The Development and Application of a GIS-Based Prehistoric Resource
Distribution Model in Archaeological Research
This workshop illustrates an application of GIS-based paleoenvironmental
models in archaeological research. The workshop emphasizes the process of
model development and comparison of the resulting resource distribution
with a known archaeological site distribution. The presentation proceeds
through all the major steps of model development: problem definition, data
needs assessment and data acquisition, entry and preprocessing of data,
development of a data management system, manipulation and analysis of the
resulting resource distribution, and generation of output maps and other
products. Throughout the workshop, budgetary and time requirements for
each step are provided, allowing for an illustration of these requirements
in the context of model development and utilization. Overall, the process
outlined in this workshop yields a reconstruction of past environmental
conditions in a spatial framework, allowing for a more refined analysis of
human land use than has historically been available in archaeological
research.
Participants:
Karl Benedict, Univerity of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Louis Scuderi, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Richard Watson, San Juan College, Farmington, NM