Using multi-criteria cost surface analysis to explore past regional landscapes: a case study of ritual activity and social interaction in Michigan, AD 1200–1600

Howey, Meghan

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2007.01.002

Cited by 128 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Finally, we can then determine the least-cost path between the starting location and any other location, giving us some idea on where transport and movement may have taken place (see, e.g. Van Leusen 2002: 308-329;Howey 2007;Zakšek et al 2008). The accumulated cost surface can also be used to find the area that can be reached within a certain amount of time (or by spending a maximum amount of energy).…”

Section: Modelling Movement and Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Analysis in Archaeology: Moving into New Territories

Verhagen

2017

Natural Science in Archaeology

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GIS has become an indispensable tool for archaeologists to organize, explore and analyse spatial data. In this introductory chapter, an historical overview of the development of GIS use in archaeology is given. It focuses on three major fields of application: site location analysis, modelling movement and transport and visibility analysis. This state of the art is illustrated by discussing three different case studies. Finally, some thoughts on the future of GIS in archaeology are presented. Keywords GIS • Archaeological theory • Site location analysis • Least-cost paths • Viewsheds IntroductionIt is now over 30 years ago that the term GIS was introduced in archaeology (Hasenstab 1983), and it is hard to imagine how archaeologists have ever done research without it. GIS and spatial analysis are now seen by most archaeologists as essential tools to explore, analyse and interpret spatial data and have become standard ingredients in many archaeological research projects. GIS and spatial analysis are extremely convenient techniques for more efficiently carrying out 'traditional' archaeological research. However, there are also those who maintain that the 'spatial turn', boosted by GIS technology, points the way to applying fundamentally different theoretical perspectives in archaeology.In this chapter, I will give a condensed overview of the current state of GIS use in archaeology and attempt to sketch the current role of GIS and spatial analysis for archaeological interpretation and show its potential for changing theoretical perspectives and research traditions, drawing on examples from recent research. And lastly, I will try to look into the crystal ball and set a tentative agenda for future research.

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Section: Modelling Movement and Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Analysis in Archaeology: Moving into New Territories

Verhagen

2017

Natural Science in Archaeology

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“…Ullah [26] used the r.walk module of GRASS GIS to conduct the slope-dependent cost distance analyses, but additional costs were not taken into account. Howey [37] selected vegetation cover, waterways and slope (as a relative cost value) as criteria critical to prehistoric movement. She also suggested that although many studies acknowledged the importance of incorporating multiple criteria in cost surface models, they usually only included slope as a variable.…”

Section: On Site Catchment Analysis Cost Distance Modeling and Slopementioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Influence of Different DEMs on GIS-Based Cost Distance Modeling for Site Catchment Analysis of Prehistoric Sites in Andalusia

Becker

Andrés-Herrero

Willmes

et al. 2017

IJGI

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Abstract:The overall objective of this work is to apply GIS-based cost distance modeling (CDM) to site catchment modeling and analysis of prehistoric (Solutrean) sites in Andalusia. The implementation of a GIS-method for slope-based CDM was explained in detail, so that it can be replicated easily in future studies. Additional cost components, vegetation and stream networks, were included in the method. The presented CDM approach uses slope rasters as input data, which were derived from digital elevation models (DEMs). Various DEMs that differ in cell size, accuracy and other characteristics can be applied to this method. Thus, a major goal of this work is to investigate the influence different publicly available DEMs (SRTM, ASTER GDEM, EU-DEM, official 5-m/10-m cell size DEMs) have on the results of GIS-based CDM. While the investigation was conducted on sites from different chronocultural periods, a case study was performed on Solutrean sites in order to test the CDM approach by producing actual results and then comparing and interpreting them from an archaeological perspective. The results of the DEM evaluation with resampled horizontal resolutions show a clear influence of the DEM cell size on the modeled catchment area sizes. The investigation also indicates that this influence can be superimposed by other factors, such as noise and residuals of filtered anthropogenic features, when using DEMs of different origins.

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“…A few documents written by outside observers such as Von Geusau or Valentijn describe slave activities and slave-perkenier relations in the islands. GiS analysis of mobility and movement, usually via cost-path analysis, could be used to develop models of past movements that would be capable of taking into account a variety of environmental and cultural factors (e.g., Howey 2007;White and Surface-Evans 2012). Between the two approaches, we might be able to reconstruct patterns of day-to-day movement over the landscape.…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visibility and Power: Preliminary Analysis of Social Control on a Bandanese Plantation Compound, Eastern Indonesia

Carlson¹,

Jordan²

2013

asi

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This article evaluates the extent to which the architectural organization of a Dutch plantation compound was designed to aid in plantation administrators’ and owners’ ability to engage in acts of social control via surveillance. The particular compound, Groot Walling, is located on Banda Besar, the largest of the Banda Islands, Maluku Province, Indonesia. Our initial hypothesis is that the compound was designed to aid in surveillance activity by administrators against slaves and contract workers. After discussing the history of the islands and prior historical archaeological research into surveillance, we employ GIS-based visibility analysis to evaluate this hypothesis. A series of single viewsheds were calculated within Groot Walling and compared against viewsheds generated from hypothetical organizations of that same compound. The results, while preliminary, are not consistent with our hypothesis, and we tentatively reject it. We follow up these results with some exploratory analyses, utilizing a series of total viewsheds to try to better characterize the visual properties of this compound. We then suggest some alternative hypotheses for our results, and end with a discussion of future research directions.

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Using multi-criteria cost surface analysis to explore past regional landscapes: a case study of ritual activity and social interaction in Michigan, AD 1200–1600

Cited by 128 publications

References 21 publications

Spatial Analysis in Archaeology: Moving into New Territories

Spatial Analysis in Archaeology: Moving into New Territories

Investigating the Influence of Different DEMs on GIS-Based Cost Distance Modeling for Site Catchment Analysis of Prehistoric Sites in Andalusia

Visibility and Power: Preliminary Analysis of Social Control on a Bandanese Plantation Compound, Eastern Indonesia

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