Glimpses of the Past: Investigating settlement sites of prehistoric humans—stream proximity

Introduction

Can the locations of sites where archaeological artifacts have been found teach us anything about early humans and their interactions with the environment? In particular, can geographic data be used to determine which geographic features were important in the selection of settlement sites for prehistoric humans?

In the same way that a crime scene investigator can sometimes piece together events in the recent past based on available evidence, an archaeologist can make deductions about patterns and events in the lives of humans in the distant past, based on the discovery of artifacts—objects or tools created, used, and left behind by those humans. Much can be learned from detailed observations of artifacts at a given archaeological site. There is, however, another level of analysis that can be considered by taking a larger perspective and considering similarities between different site locations where similar artifacts have been found. Such analysis not only elucidates how the patterns of prehistoric human behavior may have been influenced by the environment, but with enough information it may even be possible for researchers to identify sites where undiscovered artifacts may exist, marking them for future excavation or preservation.

This lab uses the capabilities of geographic information systems (GIS) to make a preliminary analysis of a set of archaeological site locations and to establish whether locations of particular prehistoric human activities may have been selected based on their proximity to a water source.

Location

Fayettville, North Carolina

Time to complete the lab

Two to two and one-half hours

Prerequisites

This lab is intended for upper-class undergraduates who have a familiarity with the manipulation and presentation of point and polygon databases in ArcMap, both through the attribute table and layer properties. Students should also have a fundamental familiarity with statistical analysis.

Data used in this lab

Point shapefiles of archaeologic sites (locations of projectile point and end scraper artifacts)

USGS digital elevation model (DEM) raster in TIFF format

Polyline shapefile database of area streams

Polygon shapefile of 100-meter buffer zones from persistent streams in the area

Geographic coordinate system: GCS_North_American_1983

Datum: D_North_American_1983

Projected coordinate system: NAD_1983_StatePlane_North_Carolina_FIPS_3200

Projection: Lambert Conformal Conic

About this Lab

Title: Glimpses of the Past: Investigating settlement sites of prehistoric humans—stream proximity

Author: Garrett Love

Level: 2, development

Requirements: ArcGIS 10

Keywords: archaeology, projectile points, end scrapers, slope, aspect, settlement patterns, chi-square, representative area, mask, Spatial Analyst, merge, minimum bounding geometry, aspect, reclassify, environment settings

File: GlimpsesOfThePastStreamProx_2013.docx

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