Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4391-359
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2020
Keywords
shell rings, airborne lidar, South Carolina, remote sensing, spatial statistics, point pattern analysis
Subject Heading(s)
Remote sensing
Abstract
Archaeologists have struggled to combine remotely sensed datasets with preexisting information for landscape-level analyses. In the
American Southeast, for example, analyses of lidar data using automated feature extraction algorithms have led to the identification of over
40 potential new pre-European-contact Native American shell ring deposits in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Such datasets are vital for understanding settlement distributions, yet a comprehensive assessment requires remotely sensed and previously surveyed archaeological data. Here, we use legacy data and airborne lidar-derived information to conduct a series of point pattern analyses using spatial models that we designed to assess the factors that best explain the location of shell rings. The results reveal that ring deposit locations are highly clustered and best explained through a combination of environmental conditions such as distance to water and elevation as well as social factors.
Recommended Citation
Davis, D., DiNapoli, R., Sanger, M., & Lipo, C. (2020). The Integration of Lidar and Legacy Datasets Provides Improved Explanations for the Spatial Patterning of Shell Rings in the American Southeast. Advances in Archaeological Practice, 1-15. doi:10.1017/aap.2020.18
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.