analysis of find distributions, phases in settlement history etc. The outcome may be a variety of thematic maps which can be used in the process of interpretation, as a means of cross-checking the data, and as illustrations in publication.

Pilipino situation
In the Philippines, GIS is not yet widely used in archaeology. There are a number of pilots where GIS is used in predictive modeling, but as tool in documenting and analyzing finds and excavations, the tool is virtually unknown. In the Philippines, only 1*1 or 2*2 m excavations are allowed. The location of an excavation is then known by a fixed point, orientation and distance from this point and the size of the excavation. There is little or no digital mapping and the location of the site is measured using traditional geodetic tools. GPS is not used, since the accuracy of many hand held apparatus is not good enough. Within an excavation, the locations of finds drawn by hand using a raster created over the excavation. Creating spatial datasets and digital databases of excavations and finds are yet nonexistent.

Learning principles
It is our vision that a successful implementation of GIS in education is based on the combination of teaching and (applied) research and consultancy, i.e. the use of GIS methodologies in actual field work and research. GIS applications are used in the field of work of various disciplinary experts in order to help find solutions for problems with a spatial component. It is therefore imperative to combine education and the application of GIS techniques in projects. Apart from formal training, exposure to GIS through archaeological projects is necessary in order to acquire the necessary skills and techniques. Without this combination there is a high risk that the GIS modules at and teaching institution will become static subjects when the direct connection with the actual field is no longer present. Our experience also showed that students are more excited about the integration of GIS in their fields of expertise if they go through all phases of data collection, analysis and visualization when they can apply these on actual and relevant case studies.

Another important factor is that the training does not aim at creating GIS specialists, but to enhance the technical capabilities of the archaeology teachers. The training therefore is founded on a sound foundation of topical content and data, whereas the use of GIS can be demonstrated with the following scheme:


Figure 1: schema of applied GIS

The management in the top of the triangle represents the (virtual or actual) management where questions are asked and for whom answers or management information need to be produced. These answers can be generated when both the field of expertise and technical skills are combined. The foundation of spatial and attribute data guarantees that spatial context is fully integrated in the process. This same scheme has been successfully applied by VHL in helping students and trainees find their ambitions and training needs when it comes to the use of GIS in their career. The aim of the trainees in this project was mainly to move their skills on the horizontal axis by enhancing their technical skills and knowledge of GIS.