Digital Terrain Analysis Reveals New Insights into the Topographic Context of Australian Aboriginal Stone Arrangements

W Boone Law,Megan M Lewis,Michael J Slack,Bertram Ostendorf

doi:10.1002/arp.1567

W Boone Law, Megan M Lewis + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1567

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Abstract

AbstractSatellite‐derived surface elevation models are an important resource for landscape archaeological studies. Digital elevation data is useful for classifying land features, characterizing terrain morphology, and discriminating the geomorphic context of archaeological phenomena. This paper shows how remotely sensed elevation data obtained from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Advanced Land Observing Satellite was integrated with local land system spatial data to digitally classify the topographic slope position of seven broad land classes. The motivation of our research was to employ an objective method that would allow researchers to geomorphometrically discriminate the topographic context of Aboriginal stone arrangements, an important archaeological site type in the Pilbara region of northwest Australia. The resulting digital terrain model demonstrates that stone arrangement sites are strongly correlated with upper topographic land features, a finding that contradicts previous site recordings and fundamentally changes our understanding of where stone arrangement sites are likely to have been constructed. The outcome of this research provides investigators with a stronger foundation for testing hypotheses and developing archaeological models. To some degree, our results also hint at the possible functions of stone arrangements, which have largely remained enigmatic to researchers. © 2017 The Authors. Archaeological Prospection Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Highlights

Documenting and understanding the context of archaeological sites in relation to surrounding terrain features is essential to landscape archaeological studies worldwide (De Reu et al, 2013; De Reu et al, 2011; Turrero et al, 2013)
Stone arrangement sites are found throughout Australia, few studies have identified the site densities noted for the inland Pilbara, and in particular, the Packsaddle Valley area of the central Hamersley Plateau (Hook, 1999; Hook and Di Lello, 2010; Hook et al, 2010; Hook et al, 2002; Law, 2014a, 2014b; Quartermaine, 1996a, 1996b) (Figure 1)
Our research aims to resolve the question of where stone arrangement sites are distributed in the Packsaddle Valley area by using satellite‐derived digital elevation models (DEMs) and digital land system data

Summary

Introduction

Documenting and understanding the context of archaeological sites in relation to surrounding terrain features is essential to landscape archaeological studies worldwide (De Reu et al, 2013; De Reu et al, 2011; Turrero et al, 2013). Sensed digital elevation models (DEMs) and digital surface models (DSMs) are useful datasets for investigating the distribution of archaeological sites in a broad landscape context, giving researchers the ability to classify and model terrains with greater accuracy and less subjectivity than traditional field methods. The effectiveness of this approach is exemplified in our research of Aboriginal stone arrangement sites from the Banjima Native Title Claim Area, located in the Pilbara region of northwest Australia (Figure 1). It is unclear if Received 31 October 2016 Revised 4 December 2016 Accepted 18 December 2016

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